Cats

Talk to your vet to determine if the issue is medical, behavioral, or environmental

Read Time: 6 minutes

There are a number of different reasons why a cat might not use the litter box. Some of these are behavioral while others might be health-related. You’ll want to rule out health problems first before turning to the other possibilities.

Medical Conditions

There are various medical conditions that could cause your cat to avoid using the litter box. These include:

• Urinary tract infection
• Constipation
• Kidney stone
• Bladder stone
• Diabetes
• Cystitis
• Hyperthyroidism
• Cancer
• Arthritis

Take Your Cat to the Vet

If you notice that your cat isn’t using the litter box, the first thing you should do is take your cat to the vet. The vet can determine whether a medical condition is afflicting your pet or if the cause is something else. After you first notice that your cat isn’t using the litter box, keep an eye out for other symptoms. For example, if your cat isn’t relieving itself anywhere, then it may be constipated. If there’s bloody urine, it could a urinary tract infection.

Book an Appointment Right Away

You’ll want to have as much information as possible to give your vet, but don’t wait to make an appointment. Your vet has many tools at their disposal to diagnose your pet even if you don’t have time to observe for other symptoms. There’s bloodwork, fecal examination, urinalysis, or event ultrasounds and x-rays that a vet can use to determine what might be ailing your cat.

Behavioral Issues

It’s important to eliminate possible medical issues first. If your vet has thoroughly checked over your cat and found that there’s no underlying medical condition causing them to not use the litter box, then it’s time to look for behavioral or environmental problems. You’ll have to pay close attention to your cat’s overall behavior and where they’re spraying in order to discover whether there’s an environmental stressor affecting their behavior.

Stress

One possible cause of inappropriate elimination is stress. If your cat is stressed, they might:

• Spray items new to the home that bring in new scents
• Spray vertical or upright surfaces
• Spray windows
• Spray doors
• Spray hallways
• Spray stairways
• Defecating in the litterbox but spraying outside of it
• Spraying in the litter box sometimes but not always

Stress Caused by an Internal Issue

If your cat is spraying in hallways, stairways, and near interior doorways, then the cause of the stress may be inside the home. It could be something like remodeling, rearranging, a new baby, a new pet, or something else that has changed within the house.

Stress Cause by an External Issue

If your cat is spraying near windows and exterior doorways, then they may be detecting a threat outside of the home. Your cat could be sensing something outside that is causing them stress.

How to Treat Your Cat’s Stress

If you believe that your cat is stressed or suffering from anxiety, then you should speak to your vet. There may be anti-anxiety medication that you can give to your cat to help. Your vet may also be able to help you to determine the cause of the stress and to recommend techniques you can use to calm your cat. Cats often don’t like change, so it’s also possible that your cat will stop spraying on their own after they adjust to that change.

Environmental Issues

Cats can be picky about their litter boxes. If the environment isn’t to their liking, whether it’s the location, the type of litter, the number of litter boxes, or something else, then they might eliminate somewhere else.

Not Enough Litter Boxes

If you have more than one cat, it’s important to have enough litter boxes. You should have a number of litter boxes equal to one more than the number of cats you have. If you have three cats, then you’ll need four litter boxes. You’ll also need to make sure that the litter boxes aren’t placed close to one another. Ideally, they should be on separate floors when possible.

Litter Box Location

The litter box should be in as quiet and private a place as possible. They should also be located as far away from your cat’s food dish as you can manage. Additionally, the box shouldn’t be located somewhere dark or tight, like a closet. If the litter box isn’t in a location that your cat likes, then they may eliminate elsewhere. It’s also important to not move the litter box unless you have to because cats are creatures of habit.

Block off the Litter Box

If you have small children, you may want to block off access to the litter box in such a way that your cat can still reach it but that your children can’t. Unwanted intruders like children or other pets could disturb your cat’s sense of privacy and security with that litter box location, which could drive them to avoid using it.

Cleanliness

It’s vital to keep the litter box and the area around it clean. Cats tend to be fastidious about cleanliness and if they think their litter box isn’t clean enough, they won’t use it. How often you need to clean the litter box depends on the cat. Some cats require the litter box to be cleaned after every use while others are willing to use it a few times before you have to clean it.

Type of Litter

The type of litter also matters. Different litters have different textures and smells and if your doesn’t like it, they won’t use it. If you’ve recently changed the type of litter you buy for your cat, then that could be the cause of the inappropriate elimination. Try an unscented brand or a different material. Many cats prefer a sandier type of litter.

Type of Litter Box

Some cats don’t like a hood on their litter box, preferring it to be open. Others prefer the litter box to have a top. It’s also possible that your cat could be too big for the litter box. Older cats might have difficulty climbing into a litter box with sides that are too tall.

Concerned about your pet’s health?

Contact us

If you have any questions about your cat’s behavior, please call our clinic at (407) 352-2579. We’ll help you through it.

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Help reunite a lost kitty with their family

Read Time: 5 minutes

Capture and Contain the Cat

If you’re able to do so safely, try to capture and contain the cat. If it’s a domestic cat that got out, it may be easier to capture than if it’s a stray. For a stray cat, you may need to contact the police or animal control.

Approach Cautiously

No matter how the cat is behaving, it’s important to approach it with caution. You never know when a sudden movement of yours could spook the cat or make it feel threatened. From a distance, it can be difficult to tell if it’s a feral cat, a stray, someone’s house cat that escaped, or an outdoor pet. It’s better to be safe than sorry!

Speak Gently and Bribe with Food

Speaking in a friendly, gentle voice can help put the cat at ease. If the cat is hiding in a small space and is difficult to reach, you can try using food to coax it out into the open.

Confine in a Cat Carrier

If you are able to successfully capture the cat on your own, place it in a cat carrier or some other sort of secure container that has air holes. If the cat is stray or feral, it may dislike being confined, so it’s important that the container is secure or it may escape.

Call Animal Control

If the cat is behaving aggressively, call the authorities. Animal control can more safely catch a cat that is aggressive or running away. The more information you can provide about its exact location or its appearance, the easier it will be for the authorities to capture and contain the cat.

It’s important to not risk your own safety in order to catch the cat.

Take the Cat to a Vet

Once you have captured the cat, take it to a vet for a check-up. The vet can tell you if there are any health issues that need to be addressed.

Contact the Owner

It’s essential to try to contact the owner, if there is one, as soon as possible. A family may be missing a vital furry family member. If you’re able to reunite them, you’d be doing a good deed that will make the family and cat very happy.

Check for ID Tags

First, check around the cat’s neck for a collar. If it’s a pet, especially an outdoor pet, there may be an ID tag with an owner’s contact information. If there is an ID tag, you can contact the owner immediately to return the pet. If you’re unable to reach the owner, even with their contact information, you can try calling back a few hours later and either hold on to the cat until then or take it to a shelter.

Scan for a Microchip

If there is no ID tag, the next step is to get the cat scanned for a microchip. An animal shelter should be able to do the scan for you. You can either take the cat there yourself or call animal control or the police.

File a Found Report

If you’re not immediately able to get a hold of the owner of the cat, it’s important to file a report with the local animal shelter to inform them that you’ve found the cat. The owner may be contacting local shelters in an effort to find their pet. Especially if you’ve decided to hold onto the cat until you can get a hold of the owners, it’s important to leave a found report with your contact information so the owner can find you.

You can also make a listing on Facebook announcing that you’ve found the cat. There are specific pages dedicated to lost pets. If there’s one for your area, you can make an announcement online with a picture of the cat.

Take the Cat to an Animal Shelter

If you can’t get a hold of the owner or there is no ID tag on the cat, you should take the cat to the local animal shelter. The shelter can take care of the cat as well as scan for a microchip. Some animal shelters cannot take the cat to keep, however. Ask about this over the phone before you bring them in. The owner may stop by the shelter to look for their pet in the hopes that someone stopped by to trop it off or to file a found report.

What If the Cat Has No ID Tags?

If the cat has no ID tags, finding the owner is more difficult. If the cat’s behavior suggests that it is a pet, it’s important to make the effort to try to find the owner.

Take the Cat to an Animal Shelter

If you take the cat to an animal shelter, they should be able to scan for a microchip. If the cat has no microchip, the shelter may still have received a report from the owner about a missing cat and may be able to help find the owner. If no owner can be found, a shelter can look after the cat until they can get it adopted.

Post a Picture in the Shelter’s Database

Filing a report with the shelter and posting a picture of the found cat will help the owner find their cat. This will increase the chances that the cat is reunited with its rightful owner and family.

Post Fliers

You can also post fliers around your neighborhood and where you found the cat with pictures and your contact information. Also, try posting a found cat announcement online. You never know who may know the owner.

Look for Lost Cat Fliers

Check around your neighborhood, especially where you found the cat, for fliers. The owner may have posted fliers with a picture and their own contact information (and possibly a reward!).

Check Online

Look online to see if anyone has posted a notice that they’ve lost their cat. Social media platforms like Facebook may have pages where people can post lost or found reports. Craigslist can also be a good resource. The Internet has made it a lot easier to reunite lost pets with their owners and many strangers online may be willing to help.

How Can I Tell if the Cat Is Just an Outdoor Cat?

Some cats are outdoor cats. Their owners purposely let them roam and they return home regularly for food and to sleep. But how can you tell if the cat you found is an outdoor cat, if it’s a stray or feral, or if it’s an indoor cat that’s gotten out?

Look for ID Tags

First, check for ID tags. If the cat has identification, that rules out stray or feral.

Check the Cat’s Appearance

Look at the cat’s appearance. Any outdoor cat that regularly returns home would be clean and well-groomed. Feral cats are actually the same way – they know how to fend for and groom themselves and will look nicer. An indoor cat that has escaped may be thinner than normal or may look scruffy. Indoor cats aren’t used to hunting or otherwise fending for themselves.

Look for Nervous Behaviors

Is the cat skittish and nervous? If it’s an indoor cat that got out, it may be scared and anxious. Feral cats tend to be nervous around people and may run or be aggressive. Outdoor cats are often very friendly and may come up to you for petting. A stray cat could be either friendly or standoffish, depending on the cat’s personality.

All cats do tend to be wary of people, so you should observe the cat over time to see how it behaves. Owned cats do tend to be more trusting of people. Indoor cats that get outside may follow you anxiously or meow at you as if they need something from you.

Call the Owner

If you find a cat with an ID tag and you’re unsure if it’s supposed to be outside or not, call the owner. They can verify for you whether their cat is meant to be outside. If it’s an outdoor cat, then no harm was done and you’ll know for the future that that particular cat is supposed to be there. If it’s an indoor cat, then you’ve just helped reunited it with the owner.

Ask Around

The people who live in that area may know more about the cats that are there. Neighbors may recognize the cat and be able to tell you if it’s supposed to be outside or not, or if it’s stray.

What If There Is No Owner?

There may be no owner. The cat may have been abandoned or it may be a stray. If you have done your due diligence in trying to locate the owner and were unsuccessful, you have two options: keep the cat yourself or rehome the cat.

Keep the Cat

If you cannot find the owner and have forged a connection with the cat you found, you may decide to keep the cat. You’ll want to make sure that you can provide a good home for it and take care of it properly, though.

Take the Cat to a Vet

If you’re keeping the cat, the first step is to take it to the vet. You can establish a relationship with a vet early in your pet ownership and make sure that the cat is healthy. You can also get the cat spayed or neutered as well as get any shots or medication it might need.

Buy Food and Supplies

Next, stop by a pet store for food and supplies. If you’re a first-time cat owner, you’ll need a bed, food, toys, litter, a litter box, and treats. The employees can help you find what you need. Even if you already have cats or other pets, you may want to have some supplies specifically for the new cat.

Learn to Care for the Cat

If you’re new to owning a cat, it’s essential to do your research. Look online, ask your vet or the pet store employees for advice.

Find the Cat a Home

If you’re unable to take in the cat yourself, you’ll need to find it a new home.

Take the Cat to a Shelter

One option is to take the cat to a shelter. They may have more resources to care for the cat and to find it a new home. However, shelters can be over-crowded and some are unfortunately forced to put down animals that they are unable to rehome.

Rehome the Cat

Alternatively, you can try to find a new home for the cat yourself. Post fliers and ask around. You can also post online to find a new home for the cat.