How to Stop a Cat from Spraying Inside Your House

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Doctor Marcia Martin and we're here at Safe Harbor Animal Rescue in Jupiter, Florida, and today we're going to talk about why my cat is spraying outside of the litter box. Litter box issues, house soiling is one of the biggest complaints that cat owners have. It's one of the main reasons they come to the veterinarian with their cat, because they're not using the litter box. If your cat suddenly stops using his litter box, the first thing you need to do is take him to your vet and get him a good medical workup, 'cause we need to rule out a physical cause for him to be not using his litter box. He needs to be checked for urinary tract infection, bladder stones, things like diabetes or renal disease. And sometimes even hyperthyroidism will cause them not to want to use their litter box. Next, once we've ruled that out, we need to look at our litter box routine. Now sometimes cats get picky with their litter boxes. One thing you want to avoid is those tiny little litter boxes that they sell at most pet stores. The ones that are just barely big enough for the cat to get in, because no cat wants to go in a litter box where he's going to step in his own feces, or worse yet, the feces or urine of one of the other household cats. What we recommend is to get an under bed storage container, one of these long ones that are like, two feet wide and four feet long. Make sure you're using a clay litter. A lot of cats, there's been studies done that clay litter is what they like best. So if he's suddenly not using the natural litter, or the litter that you normally use, go back to clay. You can also add cat attractant to the litter to help the cat want to come back into the litter. Make sure your litter boxes are in places your cats can get to. Yes, none of us like litter boxes sitting out in our house, but your cat's not going to go down three flights of stairs and open a door to get to his litter box. He's going to go where it's convenient for him to go, so make sure your litter boxes are someplace the cat can get to. Have more than one litter box so that all the cats aren't fighting over litter box space. Then, once that's taken care of, you also need to look at stress. Sometimes house soiling issues are kitty cat stress. If you've brought a new cat into the household, if suddenly the kitties are not getting along, if you've brought a new mate of your own into the household, any sort of upset in the house, construction going on inside or outside, can cause kitties to not use their litter box. There are medical treatments for this, if it's emotional. We can treat it with psychiatric drugs, such as Prozac, to calm things down and help him deal with his stress. We can also treat the medical causes. But, dealing with spraying in the house is a multi-factoral treatment. It's not an easy fix, and it takes some time and it takes some work on your part. So, if you have spraying issues, see your vet."