Do you find your cat urinating everywhere? Do you find them creating themselves alternate litter boxes around your home; the carpet, sofas, bedding and other places? If so then you know how frustrating this behaviour can be and it is probably driving you crazy! Don’t worry though the cause of this should be easy to diagnose and will help you end up getting rid of those urine marks (and the horrid smell) around your home.
There are various reasons that your cat may be going through which is causing this unnecessary urination outside of their litter box and they are as follows:
- Infection
Cats can have infections such as urinary tract infection which affects their urination and could be the underlying cause. It is easy to check out, just go to your vet and get them to give your cat a once over to make sure that they don’t have the infection.
This should be the first thing you need to do because this infection requires immediate action from your vet. Don’t worry though, this is a very treatable infection and so are many other medical problems such as a blocked urethra but as mentioned you need to make sure that you take them to the vets when you start to notice urine all over the house, blood in the urine or if you notice your cat not going as much as they should be.
- Litter Box Aversion
If you find that your cat doesn’t have an infection the next most common thing which may be the underlying cause is litter box aversion. This is when your cat will avoid using the box for different reasons.
Cats are very fussy pets and if things aren’t to their standard then they will start to act up. Some things which may cause litter box aversion are:
- The walls are too high – For cats with weak joints and those that are getting old and even kittens, if the litter box walls are too high then chances are that they will avoid using this as their toilet as it is too much effort to get to.
- The area of the litter box – sometimes the area of the box is the most important thing to your cat. You can have the right litter but the wrong location will keep your cat away. Places that are too loud, too dark, too cold, too hot etc are all places that will keep your cat away.
- The litter itself – Your cat may just dislike the litter you are using. It may be rough or too soft or it may smell different for them. There are many reasons why litter won’t work for them.
- The cleaning of the litter box – If you clean the box with your own chemicals instead of actual cat cleaner then you may find that the residue from the chemicals aggravate your cat from using the box.