Creature Feature

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette cat illustration.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette cat illustration.

My house cat is approximately 10 years old. She has recently stopped urinating in her litter box and has chosen a rug at our back door. I bought a new litter box, which she used for a few days but has reverted back to the rug. What can I do to get her back to using her box?

Before reaching any conclusions about resolving a problem such as you're experiencing with your cat, you need to uncover the reason for her preference for the rug over her litter box. That may require a little detective work, but the first step is one that feline behaviorist Pam Johnson-Bennett recommends in Starting From Scratch: How to Correct Behavior Problems in Your Adult Cat, which is simply to take your cat for a veterinary examination to rule out any possible medical causes.

Oftentimes, what appears to be a behavioral problem is actually due to an underlying medical condition, but it's impossible to know without a series of diagnostic tests. Your cat might have a condition such as a bladder infection or inflammatory bowel disease that causes her pain when she tries to use the litter box. Since your cat is older, there's also the possibility of an age-related malady. When there's pain involved in elimination, Johnson-Bennett says, the cat may associate the box with pain and avoid it. A suffering kitty will try other places, which means there could be small amounts of urine in several places throughout a household.

Although your cat appears to limit her outside-the-box activity to one rug, you might want to check all area rugs and any carpet with a black light to see if there are other points of elimination. This will be helpful not only in your quest to discover the problem, but also because you'll need to thoroughly clean and deodorize any stained areas so your cat will be less likely to use them again.

If your cat is diagnosed with a medical problem that can be resolved with medication and treatment, the issue of inappropriate elimination could resolve itself. In that case, replace the back door rug or soak it in an enzymatic solution such as Nature's Miracle or Anti-Icky-Poo. Also treat the area under the rug with an enzymatic cleanser to get rid of any trace odors. This type of cleanser isn't a detergent, but works by breaking down proteins in urine stains. Detergents may remove a stain, but they won't eliminate odor.

After medical problems are ruled out, begin looking for other causes. Johnson-Bennett says the primary areas to consider include the litter box itself and environmental factors. Litter box problems could be related to the location of the box and the type of litter while environmental factors could be something in the household that might create stress for the cat, such as a new family member (feline or human), a move or any kind of upheaval. For example, if someone in the house is recovering from an illness or injury, the cat feels anxious or puzzled by a sudden influx of strangers or changes in daily routine.

While working to discover why a cat isn't using the litter box, keep in mind that the problem is not the cat's fault, Johnson-Bennett says. By that, she means the cat isn't trying to be spiteful or intentionally misbehaving but is responding to a problem in its world. The cat wants to use the litter box but for some reason finds it difficult.

Next week, we'll look at possible reasons for and responses to litter box problems.

Family on 01/11/2017

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