Inappropriate Elimination by My Cat

askOur question this week was:

I have a 12-year-old cat who has always been an indoor outdoor girl. As of the past year she has been stooling outside the litter box almost exclusively. This behavior is so uncharacteristic of her I am perplexed. Her health is good, there have been no changes in her household nor have I changed food or litter brand. I have experimented with other litters to ascertain if that might be the problem…no luck. Any thoughts?

thanks,

Debra

Answer

Hi – thanks for your email Debra. Sorry to hear about that. Cats can stop using the litterbox for both behavioral or medical reasons. Some common reasons that Dr. Nicholas Dodman, a wonderful behaviorist wrote for us, about common reasons that cats avoid the litter box which include:

• Too few boxes
• Inappropriately positioned boxes (damp cellar, high traffic area)
• Inconvenient location (basement)
• Hooded box (most cats dislike hoods)
• Box too dirty (not scooped often enough)
• Box too clean (cleaned with harsh smelling chemicals, such as bleach)
• Liners (some cats are intimidated by plastic liners)
• Plastic underlay (convenient for the owner but not always appreciated by the cat)
• Wrong type of litter
• Litter not deep enough
• Animosity between cats in the house (competition/guarding of litter boxes)
• Difficulty getting into/out of the box, especially in elderly, arthritic catsSometimes changing the litter brand or type, box location, personality changes in other cats, etc. can all cause this behavior changes. Many times it is impossible to determine the underlying cause.
• Medical problems such as parasites, inflammatory bowel disease, constipation, diarrhea, and other issues can also cause this problem.
• A couple articles that might be helpful to you are Inappropriate Elimination in Cats and Understanding Normal Elimination Behavior in Cats.
• Try to look for ANYTHING that is different and fix it. Adding more litter boxes is always a good idea. It is also a good reason to take your cat to the vet for an evaluation to ensure there is no underlying medical problem that may be causing this.
• Best of luck!
• Dr. Debra
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