my cat urinates on the floor instead of the litter box why?

Answer 1

youre cat is not trained, train her.......... everytime you see she/he wants to go toilet, pick her up and out her into her litter box, she will probably go bak out of it, stay with her and repeat the actions, you may have to do this everyday for atleast a month, it depends on your cat inteligence.

Answer 2

It's either a medical issue or a social issue. Like other posters, I won't restate the possible medical issues. If you haven't taken the cat to the vet you ought to do that to rule out the medical. It will probably cost about $300 if they do x-rays, which they seem to always do when my cat gets a urinary tract infection. If you want it done cheaper, tell them to test the urine first and hold off on the x-rays. You may get out for less than $100. If it turns out to be diabetes, consider changing diet before you lock in to lifetime insulin shots, which is usually the first thing the vet suggests. There's a website called sugarcats where you can explore those alternatives.

Social issues are going to relate to (1) the cat's relationship to other animals, if any; (2) the cat's preferences as to box location; (3) the cat's preferences as to litter type; (4) marking territory.

If the cat is not fixed, (4) is more likely. If the cat got fixed late, (4) may be a permanent issue. Of course, (4) may relate somewhat to (1) if there are other animals. If there has been some recent change in the cat's life, like a move, or a new element in the home (baby, animal, big tv), (4) may pop up. A little time may fix the problem, but I'd still try the following technique.

If it's (1), (2), or (3), and I'm assuming you're looking for a fix here, my suggestion would be that you adopt a "no excuses" program for the cat. By this I mean, you adapt your own lifestyle for a period of time so that you provide so many litter box options that the cat has no excuse not to use the box. This has worked for me in dealing with issues (1)-(4). I have two cats that hate each other, so I've had to do this several times as different things pop up (moving, etc). This is going to dramatically change your life for awhile, but probably only for a week or two. Go get some cheap litter boxes in a variety of sizes. Get some of the disposable ones too so you feel less overwhelmed. Get a whole lot of cheap litter (the $2 unscented big bag). Use cheap 30 gallon black plastic trash bags for liners. Put about 5 teacups full of litter in each of the nondisposable boxes to start. Put a box in every room. Put boxes on all floors of the house. Put a box where the cat is urinating on the floor. Put a second box next to the current litter box. Put a box in the bathtub if the cat ever urinates there. Empty and refill each box as soon as the cat uses it. If the cat has ever seemed picky about litter type, vary that too. However, in my experience, the cheapest clay litter is fine with most any cat as long as you change it every day.

Remember, the idea here is "no excuses". Cats will refuse to use a box because of conflicts with other animals, or laziness, or sore bodies that don't like stairs, or distate for dirty boxes. You're going to make sure the cat has no excuse not to use the box. In the process, you'll see what box the cat is using, and you'll probably figure out a way to make sure the cat uses the box. When you figure out where the cat will use the box, keep changing the box every day, and if necessary slowly move the box toward the location where you would like it to be. If you're trying to make the cat use a box in a location where it feels vulnerable to attack from other indoor animals, you may never be completely successful but you can improve the situation some. For example, we want our cats using the box in the laundry room, but when cat #2 tries to use the box, cat #1 ambushes her on the way out. So sometimes cat #2 has litterbox compliance issues. We deal with this, when necessary, by implementing a short-term no excuses program. It's always worked.

Answer 3

I just solved this problem last week, at least for my cat. She kept urinating on the floor in the entranceway in our house, and I went to the vet and asked her what to do, because I had her ruled out for UTI's and stuff. The vet suggested that she may just want a litter box nearer to her because she might be just plain lazy, as some cats are very finnicky. I had a litter box in the basement, but not on the first floor. So I put a litterbox in the closet of the entranceway, and she was still wizzing on the floor. I then decided not to use any litter and just lay down newspaper in the litterbox. Sure enough, little Cinnamon was using the litterbox. It seems to be that she only likes to go on smooth surfaces. The cat's sister and mom live with my mom, and they do exactly the same thing, too, only wanting to go on smotth surfaces. I don't know, I hope that helped...it is definately frusterating!

Answer 4

I had been having this problem with my cat for months. Initially me and the vet decided it was a urinary infection. I gave her pills but it didn't stop. You can tell if it is this because they will pee in small amounts. Eventually she peed on a black robe of mine and I realized there were crystals in the urine. This is another health problem caused by not getting enough liquids. So I have been making sure she never runs out of water and give her wet cat food twice a day, (I always have dry cat food out, I only give her a tablespoon or so of wet at a time). I also started cleaning the litter box daily, just scooping out the chunks and adding a little more litter. When I started this she peed on my bed twice in the first week or two, and since then I haven't had a single problem. For a urinary infection, go to the vet. For crystals in my case I seem to have fixed it with out the vet. Good Luck to you!!

Answer 5

Hi there...sometimes when cats inappropriately soil in areas other than the litterbox it is indicative of a medical problem. If he's constipated or has a urinary infection of one type or another this cause litterbox avoidance. When cats are using the litterbox and experience pain while going to the bathroom they associate the pain with the litterbox thereby believing by going elsewhere will feel better. Consider ringing your vet to discuss an appointment for an evaluation.

If there's been a recent change of location of the litterbox, change of litter brand, new changes in the home, new pets added, multiple cats who don't like to share a litterbox, not cleaning the box more frequently, box is too small...all of these and other associated possibilities will also cause litterbox avoidance behaviours as well.


More on litterbox avoidance problems by Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/Housesoiling.html

[edit] litterbox avoidance isn't always the case as each cat is different. We currently have a cat who always used his litterbox with a rare accident even though he was diagnosed with an urinary tract infection.

Answer 6

I'm not going to repeat what others have been saying about medical problems, but cats sometimes pee in the floor to let you know they're angry or upset. If something in your home as changed, it might be causing this.

I don't think it's litter box avoidance if he's still pooping in his litter box and it's likely medical or behavioral.

Answer 7

Some cats are very picky. Try using the kitty litter with the blue crystals in it- I think it's by Arm & Hammer. Never use the Tidy Cat kitty litter, that's the gray kitty litter.

Atleast my cat never liked that kind..

Hope this info helped

Take care

Answer 8

Cats are prone to urinary tract infections, and some cats are smart enough to show you this by urinating in strange places. I've had 2 females who would show me the UTI, and I had a male who was prone to UTI's and he was a little trooper about getting my attention on this. Thankfully there is cat food available that addresses this problem. You may need a Vet visit to see if his bladder is full and he needs to be cathertered to empty him out. Best of luck to you and the little fellow.

Answer 9

clean litter box EVERY DAY and change it EVERY WEEK. but if u have 2 cats clean it 2 x's a day and twice a week. make sure its in a dark, secure place. not by window (in case afraid of thunder..ive had cats like that....)and yea....point is 2 make it comfy and SAFE at least make sure the cat thinks its safe.

Answer 10

Maybe it's the litter , cat's are picky about that . Or if ti's a male that is not fixed, it might be spraying.