How to prevent my cat from urinating at home

Content

• Why do house cats urinate outside the litter box?
• How can we prevent cats from urinating outside the litter box?

We know that cats are very clean animals, but sometimes, especially males, they urinate outside the litter box we have prepared for their needs and leave marks in other parts of the house. But why do they do it? Can we avoid this? They do indeed have their reasons for doing so and, yes, we can avoid this behavior in most cases.

If you are the owner of a cat that follows this behavior that usually bothers humans and you are interested in correcting it, continue reading this article by PeritoAnimal and find out how to prevent my cat from urinating at home.

Why do house cats urinate outside the litter box?

Surely if you have a cat that urinates on the wall, sofa, chairs and other places in your house and it is rare to do so in your litter box, you will have asked this question. We must remember that although they have been domesticated for many centuries and some prefer to live with humans, cats still have their instinct. Therefore, they will continue to do things that for us are strange or even uncomfortable. In the case of urine outside the site, it can be for several reasons, such as:

• The most common reason is mark their territory. Cats, both males and females, but especially them, mark a lot what is theirs and one way to do this is with urine. Their urine for us has a strong and unpleasant smell, but for them it is something more and contains a high level of pheromones that serve to identify themselves, attract each other or to achieve the opposite effect by keeping them away from possible competitors. Through the urine they know if it is a male or a female and they can even know if it is an adult or not. Furthermore, in the case of marking females, males are able to identify this way when they are in heat, among other things that can only communicate with the urine.
• Maybe for them your litter box is too close to your feeding zone and, as they are very clean, they do not accept to use the litter box and urinate further away.
• Another reason is that they don't find your sandbox clean enough because there are already some faeces and urine accumulated. It could be stress from some new situation that you haven't been able to adapt to yet.
• It could be that the problem is the type of sand we use. Cats are very sensitive with their tastes for things, so you may not like it. the smell or texture of the sand that we use for your box.
• You have to check if you can detect more symptoms, because sometimes this behavior is due to some kind of illness.
• If you have several cats, it could be that don't like to share the sandbox with your companions, so we must have a litter box for each cat.

How can we prevent cats from urinating outside the litter box?

It is possible to prevent and correct this behavior in domestic cats. Next, we'll introduce you to a series of tips for andprevent your cat to urinate out of place:

• If you don't want your cat to do its chores indoors and you have outside land for your friend to go out, try have a cat door so he can get in and out of the house whenever he needs to. Keep in mind that if you don't have access to the area where you normally do your needs, you'll end up doing it wherever you can. Remember that in the case of cats that go outside we must have them properly identified with a microchip and a collar for cats with an identification plate, so in case it gets lost we can retrieve it more easily.
• Make sure the your cat's litter box is always clean enough. As mentioned before, they are very clean animals, so if they consider that their litter box is too full, they will not want to enter it and will end up doing their needs wherever they want.
• If you have several cats and are not satisfied with just one litter box, it is not surprising, as for many of them it is difficult to share this space and they will choose to look for a corner. The solution is simple in this case, have a litter box for each cat.
• maybe have to place the sandbox in another area of ​​the house, because it may be that if you are in the same room or very close to the eating area where you have your food and water, choose not to make your needs so close and look elsewhere. Thus, placing the sandbox elsewhere may be enough to solve the problem.
• We must confirm that this is not the sand we use for the box. If our cat doesn't like the texture or the fragrant smell of the cat litter we use in his litter box, he will easily stop using it and look for more comfortable corners for him. so we must change the type or sandmark that we buy and confirm if this is the cause of our cat's behavior.
• If, due to other symptoms, you suspect that it may be some kind of disease, do not hesitate to go to your trusted veterinarian, for him to carry out the necessary tests to be able to diagnose and indicate the appropriate treatment. A very common disease in this case is crystals in the urinary tract. It is good that this problem is detected as soon as possible, as this will be much easier to solve, the longer it takes to go to the vet, the more serious the problem will become, in addition to appearing other secondary. As the disease is cured, the problem of urine out of place will also correct itself.
• It may be that there has been some recent change, however small, in our cat's life that is causing him stress. One of the most frequent symptoms of stress in cats is this inappropriate behavior, as they are disoriented and nervous. try find what causes stress in your partner and see if you can change this situation. In case you can't change, we should try to get the cat to become familiar with the positive reinforcement, in addition to consulting the veterinarian to see if he can recommend something effective to reduce stress to our feline.
• In the case of marking the territory, sterilization usually reduces or eliminates this behavior.. Sterilized females as they are no longer in heat will not need to call the males and neutered males will not look for females in heat nor will they need to mark their territory with strong smells.
• One way to re-educate your cat to use the litter box again, having solved the original problem first, be it stress, illness or whatever, is to go putting sandboxes where you have marked at home.
• Another widely used and efficient method are cat pheromones like Feliway that are sold in spray and in diffuser. Pheromones help to reduce or eliminate stress on our friend as well as giving him a familiar smell. If you choose the diffuser, spread it out in the area where the cat normally spends the most hours, for example in the kitchen, living room or our bedroom. On the contrary, the spray should be sprayed in areas where our partner has marked with urine. First, we must clean these marked areas with water and alcohol and let them dry. Do not use products with strong smells such as bleach and ammonia. Then you should spray these areas with the pheromone spray daily. The effects may start to be noticed in the first week but a month of daily use is not recommended before you know if you are having the desired effect or not. Nowadays, in many veterinary clinics the Feliway pheromone diffuser is used permanently, so that cats who go to consultations suffer less stress.
• When we see that our furry companion is using the litter box for his needs, instead of continuing to mark corners of the house, we should wait for it to finish and then reward him with a little fun or treats if he's near the sandbox. It doesn't usually work with cats to reward them with food, as they do not like to add food to their needs area, so we must resort to positive reinforcement with caresses and games. So, little by little, we are able to reinforce the idea that using the sandbox is good.

Remember that, in the face of a disorder of this type, the first thing we should check is that our feline is not sick. Once the disease is discarded or already treated, as we can see, it is relatively simple to recover the proper behavior of using the sandbox. Also, you must be very patient as this is a process of recovery and learning.