Expert: Becky - 1/24/2006

Question
Hello. I have a very important question. My mother, who lives in another country, has a female cat. It´s been four months since she has been part of the family. Mom says she loves her, and wants to keep her, but for a month the cat has been peeing everywhere but in her box. Mom says that the cat watches other cats by the window and gets really angry with them. Mom thinks this could be the source of the problem. My grandmother thinks that the problem is that mom is not very careful with cats and makes her angry by playing with her tail. My aunt says that the problem could be that my mother´s husband is very noisy and she runs from him all the time, which makes her nervous.

My mom bought another box so that one of them is always clean, but it doesn´t seem to help. I am worried because my mothers husband is seriously considering to return the cat to the shelter because the smell is unbearable. ¿what are other causes for this cat to act like that?

Answer
Hello Edith,

It sounds like she really had a problem here.  You can retrain a cat to use the litter box, but it takes patience and time. First.....confine the cat to a small room, like a bathroom,  with food,water and litter, when she is not home. This will force her to use the litter box.   When home.....the cat must be supervised at all times.  When the cat begins to use any place other than the litter box, she needs to be scooped up quickly and taken to her box.  She MUST be watched!  The carpet MUST be thoroughly cleaned to get any urine odors up.  If she smells where she went, she will try to go there again.  All stains, or the whole carpet should be either professionally cleaned , or a shampooer rented using a good pet stain removal shampoo.   If there is one place that she likes to use,  after it is cleaned and dried, put aluminum foil over that spot.  Cats hate it!!
If your mother will carefully do this, the cat can be retrained.  If not, then she will continue to use the carpet or wherever else she wants to.
Yes, stress and change can cause a cat to do this.  If she is especially stressed out, it would cause this behaviour.
One other thing.....tell her to NEVER spank or hit the cat for not using the litte box.  This does NOT work on cats. She simply needs to scoop the  cat up and take her to her litter box if an accident occurs.  Also... lots of praise when she does use the box!!

God Bless,
Becky