If your cat is peeing outside their litter box, on your bed, sofa, carpet or other part of your home, it can be easy to feel this is deliberate or they are just misbehaving.
In reality, this problem is usually an indication that something isn’t right. And by empathizing with them and attempting to understand the problem, you can resolve it—making your cat happier and your life easier!
If your cat is urinating in the house, the first thing to consider is that your furry friend may be unwell. Any form of pain or discomfort can lead to your cat avoiding the litter tray and looking for an alternative place to pee that may be more comfortable or hidden away.
Feeling unwell can be a very stressful experience for cats. Take them to your veterinarian as soon as you notice this problem, to ensure that they are physically healthy and if there is a medical problem present, behavioural treatment won’t be successful.
An example medical issue is cystitis. This can be triggered by a stressful environment or routine change, and you may see signs such as frequent, painful urination, peeing outside the litterbox and blood in the urine.
It is usually best for your cat if you work with both your veterinarian and a behaviourist when looking to resolve this issue permanently.
With medical issues ruled out, we can begin to look at the stressors within the home that may be triggering the problem. These can also be present outside the home. For example, many cats are worried about other cats loitering outside their home and even seeing them from windows can be enough to cause them to be anxious.
This can affect their behaviour within the home and lead them to show stressed cat symptoms such as peeing away from the litter tray.
Other common cat stressors include changes to their routine and territory. For example, home renovations or even just redecorating can come with a host of potential stressors that can trigger bouts of house soiling. There may be strange people coming and going throughout the day, new strong smells that replace their own scent marks and loud and persistent noises that they cannot escape from.
They may not be able to access parts of their territory during this time so it can lead to a mix of anxiety and frustration that is difficult for them to work through.
You may find that your cat pees outside the litter box without any obvious sources of cat stress. It could be that they are just not happy with the litter trays provided for various reasons:
In almost every instance, regardless of the initial cause of the problem with the litter tray, the discomfort in using such a litter tray will often lead to your cat feeling stressed.
If underlying issues are not resolved the situation may only worsen. Not only will you have to hunt around your home to clean up spots of pee, but your cat may also become chronically stressed—leading to further health and behaviour issues, affecting your cat’s quality of life.
To resolve your cat’s house soiling issues, we recommend that you try to look at the world from their point of view. Ask yourself … what would your cat consider to be an ideal litter tray set up? How can you help reduce your cat’s stress?
Try using FELIWAY Optimum to create a calming environment. The serenity messages released from the diffuser are odourless to humans but help to reassure our cats, supporting them to feel more at ease at home. Plug the diffuser in the room where your cat spends most of their time to get the best results.
Although in an ideal world we would make this as convenient as we can for us, we must give priority to what our cat needs, to keep them happy and healthy and your home a pee free zone.
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