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Litter Box Problems
Dear Dr. Berg
I read your articles on pets faithfully and I hope that you
can help me.
I have a pure bred Siamese who is very beautiful but also
very spoiled. We’ve had him since he was
6 weeks old and he’s now 7 years old.
The last 3 months he has refused to cover up his mess in the litter box
and I cannot abide by this. We have
tried hard to keep his litter box clean, but he still refuses to do what his
mother taught him.
I am seriously thinking of finding him a new home. I am 77 years old and can’t cope with him
doing this. Recently, he has even put a
tiny bit on my bathroom rug. Would it be
better if he just had hard food; we now give him both hard and canned.
You can have him if you will give him a good home and lots
of love. His name is Soo Ling.
Thank you.
M. R.,
Newark
Dear M.R.,
It’s very hard to say exactly why your cat has decided to
stop covering his droppings in the litter box, but there are a few things that
you can do to minimize the odor and mess that he leaves behind.
You might want to try using a totally covered litter box, if
you haven’t already tried one. Many cats
enjoy the privacy a cover offers, and the cover helps to keep both the litter
and litter box odors contained.
You also may want to try placing the litter box in the
bottom of a closet and leaving the closet door slightly cracked open, allowing
the cat to enter and exit. For those
owners with dogs who like to dig for “treats” in the litter box, try installing
a small hook, allowing only enough of an opening for a cat’s body to fit
through. If your dog is the same size as
the cat, try placing the cat’s litter box up high enough that the dog can’t
reach it but that the usually more agile cat can safely climb to use.
In the past when, we
had multiple cats living with us, I replaced one of our closet doors with an
inexpensive one, and then cut a small mouse hole in the bottom of the
door. I put a small flap of fabric over
the opening, and this system kept the litter and smells contained within the
closet.
Have you seen the new automatic litter boxes? They cost a lot more than a plain litter box,
but they actually work quite well. Quite
a few of my clients have told me that they (and their cat) are thrilled with
them. When a cat steps into the
automatic litter box, a built-in motion detector starts a timer. Approximately 10 minutes after the cat has
exited the box, the timer turns on a motorize rake which slowly sweeps across
the litter box, thereby sifting the litter for clumps and deposits. Once the rake reaches the other side of the
box, it neatly deposits what it has “found” into a small covered tray,
containing the smells and mess. The only
job that the cat owner needs to do is to periodically empty the covered tray
and to top-off the litter in the box as necessary. Some boxes even have a small mat at one side
for the cat to wipe its own feet!
I once took car of a big orange cat named Jasper who really
loved his automatic litter box; not only was the box always clean, but Jasper
would run to his box when he heard the motor so that he could watch the rake go
across.
Dear Jim,
We have a seven-year-old cat who has refused to use the
litter box. We took her to the vet and
he said she might have crystals; the blood work came back OK. We have changed the litter to a new brand,
tried putting her in a cage with a box.
The vet said put her outside or get her a new home. The cat has been declawed and I would never
put her outside or give her to someone.
I hope you can give me some idea of what to do. We clean both litter boxes every day.
D. V.,
Fenwick Island
Dear D.V.,
There are many potential causes of a cat suddenly changing
their litter box habits. Cats are
naturally clean animals, so that when a cat suddenly starts eliminating in
unusual areas, there is usually something physically or emotionally wrong.
Your description sound like your cat may be producing tiny
crystals in her urine. The presence of
crystal in urine can create irritation to both the bladder and urethra, which,
in turn, may lead to an increased sense of urgency to urinate and lead to
“accidents” in the house. More
seriously, these crystals can sometimes lead to a total blockage of the urinary
tract, which is always an emergency situation and can lead to death in as
little as 12-24 hours. If you have any
questions about your cat’s ability to urinate, you should ALWAYS consult with
your veterinarian.
Many veterinarians will send urine samples to a pathology
lab to be analyzed. The lab will test
for the presence of things such as blood, bacteria, or crystals. If crystals are found, they can be properly
identified as to what type of crystals they are. The crystal type is important because
altering the diet may help to reduce their formation in the future. Your veterinarian may also recommend the
addition of supplements to the diet to make the urine more acid or alkaline
(depending on the crystal type) that can further inhibit crystal formation in
the urine.
Urine often will be obtained as a “sterile sample” by
carefully inserting a needle directly into the bladder and drawing urine
out. Using this special technique helps
to avoid contamination that may occur if a urine sample is collected by other
methods. If bacteria are detected in
such a sample, they usually are significant and will be identified as well as
sensitivity tested to see what antibiotics are likely to work best against
them.
Your veterinarian may also recommend an abdominal x-ray or
ultrasound to examine the various structures of the urinary tract. Ultrasound is especially valuable and may
detect small defects or abnormalities.
Ultrasound can also be used to direct a special needle within the
abdomen to obtain a tissue sample when indicated without having to open up the
abdomen by surgical incision.
If testing finds everything is OK, your cat’s change in
toilet habits may be behavioral in nature.
Urine or bowel movement placed in unusual places usually is very
effective a getting an owner’s attention, even if the attention is negative in
nature.
Behavioral issues can be hard to figure out and even harder
to resolve. If you’ve changed your cat’s
litter type lately, try going back to the litter you were using when she was
“being good”. Keep her litter boxes
immaculately clean, and make sure the boxes are places in a convenient place that
is free of unwanted distractions or noises.
Some cats prefer covered boxes because of their privacy, but a
substantial percentage of cats actually dislike covered boxes because the cover
tends to contain smells within the box (do you like to use the bathroom or
portable potty when it smells?). Try
adding extra boxes in new locations and use new and “exciting” types of litter
that cats may enjoy simply because they are new and special. Sand, shredded newspaper, packing peanuts,
fish gravel, and old-fashioned clay litter all may be enjoyed because of their
newness. Pay attention to how the litter
is scented because some smells that you enjoy may not be so well appreciated by
your cat.
If there are distractions or noises outside that may be
causing your cat to become anxious, such as a new cat or dog in the
neighborhood, try masking the noise by turning a fan or TV on and pulling the
blinds closed. If you’ve introduced new
smells in your house the house (a new piece of furniture, new carpet shampoo,
new soaps), mask these smells by things that your cat does enjoy, such as
catnip. You may want to try a spray
called Feliway, which contains pheromones that are supposed to create familiar
smells for cats and, in doing so, make them more at ease with their environment. I’ve heard of people using this spray in cat
carriers when the cat is transported.
If your cat is “leaving presents” because your schedule has
changed, perhaps you could enlist a helpful neighbor to stop in and interact
with your cat during the day with treats or toys.
Veterinarians may
also use drugs such as tranquillizers or anti-depressants to treat elimination
problems. My personal feeling is that
use of these drugs is best done under the careful guidance of an animal
behavior specialist since the drugs are normally meant as a temporary crutch to
allow behavior modification exercises to be done. It is the behavior exercises that usually
result in a long-term cure and not the drugs.
You may also want to consider consultation with an internal
medicine specialist to be certain that there are no physical problems that have
been overlooked.
I recent learned of a new treatment for this condition that
I intend to try in our practice. Last
week I took our Akita, Nikki, for her regular acupuncture treatment (which is
working marvelously well!) to Dr. Chris Makowski at the Landenberg Veterinary
Clinic. Dr. Makowski expertly performs
acupuncture as well as chiropractic treatments on animals, and she uses herbs,
natural supplements, and glandular extracts in her practice. I asked how she treated “inappropriate
elimination” problems to which she quickly pointed out that the elimination is
only “inappropriate” to us. To the pet
involved, it all makes perfect sense because either there is something
physically wrong, or else they are trying to tell us something with their
eliminations. Dr. Makowski swears by a
product called Orchex, which contains hormones from natural sources. Using Orchex, she finds that about 95% of her
cases are cured, some in as little as 2 weeks time. Best of all, she has seen absolutely no side
effects associated with the use of Orchex.
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