Dr. Brian Hayes
Fellow, Academy of Feline Medicine

1705 First Avenue Mini-mall
(across from Eastdale Plaza)
(319) 351-2252

Inappropriate Elimination in Cats: A Client Education Guide

It is important to first determine that there is no medical reason that your cat is urinating or defecating or spraying outside of the litter box. Some medical problems known to prompt the behavior include: bladder/kidney infection, neurological disorders, and some drug side effects.

There are 2 main types of inappropriate elimination. The first is known as spraying or marking. The second is squatting and urinating or defecating. It is very important to differentiate between the two. The best way to do so is to observe your cat in the act, or to discover all the areas where the cat has gone. Sometimes the use of a black light may help to determine all the area.

Spraying or marking on vertical surfaces
Spraying or marking is caused by stress your cat feels. Stress can be induced by: changes in furniture or carpets; addition or loss of people or animals in the home; the presence of cats outside; moving to a new home; drastic changes of anything in or out of the home.

Keep in mind that spraying/marking is a natural behavior for cats. Trying to stop this normal feline behavior will take a lot of time and patience on our part. Cats do NOT spray out of spite and punishment does not work. However, aversion therapy may.

If your cat is spraying in your home, here are a few tips for you:
1. Neuter or spay your cat.
2. Prevent the cat’s access to the areas sprayed. If there are too many areas – try Feliway.® Try putting the cat’s food where he/she sprays. Try putting catnip where he/she sprays – only if they like catnip. Gradually allow only supervised play. The length of these seclusions depends on the desire of the cat to spray.
3. Eliminate access to outside or increase access to outside. Caution – one of these may work; the other will cause increased spraying.
4. Don’t let your cat see strays outside. Close the shades or put the cat in an inner room so that he/she can’t hear, see, or smell other cats.
5. New cat in the home? Reintroduce the new cat slowly to the other cat. Be sure there is a least 1 litter box per cat per floor of your home.
6. Never change litter types suddenly.
7. Keep litter box clean. Scoop out daily and cleanse thoroughly weekly.
8. Keep location of box consistent and in a quiet area with no sudden disruptions.
9. CatAttract is an additive for the litter, that claims to encourage cats to use the litter box.
10. Clean sprayed areas thoroughly with a commercially available enzymatic product or a water and vinegar solution. Remember, NO ammonia.
11. Make the area not fun to spray on. Line the area with tin foil, or set booby traps when the cat is in the area usually sprayed. Try using a squirt bottle filled with water and startle the cat when he/she sprays. DO NOT let the cat associate the squirt with you. Pretend that you don’t even notice the cat when your squirt it.
12. Keep in mind that you may have to use several of these tips at the same time.

Eliminating on horizontal surfaces
Inappropriate urination and defecation can be caused by: illness; a new brand of litter, a dirty litter box or anything else that causes a cat to become finicky about the litter box; changes in furniture or carpets; changes in people or animals in the home; the presence of cats outside; moving to a new home; drastic changes in anything in or out of the home.

Again, we are trying to adjust a natural feline behavior to our human patterns. This will take time, persistence, and most of all, patience. Cats do NOT urinate outside of the box out of spite and punishment does not work. Again, aversion therapy may work.

If your cat is urinating or defecating outside the litter box, here are a few tips:
1. Neuter or spay your cat.
2. Prevent the cat’s access to the areas where he/she eliminates. Try putting the cat’s food where he/she eliminates. Try putting catnip were he/she sprays – only if they like catnip. Try putting a litter box in the new areas where the cat wants to eliminate. After a week, gradually inch it closer to a more appropriate location. Note – the box may need to stay in the same vicinity as the original cat preferred site. Gradually allow only supervised play. The length of these seclusions depends on the desire of the cat to eliminate in specific areas.
3. Play with the cat frequently.
4. Don’t let your cat see strays outside. Close the shades or put the cat in an inner room so that he/se can’t hear, see, or smell other cats.
5. New cat in the home? Reintroduce the new cat slowly to the other cat.
6. Be sure that there is at least 1 litter box per cat per floor of your home.
7. Never change litter types suddenly.
8. Perhaps the cat is finicky about the type of litter. Offer a few different types of litter material over a week while the cat is in a small area. Some types of liter are: clay, sawdust, sand, dirt, wood chips, or shredded paper. Once your cat has picked out a preferred litter type, use it consistently.
9. Some cats prefer open boxes and some prefer enclosed boxes an most cats prefer large boxes. Again, allow your cat to choose which he/she prefers.
10. Keep the litter box clean. Scoop out daily and cleanse thoroughly weekly.
11. Purchase new and/or larger litter boxes. Plastic absorbes odor over time and cats may develop an aversion to the box.
12. Keep location of box consistent and in a quiet area with no sudden disruptions. Most cats like to take care of business in quiet areas. If they are scared or pushed out of the box by another cat, that may cause an aversion to that location or that box. For this reason, some cats may not like the “self-cleaning” litter boxes.
13. CatAttract is an additive for the litter, that claims to encourage cats to use the litter box.
14. Clean dirtied areas thoroughly with a commercially available product or a water and vinegar solution. Remember, NO ammonia!
15. Make the area not fun to urinate on. Line the area with tin foil, or set booby traps when the cat is in the area where he/she eliminates inappropriately. Try using a squirt bottle filled with water and startle the cat when he/she urinates or defecates. DO NOT let the cat associate the squirt with you. Pretend that you don’t even notice the cat when you squirt it.
16. Keep in mind that you may have to use many of these tips at the same time.
17. The longer we let any problem habit go, the harder it is to break. It takes humans about 21 days to break a habit. Stick out any program faithfully for at least that long before starting another.

Services
Staff
Directions & Hours
FAQs
Articles
Contact Us