Expert: Dear Tabbi - 12/16/2008

Question
Please, Please can you help me. I have a cat that consistanity poos and wees inside the house. if we leave the bathroom door open, she will wee in the sink and poo in the shower; we then have oviously clean it up and put disinfectant in the area. This is very annoying as she is doing this repeativly everyday, and we are having to shut all the doors in the house. We have a cat-flap, and a cat tray which we always change to be clean, and still we do not under stand why she is doing this indoors. We have said that we would have to find her a new home, but we really really don't wont to since she is a beautiful, loving cat. What do we do?

Answer
Sadie,

A cat does that for a reason, it's just that sometimes you need to be a detective to ferret out that reason.

One reason is that it could be a medical issue. The cat may have internal parasites, abdominal problems, urinary tract infection, etc. If it painful when the cat eliminates, it will associate that pain with the litterbox and go elsewhere. You may want to get the cat checked by a vet to rule out a medical problem before dealing with it as a behavioral one.

Tips:
I would try moving her litterbox to the bathroom where she prefers to go. Her litterbox may be out in the open now and that makes some cats uncomfortable...they like privacy.

Try getting a larger litterbox with deeper litter in it. Some cats feel their litterbox is too small for their comfort (or getting their paws 'dirty'). Deeper litter helps their urge to dig.

Leave your bathroom faucet on with a tiny stream of water coming out. She won't want to get in there and get wet. If she quits using the sink then keep the water of again, unless she likes to drink out of it. I leave my drip because some of my cats prefer the cold fresh water from a faucet than their water bowl. As long as the drain can't close by accident, then it isn't a problem for me.

If she has been declawed (horrors!) then that would be the reason for her behavior. Declawing can leave exposed nerve endings (though you can't see them) and it is VERY painful to scratch in litter. It is like having your fingers cut off then digging in gravel with the nubs.

She may not go outside because something is scaring her (or has scared her at some point when she was going) when she eliminates outside.

Rarely, some cats have a total aversion to cat litter and will NOT use it. You may want to try shredded newspaper or a puppy pee-pad in the box, or next to it. If she uses that, it will tell you that you have a litter problem causing her behavior.

Here are some articles that may be informative to you also about improper elimination:
(copy and paste, or type, the whole links into your address bar)

That should give you some directions to go, plus I am including some  links to good articles about improper elimination that you may  find helpful: (copy and paste or type the whole links into your address bar)

http://cats.about.com/cs/behavioralissues/a/outsidebox_two.htm

http://www.geocities.com/heartland/pointe/9352/litterboxhelp.html

http://www.apbc.org.uk/article10.htm

http://www.secretsofcats.com/behavior/peeing-pooping-problems.html

I hope this helps.

Tabbi