Expert: Norman Auspitz - 4/15/2010

Question
Hi, I have 2 indoor female cats at home. Both are spayed and under 4 years old. The slightly older one began spraying the wall behind the litter box. She has been to the vet to check for UTI and that was fine. I have not seen her actually squat to urinate since she began doing this. We have 3 litter boxes, all with plastic protecting the walls now. Any suggestions on what the cause might be and how to fix it? I would prefer not giving her anxiety meds. thank you, adam

Answer
Adam,

It looks as if you have ruled out any medical issues, so the problem must be behavioral.  It is also possible the original cause of the spraying is gone and the behavior is just continuing on.  Well, it could be caused by any number of things. Here are 10 of the most common reasons cats urinate outside the box:

1. The litter is dirty
2. The box smells bad
3. The box is too small
4. The box smells like harsh cleaning chemicals
5. You don't scoop often enough
6. Your cats don't like the kind of litter you're using
7. The litter is too deep
8. The litter isn't deep enough
9. The box is in a noisy location / cats have no privacy
10. You don't have enough boxes (you need at least 1 box per cat)

If your cat is urinating outside the litter box because of an odor issue, it can be a tough problem to solve. That's because once your kitty starts urinating in a spot outside the box, she will continue to do it over and over again. The smell just naturally draws her back to that spot (just as it does when she sprays to mark her territory, and yes, female cats will mark territory).

It's hard to get your cat to stop urinating outside the box, especially when she's been doing it for a while. Getting rid of the cat urine odor isn't easy either, but it CAN be done. You can try a product called Zero Odor.  Also, you may have to apply it beneath where you put up the plastic.  Cats also hate to urinate on aluminum foil, so, you might try that on top of the plastic, after you have thoroughlky cleaned and (hopefully) deoderized the area. Just because we cannot smell it, does not mean the cat cannot smell it as they have a much better sense of smell than we do!!!!!

You can also try a Feliway diffuser in the room where the litter pans are and see if that works.

My bet is that if you can neutralize the odor, the cat will stop spraying.

Good luck and best regards... Norm.