Unpleasant Associations Can Prevent Accidents

It's beyond frustrating when you find a puddle of urine in the middle of your bed, or a secret pile of feces behind the washing machine. Punishing your cat, either verbally or physically, will do absolutely nothing to solve the problem of inappropriate elimination. If you have been scrupulous in keeping the cat box clean, providing multiple boxes for your multi-cat home, and have placed the box properly, another approach might just work to get your kitty using the litter box again rather than the rug or furniture.

Be sure to have your vet check your cat before starting an aversion program to rule out bladder infection, stones, or other health problems.

Getting Your Cat Back on Track

It will probably take a bit of time and effort on your part to get your cat back to using the litter box, but most cats will return to the box if the places they have been soiling inappropriately become undesirable.

• Sometimes, simply closing off the room where the cat has misbehaved or blocking off an area of the house will herald in normal behavior.
• A water pistol that gives a squirt when the cat is heading for the wrong spot can be effective since most cats hate getting wet.
• Double-sided tape applied on the floor leading to the 'new bathroom' can discourage your cat from using the area.
• Traps made of a pile of empty soda cans, with a few coins in the top one will startle a cat when he or she bumps into it and teach them to avoid the area.
• Your cat's feet are very sensitive, so a plastic or rubber mat covered with nubs or rounded points will keep your cat away.
• Another booby trap that can work involves setting a mouse trap, placing in 'face down' on the floor in the target area, and covering it with a sheet of newspaper. When your cat steps on it, the trap will go off harmlessly, but will provide noise and movement to frighten your cat away.
• Put your cat's food and water near the place that has been sullied - cats do not like to eat and drink near their toilet.

An important factor to this aversion training is to remove all traces of urine or feces odor, which will otherwise attract the cat back to the area. Enzyme cleaners work best at removing these smells.

When Your Stress Begins to Affect Your Cat

There is no denying that all of us are living in fairly stressful times. The combination of work, family responsibilities, and bombardment of bad news from the television and internet can all help to make you jittery and edgy. Without realizing it, your behavior can easily reflect negatively on your cat, which can result in inappropriate elimination. When your kitty starts to urinate all over the house or apartment, it may be time to step back and take an honest look at how you're behaving.

Household Stress

Cats are not pack animals, like dogs, but they do become just as attached to their humans as dogs do, and can quickly tell when all is not right with you. Because cats are basically nonverbal, they are experts at picking up body language and facial nuances, so even if you are not tearing around the house screaming and yelling, there is a good chance that your cat will be able to tell that you are stressed. When you are stressed, your cat will be stressed, and the likelihood that the litter box will be ignored will increase.

• Cats that become stressed are also much more likely to develop interstitial cystitis. This is a rather poorly understood condition whereby the nerves connected to the bladder become inflamed and the cat loses some bladder control. It also involves a loss of the protective mucus lining of the bladder so that urine is able to irritate the delicate walls of the organ.
• Once your cat becomes stressed out as a reaction to your stress, he or she may begin spray marking in order to try to establish a feeling of security.

De-stressing Your Cat

Your cat isn't trying to irritate you when he or she pees in all the wrong places, so never punish the cat either physically or verbally; not only will it do no good, it will only make the animal more stressed.

Giving your cat plenty of attention, especially stroking him or her, will have a calming effect on both of you. It has been scientifically shown that petting an animal reduces stress, and as you become more settled, so will your cat.

Pheromone products that bind to the cat's neurotransmitters can also help to restore your cat's normal behavior, and often once the problem of stress is removed, the problem of inappropriate elimination is also eliminated.

Your Sensitive Cat And Litter Box Problems

A cat's senses are how the animal relates to the world around it. In many ways, the senses of a cat are much more acute than ours and this can often be at the root of litter box problems. When your cat begins to urinate, or even defecate, on the floor or furniture, it's time to get to the root of the problem as quickly as possible. Never punish the cat for his or her transgressions - your pet will be unable to associate the accident with the litter box, and dragging the cat to the litter box after a scolding or spanking will only cause further litter box problems.

Your Cat's Senses

Cats are naturally very clean animals, so when your companion begins using the home as a litter box, a serious problem exists. Once your pet has been found to be healthy, and not suffering from a medical condition that is causing incontinence, take into consideration your cat's sensitivity.

• Cats have a sense of smell that is about 15 times stronger than yours is. Imagine how a litter box that may smell rather sour to you must smell to your cat. Clumps of fecal material and urine-soaked litter will cause most cats to eliminate elsewhere. The odor of ammonia is sharp and irritating to humans, and is even more so to cats. The litter box should be cleaned religiously; using clumping litter makes this easier. Remove stools and wet litter two times a day. Boxes using clumping litter can go 3 weeks before actual changes (you will be adding more litter after removing the clumps), but a box with ordinary litter should be changed, and the box washed, 2 times every week.
• Smell also plays a part in litter box avoidance if your cat simply detests the smell of the litter, even if it's completely clean. This usually comes about when a new litter is introduced. Try adding a bit of the new litter to the old to accustom the cat to the change.
• The tactile sensations of cats are highly developed, and this includes the cat's feet. Litter that feels 'funny' to cats will be avoided. Instinctively, cats are drawn to a litter that feels like soft sand or soil. Choose a litter that most closely mimics nature.
• Everyone knows that cats have an acute sense of hearing. Mechanized litter boxes can produce sounds that are frightening to a cat. Self-cleaning boxes are often avoided just because of the clatter they produce. It may take some time and patience to get your cat used to motorized litter boxes, and you may have to return to an ordinary box if your cat cannot adjust.

Putting yourself in your cat's place when litter box problems arise can make it easier to solve the problem and make both of you happier and more relaxed.