Purina Cat Chow: Cat Care Center: Emotional: Spraying and Problem Litter Box Behavior

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Author, cat lover, and a big believer in simplifying vet medicalese Specialty: Emotional

Topic: Spraying and Problem Litter Box Behavior

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Recently my cat has begun spraying all over the house. What is causing this behavior, and how can I get him to stop?

I have 4 cats and none know how to properly cover its droppings in the litter box. When they get done they will try to cover it up by scratching everywhere but actually in the litter. Why? I have 3 boxes, two are covered.

I have a cat door that goes into the cat room where the cat boxes are. If I leave the flap up, my 6-month-old spayed female goes in with no problem - but as soon as I put the flap down she urinates and defecates around the house. I show her through the door and reassure her when she comes back through, but she won't go through the flap unless I guide her. Any suggestions?

My cat has stopped using her litter box. What should I do?

My theory is our male cat (1-1/2 years old) has matured and is trying to establish his dominance in the household. He is marking the hallway by spraying and the female (15 years old) is urinating to mark the territory as hers. I have cleaned the area numerous times with an enzyme cleaner and have put down sheets of plastic along the baseboard in the hallway. Am I right in assuming that this battle will end at some point and they will stop? Any idea how long it might last? Is there something I can do to stop this? Will Feliway help or make things worse?

When my cat uses the box, he doesn't cover it up with litter, which makes the smell very strong. How can I get him to cover up after he goes potty?

My cat started defecating outside the box after she was spayed. She urinates in the box and most of the time buries her urine, but for more than a year she continues to defecate outside the box. I've consulted a behaviorist (an expensive and frustrating experience); I keep the box clean; I've had her examined by the vet; I've cleaned the areas and used Nature's Miracle; I've covered my bed with a plastic drop cloth; I am now giving her Elavil. She's very aloof now that she's on the anti-depressant, which depresses me. Is there something more I can do or do I just have to wait this out?

How do I teach my cat to clean his paws after he comes out of the litter box? He never cleans himself and he walks in his feces and then walks all over the house.

What is the best way to keep cats from using my garden as a litter box?

What do you do when your cats mark their territory and you can't stop them?

I have a three year old male cat, neutered, Siamese Manx. His name is Gambit. Lately, he has been a little crazy with his litter box. He has never had any problems before, but now he is sometimes peeing in the floor. I do have another cat, so I bought two litter boxes and tried that. It seems to have worked, but now after he goes to the bathroom, he has to sit and scratch the walls, the carpet, everything for about five minutes after he is done. Why is he doing this?

We have two eight-month-old Himalayan kittens, we just bought an automatic litter box. It scares one more than the other, we turned it on "off" and planned to just push the button when used because we found urine and a bowel movement on the floor. I'd love to work with them to get them used to this but am concerned. I put the frightened one in the box and she did wet. Am I traumatizing my cat? Yesterday she wet on the living-room carpet.

I have a 13 year old spayed female cat that has been an indoor cat all her life. She has occasionally had trouble using her litter box in the past, but we have always gotten her back on track. Last summer she stopped using the covered litter box she used for years and changed to the standard litter box we provided for her in our attempt to get her going in the correct place again. Unfortunately, she has always "stood tall" when urinating and she often misses the box, even while standing in it. I would like to get her to use the covered box again. Any suggestions?

How often do I spray Feliway? It says on the bottle to spray one spray, but it does not say how often to re-spray. Now that I have sprayed Feliway on the areas where my cat urinated (the beds), can I open up my bedrooms to her again, or must I keep the doors shut and her out of the bedrooms forever?

I have two cats, the oldest is eleven and the youngest is two. My boyfriend moved in with me this past May and brought his two cats that are both four. Within the last month or so my oldest cat has started to spray myself and my boyfriend. Twice he has actually stood on him and peed. He doesn’t fight with the other cats. I don’t know what is prompting this behavior or how to prevent it.

I have two cats and 2 litter pans. My older cat has taken to throwing the litter out of the pan. He pushes all the litter to one side and then scrapes it out of the box. He also seems to just walk up and scratch at the litter pans with out climbing in to use it. Can you give me some idea why he is doing this? Could it have something to do with his eyesight? Is it a compulsive behavior? Is there anything I can do to stop it, or keep it from happening?

We have a 10-month-old male cat that we named Chocolate Moose. He is very playful and extremely smart. He is well litter trained; however, when we spray him for fleas within the next 24 hours he urinates in our bed. The first incidence we thought may be coincidental, but it happened 3 more times. We wonder if he is not getting revenge. We had him de-clawed and neutered in December and no behavior problems at that time.

When we first got our 11-month-old kitten in November, we kept the litter box and cat food in the basement and left the basement door ajar. Now we have installed a cat door and keep the basement door closed all the time. The problem is that Sam won't use the cat door unless the flap is tied in the open position. She is reluctant to push against the Plexiglas to let herself in or out. We have tried leaving it closed with her in the basement, but she just lies down and waits for us to open it for her. How can we train her to use the door? It defeats the purpose to leave it tied in the open position.

I have a 2-year-old outdoor cat that will soon be transitioned into an indoor cat. How do I train him to use a litter box?

I read on the Purina web site that cat urine glows under a black light. Because I have been having difficulty with odors left by two of my neutered male cats’ spray, I will try just about anything. I purchased a 60-watt black light and shined it everywhere. Honestly, I could not find one spot illuminated by the light. Have you tried this yourself? Are you sure it works? If it does work, what am I doing wrong?

We have a seal point, 12 years old and grossly overweight and another cat that is 6 years old and smaller. The older cat sits in the litter box, even after defecating and stays there a good part of the day. I have caught him sleeping on the dining room table after sitting on feces and urine. I am sick about it. My wife and I don't know what to do about it. We absolutely have no space for another litter box. This is also preventing the smaller cat (different species) from using the box.

We have 3 dogs and 2 cats. Both cats are trained to the litter box but prefer outdoors. They use the dog door to go in and out. One cat (neutered) uses the crawl space under the house as a litter box. How do I get the odor out of the soil (approximately 800 sq ft)? Why would the cat use this area when the other cat goes outside?

I have a 7-month-old kitten that poops a lot and doesn't bury his poop. We keep the litter clean (scoop once per day), and we change the litter every other day. How can we get our cat to bury his poop?

I read your 1+1 rule regarding litter boxes and was wondering what your advice was regarding placement of the boxes. I live in a large one-bedroom apartment with two cats and keep one box in a hall closet with the door open. Should the other boxes be in the closet as well or can they be elsewhere in my apartment?

We have two cats. Though the female shows no emotional issues, our male cat has an unusual problem. He uses his litter box, but when he urinates it's as if he is spraying. Besides getting it all over the box (we have needed to put covers on both boxes) he sometimes spills out in front of the box. He seems scared to urinate. He jumps out of the box like he's done something bad. He does not act this way when defecating. We put aluminum foil against the sides of the box as suggested by a behaviorist with no change in behavior. He has been checked out by the vet and he is currently on Elavil. Is there a way to show him how to urinate properly?

We have a 2-year-old male cat and a 7-month-old female calico cat. Both use the same litter box and do it quite well. We have had no messes outside of the litter box and are quite grateful for that. Our problem is with the 7-month-old calico. After using the litter box, she covers her mess like a normal cat using the litter. But then she paws at the sides of the plastic cover, continuously for at least half an hour. The trouble is she does this in the early morning hours and wakes my husband and me up. We have a small apartment and the litter box is in the next room. Why does she do this and is there a way we can stop the behavior without making her scared to use the litter box?
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I have two beautiful long hair cats which are both 10 year old sisters. Both have an extremely annoying habit of scratching not only their litter, but also the sides of the litter box, and anything nearby. This goes on for several minutes and is not subject to the "type" of use which was performed (#1 or #2): it happens after either. This has always been a part of their routine, but recently with moving into a one-floor apartment, the noise wakes both my boyfriend and myself and is loud enough to disturb the neighbors downstairs. We keep the litter box very clean, it is in a private corner of the bathroom, have tried covered and uncovered litter boxes, clay and scoopable litter, and would never consider getting rid of "the girls," but need to know if we can modify their behavior or their litter box so that all can sleep through the night.

My new cat knows how to use the litter box, the problem is that now he decided to stay in it and sleep there. I noticed it 5 days ago. Every time I come home and I call him I know that the place to find him is in my other cat's litter box. Why is that and what can I do to end with this situation?

Our cat, June, is seven years old and has been our only pet since our Australian shepherd (who was her special friend) died three years ago. We have noticed that when she sees us petting other female cats in our neighborhood, she "misses her box" and sprays the wall instead. Next year we will be adopting an 18-month-old little girl. Do you have advice on how to deal with jealousy that may occur?

My cat would stay all day and scratch and scratch at his litter box if I let him. It drives me insane, especially at night. Why does he insist on taking so long in his box?

We have 3 cats, a 5-year-old, and twin kittens that are now about 6 months old. We've had them since they were 6 weeks old. We have 3 litter boxes in the house and initially the kittens used the two we designated for them. But now they want to use the big kitty's box, and refuse to use their own. Of course, the big kitty refuses to use her box after they've used it. How can I encourage the kittens to use their own boxes?

We have a multiple cat household with multiple litter boxes. Only one of our cats stays indoors all of the time and two others are mostly indoors, our other cats are mostly outdoors. All of our cats have no problem using the litter box except for our 8 month old male Siamese, one of the mostly inside cats. He gets along very well with our other male cats and exhibits none of the symptoms of territorial intimidation, but he is positively phobic of the litter box. When we see him sniffing or showing other signs of having to go, we put him in the box, but even if it is fresh litter he jumps out of it in terror. He's not a nervous cat at all, so we can't understand why he is so disturbed by this one item.

I have 2 senior male cats. One goes outside a lot, while the other one stays inside. I use only one litter pan, which seems to be working out fine. I guess I'm trying to make things easy on myself so I will not have to clean litter pan so often and still keep down odors. At the same time I don't want to upset my cats by changing litter pans (I know how finicky they can be). I want to purchase the Litter Maid litter pan. I just want to know if you think this is a wise choice and what you think about the product?

A neutered male domestic longhair marks my books, bookcases, some walls, long tablecloths (those reaching to the floor) with urine. How can I remove the stains from the book covers? How can I stop his behavior? What products can I use on books and cloth to remove his scent? There are 5 other cats in the house (1 neutered male, 2 neutered females, 1 male kitten, and 1 female kitten). Outside: cats congregate in my yard and on my porches.

My three-year-old male cat is spraying the leather furniture. He is not choosy as to what spot he picks. We have placed foil on the furniture. As soon as there is a small spot showing he sprays. Do cats generally favor leather and should we try using the Feliway?

My 11-month-old male cat has horrible litter box manners. I have to sweep around the litter box everyday because he sends litter flying out when he's done. My female does not do this. It's so bad that the electronic litter box we have no longer works automatically because the sensors keep getting clogged. Can I train him to have better litter box manners?

How can I get my cats to stop peeing everywhere? I have an electronic cat box and a regular cat box. Both are always clean. I do have 10 cats and the smell is getting out of control!

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