Solving Litter Box Problems

Cat Behavior >> Solving Litter Box Problems

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Surface Preferences

All animals develop preferences for a particular surface on which they like to eliminate. These preferences may be established early in life, but they may also change overnight for reasons that we don't always understand. Your cat may have a surface preference if:

• She consistently eliminates on a particular texture. For example, soft-textured surfaces, such as carpet, bedding or clothing, or slick-textured surfaces, such as tile, cement, bathtubs or sinks.
• She frequently scratches on this same texture after elimination, even if she eliminates in the litter box.
• She is or was previously an outdoor cat and prefers to eliminate on grass or soil.

What You Can Do

• If your cat is eliminating on soft surfaces, try using a high quality, scoopable litter, and put a soft rug under the litter box.
• If your cat is eliminating on slick, smooth surfaces, try putting just a very thin layer of litter at one end of the box, leaving the other end bare, and put the box on a hard floor.
• If your cat has a history of being outdoors, add some soil or sod to the litter box.
• Make the area where she has been eliminating aversive to her by covering it with an upside down carpet runner or aluminum foil, or by placing citrus-scented cotton balls over the area (see our handout: "Aversives For Cats").

Location Preferences

Your cat may have a location preference if:

• She always eliminates in quiet, protected places, such as under a desk downstairs or in a closet.
• She eliminates in an area where the litter box was previously kept or where there are urine odors.
• She eliminates on a different level of the house from where the litter box is located.

What You Can Do

• Put at least one litter box on every level of your house.
• Make the area where she has been eliminating aversive to her by covering it with upside down carpet runner or aluminum foil, or by placing citrus-scented cotton balls over the area (see our handout: "Aversives For Cats") OR
• Put a litter box in the location where your cat has been eliminating. When she has consistently used this box for at least one month, you may gradually move it to a more convenient location at a rate of an inch per day.

Oops!

If you catch your cat in the act of eliminating in the house, do something to interrupt her like making a startling noise, but be careful not to scare her. Immediately take her to where the litter box is located and set her on the floor. If she wanders over to the litter box, wait and praise her after she eliminates in the box. If she takes off in another direction, she may want privacy, so watch from afar until she goes back to the litter box and eliminates, then praise her when she does.

Don't ever punish your cat for eliminating outside of the litter box. If you find a soiled area, it's too late to administer a correction. Do nothing but clean it up. Rubbing your cat's nose in it, taking her to the spot and scolding her, or any other type of punishment, will only make her afraid of you or afraid to eliminate in your presence. Animals don't understand punishment after the fact, even if it's only seconds later. Punishment will do more harm than good.

Other Types Of House Soiling Problems

• Marking/Spraying: To determine if your cat is marking or spraying, please see our handout: "Territorial Marking In Dogs And Cats."
• Fears Or Phobias: When animals become frightened, they may lose control of their bladder and/or bowels. If your cat is afraid of loud noises, strangers or other animals, she may house soil when she is exposed to these stimuli (see our handout: "The Fearful Cat").

Copyright Denver Dumb Friends League and Humane Society of the United States. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

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