Help, any suggestions for getting my cat using its litter tray again?

Question

I've recently moved home and my cat, who is a house cat, has started to go to the toilet around the house. For the first week of moving in he used his litter tray but at the weekend he stopped and has started trying to pull up the carpets and has even went to the toilet in a plastic bag.

The flat has new carpets throughout and I can't allow this to continue - any suggestions please? He's 10 years old.

Answer 1

Cats tend to have surface and location preferences for where, and on what, they like to eliminate. Most cats prefer a loose, sandy substance, which is why they will use a litter box. It's only when their preferences include the laundry basket, the bed or the Persian rug, that normal elimination behavior becomes a problem. With careful analysis of your cat's environment, specific factors that have contributed to the litter box problem can usually be identified and changed, so that your cat will again use the litter box for elimination.

Some common reasons why cats don't use the litter box are: an aversion to the box, a preference for a particular surface not provided by the box, a preference for a particular location where there is no box, or a combination of all three. You'll need to do some detective work to determine the reason your cat is house soiling. Sometimes, the reason the litter box problem initially started may not be the same reason it's continuing. For example, your cat may have stopped using the litter box because of a urinary tract infection, and has now developed a surface preference for carpet and a location preference for the bedroom closet. You would need to address all three of these factors in order to resolve the problem.

Cats don't stop using their litter boxes because they're mad or upset and are trying to get revenge for something that "offended" or "angered" them. Because humans act for these reasons, it's easy for us to assume that our pets do as well. Animals don't act out of spite or revenge, so it won't help to give your cat special privileges in the hope that she'll start using the litter box again.

Medical Problems
It's common for cats to begin eliminating outside of their litter box when they have a medical problem. For example, a urinary tract infection or crystals in the urine can make urination very painful. Cats often associate this pain with the litter box and begin to avoid it. If your cat has a house-soiling problem, check with your veterinarian first to rule out any medical problems for the behavior. Cats don't always act sick, even when they are, and only a trip to the veterinarian for a thorough physical examination can rule out a medical problem.

Cleaning Soiled Areas
Because animals are highly motivated to continue soiling an area that smells like urine or feces, it's imperative that you thoroughly clean the soiled areas (see our handout: "Successful Cleaning To Remove Pet Odors And Stains").

Aversion To The Litter Box
Your cat may have decided that the litter box is an unpleasant place to eliminate if:

The box is not clean enough for her.
She has experienced painful urination or defecation in the box due to a medical problem.
She has been startled by a noise while using the box.
She has been "ambushed" while in the box either by another cat, a child, a dog, or by you, if you were attempting to catch her for some reason.
She associates the box with punishment (someone punished her for eliminating outside the box, then placed her in the box).
What You Can Do
Keep the litter box extremely clean. Scoop at least once a day and change the litter completely every four to five days. If you use scoopable litter, you may not need to change the litter as frequently. This will vary according to how many cats are in the household, how many litter boxes you have, and how large the cats are that are using the box or boxes. A good guideline is that if you can smell the box, then you can be sure it's offensive to your cat as well.
Add a new box in a different location than the old one and use a different type of litter in the new box. Because your cat has decided that her old litter box is unpleasant, you'll want to make the new one different enough that she doesn't simply apply the old, negative associations to the new box.
Make sure that the litter box isn't near an appliance that makes noise or in an area of the house that your cat doesn't frequent.
If ambushing is a problem, try to create more than one exit from the litter box, so that if the "ambusher" is waiting by one area, your cat always has an escape route. Surface Preferences
All animals develop preferences for a particular surface on which they like to eliminate. These preferences may be established early in life, but they may also change overnight for reasons that we don't always understand. Your cat may have a surface preference if:

She consistently eliminates on a particular texture. For example, soft-textured surfaces, such as carpet, bedding or clothing, or slick-textured surfaces, such as tile, cement, bathtubs or sinks.
She frequently scratches on this same texture after elimination, even if she eliminates in the litter box.
She is or was previously an outdoor cat and prefers to eliminate on grass or soil.
What You Can Do
If your cat is eliminating on soft surfaces, try using a high quality, scoopable litter, and put a soft rug under the litter box.
If your cat is eliminating on slick, smooth surfaces, try putting just a very thin layer of litter at one end of the box, leaving the other end bare, and put the box on a hard floor.
If your cat has a history of being outdoors, add some soil or sod to the litter box.
Make the area where she has been eliminating aversive to her by covering it with an upside down carpet runner or aluminum foil, or by placing citrus-scented cotton balls over the area (see our handout: "Aversives For Cats").
Location Preferences
Your cat may have a location preference if:

She always eliminates in quiet, protected places, such as under a desk downstairs or in a closet.
She eliminates in an area where the litter box was previously kept or where there are urine odors.
She eliminates on a different level of the house from where the litter box is located.
What You Can Do
Put at least one litter box on every level of your house.
Make the area where she has been eliminating aversive to her by covering it with upside down carpet runner or aluminum foil, or by placing citrus-scented cotton balls over the area (see our handout: "Aversives For Cats") OR
Put a litter box in the location where your cat has been eliminating. When she has consistently used this box for at least one month, you may gradually move it to a more convenient location at a rate of an inch per day.
Oops!
If you catch your cat in the act of eliminating in the house, do something to interrupt her like making a startling noise, but be careful not to scare her. Immediately take her to where the litter box is located and set her on the floor. If she wanders over to the litter box, wait and praise her after she eliminates in the box. If she takes off in another direction, she may want privacy, so watch from afar until she goes back to the litter box and eliminates, then praise her when she does.

Don't ever punish your cat for eliminating outside of the litter box. If you find a soiled area, it's too late to administer a correction. Do nothing but clean it up. Rubbing your cat's nose in it, taking her to the spot and scolding her, or any other type of punishment, will only make her afraid of you or afraid to eliminate in your presence. Animals don't understand punishment after the fact, even if it's only seconds later. Punishment will do more harm than good.

Other Types Of House Soiling Problems
Marking/Spraying: To determine if your cat is marking or spraying, please see our handout: "Territorial Marking In Dogs And Cats."
Fears Or Phobias: When animals become frightened, they may lose control of their bladder and/or bowels. If your cat is afraid of loud noises, strangers or other animals, she may house soil when she is exposed to these stimuli

Answer 2

Your cat just needs to get used to where he can pee. Start by putting litter trays in all the rooms he is peeing in. Then slowly (over several weeks) slowly move the trays to the place where you want him to pee. Also cats often get fussier as they get older about litter - it must be clean or they will toilet elsewhere. Try to change it as soon as it is dirty. No one likes a toilet that is unflushed. Also while one cat will like one kind of litter another will hate it. If you have changed his litter recently this could be cause. Either way try a few types of litter. AND believe it or not, cats have a preference for colour - they are meant to be colour blind so I dont know how this works, but I had a cat that would never use a yellow tray - any other colour was fine. So try getting another colour tray with a the old litter type or new litter (different from what you have now) and place the trays side by side. Hopefully, you be able to work out what your cat is telling you. Finally, it is always worthwhile visiting a veterinarian and making sure he doesnt have an infection or crystals causing 'stranguria' causing him to be so distracted when he pees he couldnt really care where is(especially important is male house cats). Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Firstly, have you had your cat checked at the vets to ensure that there is not a medical reason for his sudden change in behaviour? If he is experiencing any pain when going to the toilet, he will associate the pain with the litter tray and it will put him off using it. If your vet can rule out a medical reason, then there can be several psychological causes.

As someone has correctly mentioned already, cats do have preferences for types of litter, so if you have changed brand, perhaps you should revert to the previous one used.

How close is the litter tray to his food dishes? If they are in close proximity, this will put a cat off using a litter tray. (who wants to eat their dinner next to the loo?)

A house move is a major upheaval in a cat's life and can be quite stressful for them. Is he going to the toilet next to doors or walkways? This is sometimes done when a cat is feeling insecure and feels the needs to literally leave his mark to warn others of his presence. If this is the case, then you need to confine your cat to a non-carpeted room such as the bathroom or kitchen for anything up to a week and then gradually expose him to the rest of the rooms in the home until he feels confident about his new surroundings and becomes familiar with all the new smells etc.

Occasionally, some cats simply develop a preference for another substrate such as carpet. In this case, again you will need to confine him to a non-carpeted room. Offer him a litter tray that is lined with carpet which he should then be willing to use. If he does begin using the tray again, this will establish to him that it's a good place to go to the toilet. Gradually introduce a light covering of cat litter to the carpet, which is made thicker everytime that you clean the tray. After a few days of him using this, the carpet underneath the litter can then be removed. Do this for at least two weeks before you allow him to have unsupervised contact with carpet in the rest of your home.

I hope some of these suggestions will help. Good luck.

Answer 4

Because he went in the tray at first I would take him to the vets, just to get him checked over. Cats are highly prone to urine infections, and if they get one of these it hurts when they wee. This then makes them think that its the place they wee in that hurts, so they go somewhere else. These infections can be bought on by stress, such as moving house. And weeing in different places is often the only sign too.

If you are certain that its not an infection then I would recommend that you spray all of the places he has been with Fabreese spray. Then give him some more litter trays around the house, and try him with different types of litter too. Some cats just prefer different types. Give him a choice and he may decide to just use a differebt type, and not your nice new carpets.

Another reason can just be stress, and there is a great product called Feliway. it is a pheremone that you plug into a socket in the way, and it helps to help your cat relax and destress.

Hope you fine a solution soon, any questions just message me.

Answer 5

He's been stressed out by the move. Did you change his litter to a different variety about the same time (e.g. local stockist)? Is his litter tray in a "comfortable" place or do you think he thinks it's too open. Can he see outside cats when he pee's? He hasn't got a bout of cystitis has he? That could lead to him messing around the place and it can be triggered by stress (happened to us). If it is that, then an injection by the vet sorted that out for our cat.

My vet stocks a spray called Feliway which is meant to have hormones which comfort the cat. You clean up the mess, then spray it around. My cats noticeably have a good sniff round the area and I found it helped. You can also start to feed him in the places he's messed (after cleaning it up). Cats don't like to mix their food and toilet areas.

Just to empathise - my plumber was visiting last week, so I put the cat tray outside, with the door open. My little Mum cat could go out (she used to), but instead, she chose a plastic bag to pee in instead!

Answer 6

Poor kitty cat is stress too with the moving. Maybe if you can watch him. He may tell you he want to go and then take him to the litter tray. and praise after he goes. Or after each feed take him to the litter tray. Get some catnip in his toys and bed and that has a calming effect on him. Spend time with him and he will get his confidence back.Good luck

Answer 7

You may need to re-train your cat so everytime you see your cat going to stoop just pick them up and place them in their tray. Try to put the tray in a quiet part of the house that makes it more comfortable. Or just try placing your cat in the tray every other hour just so they know where it is etc. Good luck

Answer 8

the answer from kibbi21 is probably the best advice you are going to get, just one thought to add, if you have not changed your cat litter, check with the manufacturer that they have not varied the formulation. Cats can be very sensitive & they may have introduced a new chemical that he finds uncomfortable sometimes 'old & trusted is far better than 'new & improved )

Answer 9

Make sure his tray is in a quiet private place, is kept clean and not cleaned with an unpleasant cleaning product, you could try a citrus carpet spray in his favourite places and even try Feliway diffusers till he's settled.
Discourage him by putting him in his tray as soon as he starts to crouch/scratch

(Feliway is a manufactured product of a pheromone secreted by mummy cats feeding babies. it helps calm , reassure in times of stress. It is recommended for use on urinary marking, scratching etc.)

Answer 10

You should see your vet. He may have developed a bladder infection or FLUTD (feline lower urinary tract disease) which could have been brought on by the stress of the move and new environment.
This website has some great info and is definitely worth checking out:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=1&cat=1372&articleid=214

Answer 11

I think it is called cat attract. it is something you can put in the litter that attracts the cat to the litterbox.