Change in litter box habits cause for concern

Why would a cat refuse to use a perfectly good litter box and prefer to leave smelly waste behind the couch, or on the wall, risking the loss of pampered indoor kittydom to roughing it outdoors, or worse yet, being taken to the shelter?

"House soiling is the most commonly reported behavioral reason for relinquishment to shelters or for owners requesting euthanasia of their cats," says Dr. Janice Willard, a veterinary ethologist from Moscow, Idaho, and with whom I'd co-written an article for Cat Fancy magazine on this subject.

"In terms of numbers of cats discarded, cast from the house or killed, this is arguably more serious than any problem affecting cats."

From the human perspective, the problem is simply stated: The cat is eliminating where it shouldn't. But from the cat's perspective, there can be myriad problems that require thinking "outside the box" from the cat's perspective lest you treat one problem like another.

For all animals, urine and feces are natural end products of digestion and metabolism. But for cats, urine is also an olfactory communication method.

Does the cat have a problem with the toilet, in other words, some reason it won't use the litter box, a problem with its health and well-being, or is it responding to stress by leaving amber-colored graffiti or a prominent pile that smells?

If a cat is not using his litter box, particularly if this represents a change from previously good habits, first and foremost consider a thorough exam, including lab work, by a veterinarian. Many medical conditions first show up as a change in elimination patterns.

An older cat may have difficulty getting to the box because of painful osteoarthritis; in fact, changing litter box habits may be the first sign of this painful condition. Diabetes and other metabolic conditions need to be ruled out as well as common bladder diseases (feline urinary syndrome or feline interstitial cystitis).

Other reasons a cat may fail to use the litter box may be due to the litter box itself. The litter box might be too small, too smelly, too public (busy hallway), too inconvenient (hidden behind a clothes dryer or upstairs in a far corner of the home), associated with a previous bad experience (inopportune co-mingling in the bathroom with a human or other cat), too noisy (thumps and rumbles nearby), too close to the cat's food (come on – who would want to eat right next to an outhouse?), difficult to get into (sides too high or covered too low or opening too small) on the other side of a toddler's play area or in proximity of a scary dog.

"And let's not forget about the dark," says Sharon Crowell-Davis, of the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine Behavior Service in Athens.

"I have seen cats who used their litter boxes in the day but eliminated in other places at night. With one of these cases, it turned out the litter box was in a closet in the basement and the cat had to negotiate stairs and make it clear through the basement in pitch dark to get to the litter box. Yes, cats can see really well in dim light, but they can't see in total darkness! Adding a night light solved that problem."

Housemate cat issues are often a root cause of many litter box problems. Some bully cats will limit access to the litter box by a less bold cat. The bolder cat may simply find lying in wait and chasing the timid cat to be a great source of entertainment. This feline harassment may be too subtle to easily identify but makes a profound difference in the timid cat's behavior and willingness to use the litter box.

"There is no end to the crazy hoops people expect their cats to jump through to use a litter box," says Willard, who sounds a lot like an evangelical minister preaching on a life and death topic, which in fact, inappropriate elimination often is. "And when the cat is too old or too anxious or it finds it too difficult to jump through that hoop anymore, suddenly the cat is to blame?"

We have our own toilets conveniently located, private, comfortable, clean, odor free, threat free, and stocked with the right essentials. Why not put ourselves in our cat's paws and imagine what it must be like for them? In doing so, we may begin to understand why cats often choose to "go" outside the box.