Why is my cat peeing outside the litter box?
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at
11:49 pm
He peed over one main section of the ouch – numerous times. The litter box is clean, I treat him well (he cannot be mad at me), is fed well, and he has access to the litter box. He poops in the litter box, though. Could he be spraying yet? He is 3 months. I am desperate, as my couch STINKS. Thanks.
Filed under: Cat Litter
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infection
Get him checked out incase their is a infection. If he is not neutered this may be another cause of it. Or your cat just may be fussy about his litterbox. My male cat never would use the litterbox if it was the least bit dirty. Here are somethings you can do to get him to go pea in the litter box:
1. Get a larger litter box
2. Make sure the litter box is clean, if u are a busy person then get a slef cleaning litter box.
3. Get him neutered.
4. Get his bladder checked out
5. If you have other cats, he may not like sharing his litter box.
6. Put the litter box in a private area
7. If you have other animals like dogs, put the litterbox away from their cages. My cat used to not use his litter box because he would have to walk by the dogs crates to get to it.
Was he using the litter box until recently? You may want to have the cat checked for a urinary tract infection, if you haven’t already. UTI’s can be treated easily by the vet when caught early.
maybe she /he isnt trained
Chances are, he’s not spraying yet, but could be displaying the insolence many male cats do when ‘coming of age’. Was your couch previously owned by someone else with cats (or did you have another cat around this couch before you got this one?) He could be marking his territory.
Now that that section of the couch smells like his pee, he has adopted it as his makeshift litter box. Scrub, steam clean, douse the smell out of the area, otherwise the problem will be more difficult to stop. And if you catch him in or after the act, once you scold him, bring him to the litter box and show it to him, reminding him that he should be doing BOTH bowel movements in there!
First have it checked for a physical problem. If it only goes on the couch, it’s the smell. Something about the couch smell originally attracted the kitten and now it continues going there. You may have to get rid of the couch, but first try treating it thoroughly with Nature’s Miracle or a similar product.
Could be a number of things. Is the litterbox in a safe, private place where he can get to it easily? If its clean, is it TOO clean? Kittens have a very strong sense of smell and if you clean the litter box too well, you also remove their scent. Is the box big enough? Private enough? Maybe he doesn’t like the type of litter you’re using?
You’ll need to clean the area of the sofa where the kitten is urinating and the area around it with a vinegar/water solution. If the kitten still insists on using the sofa, you might try placing the litterbox beside the sofa for awhile then slowly moving it a few feet away and back to its original spot once he gets the hang of it.
hi jen, all it takes is for ONE accident to happen. After that the smell is hard to come out of it and so he will always think thats the place to pee ( since he is a kitten and isnt fully 100 percent trained yet) . u will have to find something to really get the smell out of it. Keep showing him the liter box. try locking him in the room where the litter box is over night one night while u are asleep and he ‘ll figure it out eventually. some kittens take longer than others to learn how to potty train just like kids thats all !
He might be spraying, but I think that he is probably a little young for that…I don’t think cats start doing that until they are six months old or so. I was having the opposite problem with my cat…he would pee in his litterbox but would poop in front of his litterbox or by the front door (yes, I know, it’s gross). He wouldn’t be mad about anything, his litterbox would be clean, etc. I read on the internet that some cats like the feel of different surfaces and will pee and/or poop in those areas because they like they way the surfaces feel under their paws. The areas in front of the litterbox and front door were linoleum, which is how I figured out that’s what the issue was. He stopped doing it in front of the front door (Thank God!), but will still do it in front of his litterbox, but I don’t care so much about that, since it’s in an out of the way place. Maybe your kitten likes the feel of the couch?
Also, be sure you are cleaning the area of the couch where he has peed very well. If they can smell the scent of pee (even a tiny bit) they will keep going there because they will think it’s okay since they’ve done it before. Also make sure the litterbox is in an easily accessible place for him.
If this stuff doesn’t work, call your vet…they have behavioral modification techniques that can work in situations like the one you described. Hope this helps.