Why won't my cat use his litterbox anymore?

Dealing with your cats’ pee or poop is never pleasant. This is especially true when they do their business somewhere around your home instead of in their litter box.

Why do they do this? More importantly, what (if anything) can you do to make them stop? Here are some answers to these questions.

Causes for Inappropriate Elimination

When your cat urinates or defecates somewhere in the house other than the litter box, veterinarians call it “inappropriate elimination.” There are two reasons why cats do this:

1. They have a medical problem (ie bladder infection, crystals, stones, bladder cancer, polyps, etc).
2. Something in their environment bothers them.

If the problem is medical, a vet will need to examine your pet and prescribe a treatment. If it’s social, a few things could cause it:

• The litter box hasn’t been cleaned thoroughly or often enough
• Your cat doesn’t like the litter
• Some event or occurrence is bothering your cat

What’s Bothering Your Cat?

Any number of things could stress your cat out. Some of the most common stressors are:

• Someone new (a spouse, a baby, another pet, etc.) becoming part of the household
• Someone leaving the household
• Different furniture, carpets or curtains
• Rearranging the furniture
• A new cat or dog in the neighborhood
• A nearby cat in heat

Can You Solve the Problem?

Happily, you can treat most socially caused cases of inappropriate elimination. Treatment works best if:

• You only have one cat
• You figure out what’s bothering your cat
• Your cat started peeing/pooping in the wrong places less than a month ago
• Your cat’s only peeing/pooping in one or two spots
• You can neutralize the odor coming from the cat’s urine/stool

Treatment Options

When it comes to treating behavioral inappropriate elimination in cats, you have a few options:

Aversion Therapy

You make the spot where they’re peeing/pooping unpleasant for them. For example, you could:

• Put something on or in the spot to kill off the odor
• Cover the spot (or spots) with double-sided tape or tape aluminum foil there
• Use a pressure-sensitive mat that makes a loud noise or sends a small static shock when a cat steps on it
• Spray some air freshener at the base of a potted plant if a cat’s doing its business there.

Attraction Therapy

You make the litter box more attractive than anyplace else. These strategies can work:

• Buy a new litter box (but don’t get one with a hood—a lot of cats don’t like them)
• Buy unscented clumping litter
• Put the litter box near the spot and move it back day by day towards where you want it to be

Medication

Sometimes, giving your cat antidepressants like amitriptyline or tranquilizers like diazepam or phenobarbital can help with inappropriate elimination. However, you need to be careful when you give an animal medication. Also, hormones are not recommended because they can cause severe side effects.

Talk to Your Vet

When you’re dealing with a case of inappropriate elimination in your cat, you should talk with your veterinarian. Vets can help you figure out whether the cat has a medical problem or a behavioral one. They can also help you come up with good treatment options, even if it is behavioral in origin.