Cat Litter Box Woes: expert advice for solving toileting troubles!

Dive into the purr-fect solution for your cat's bathroom behavior!
In this episode of Call the Vet, Dr. Alex helps out lister Kim who is having issues with her cat pooping in the bath - gross! Bit whether it's problem pooping or peeing outside the litter box, this episode brings you six top tips including insights on cleanliness, litter types, and behavioral changes, to help you uncover the secrets to getting your feline friend back on track and toileting where you want them to.
For more toileting resources be sure to head over to the full show notes

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Transcript

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Welcome to the Call the Vet Show, the podcast that helps pet parents understand and optimize the health of their furry family so they can live the full and happy life you want for them. And here's your host, veterinarian doctor Alex Avery. Hello. Welcome back to another episode of the show. I'm delighted to be bringing you a listener question, today and hopefully giving some top tips that will help solve that problem, and it's a problem that a number of you will no doubt be facing now or will face at some point in the future is very similar to a problem that I had recently where I was in the in the garage and, there was this puddle of water. I was looking up at the roof because it was raining, wondering where the leak was, and then I realized it was cat pee, which is Pretty gross. It's not the normal problem for my cats and maybe wonder what the what the issue was, if there was anything that had upset her, Stressed her out. Thankfully, it seems to be a one off and otherwise, she seems to be fine. But Kim is dealing with a very similar problem, albeit A poop situation rather than a peeing situation. And here's Kim to explain the exact issue that she's having. And now, on with the show. Hi. My name is Kim, and my kitty is a one and a half year old, Torby? I guess she's Tabby and Portocea. She Will pee in the litter box, but she poops in the bathtub. I use the wood pellet litter because It doesn't smell as bad. It's the clay litter, it's more environmentally friendly, and it doesn't track as badly. My 2 year old kitty uses that litter no problem. He pees and poops in the litter box. So I don't understand why my younger kitty will pee in the litter box But we'll poop in the bathtub, and I'd like her to stop pooping in the bathtub. Do you have any suggestions for me, please? Thank you. I definitely feel your pain with this one, Kim, but I've got 6 main suggestions, I guess, for you or things to think about That will hopefully solve this problem for you. Now the first one is to keep the litter clean. Now I'm sure you're doing this Anyway, I'm sure you're cleaning out the litter tray, you know, pretty regularly and trying to keep it clean. But some cats, they really are just Super fussy about using litter that has been used or even I like think sometimes looked at by another cat or even by them Elves. And they can be peculiar in the sense that they're fine with doing doing their business if it's peeing In an otherwise used litter tray, but wanting to poo somewhere completely pristine and virgin if you like. So keeping that litter tray clean is It's really absolutely vital and I would wonder if there is, yeah, something like that going on. You've got a couple of cats there, and, yeah, there may be that competition for resources and the want to be want to go somewhere completely new, clean, and unused. With that in mind, the next suggestion is that we need to be having multiple litter trays. So the general recommendation is that we should have At least 1 more litter tray than the number of cats in the house. So with 2 cats, that's 3 trays, and that's at least 3 trays, and They also need to be in different locations in the house as well. If they're, you know, 3 trays next to each other or in the same room, Your cat is going to perceive those as actually just 1 great big tray, and they you just are really going to have that competition for resources Be a real issue. So one more trade than the number of cats in the house and in different locations. Now Those locations, it's also important that they are not in the main thoroughfares in the household. So in the middle of the The hallway, for example, or in, the corner of the kitchen where the whole family life happens, they need to be kind of Hidden away or not so much hidden away, but in quieter areas. And they also ideally need to be in places where your cat feel safe and secure to use them. So somewhere like the corner of a room is good because your cat can go and do their business in the litter tray but they can survey all of their surroundings so that they feel safe without the risk of someone or another cat Kind of interrupting them, jumping on them, and so they feel threatened and are less likely to use a tray in that location. The next thing to think about is litter types. So You spoke about, you know, the different litter types that maybe, you've tried, and we're looking for a more environmentally friendly option, which is which is fantastic because I think certainly the clay based litter, and the the kind of plastic bead, base litters, silica litters are not the most environmentally friendly. Another option from wood pellets is actually to use a shredded recycled paper pellet type litter. One brand that we have over here is called yesterday's news. I don't know if that's just a a local brand or if that's a global brand, but I'm sure you'll find something similar. Also need to think about added scents even with these more basic in inverted commas products. Sometimes they'll have scents added to them And, that really puts a cat off using that litter tray as well. So, yeah, it's it's often best just to stick to an unscented product. So we like the scented people, but cats typically don't. So that's a a few things to think about with regards how you're managing The the litter tray situation in the house. The next step is to try and change the behavior, and the first step would be to actually have the tray In the bath. Now that's clearly not where we want it to to live, but if your cat is doing their business, they're choosing to go to the toilet there. We want to get them back into the habit of Actually, going for a poop in their litter tray. So putting a tray in the bath and then hopefully, when your cat is accepting that and is using that, We then move it slowly bit by bit over a few weeks to where you actually want that litter tray to live. And the idea being then that your cat kind of follows that tray And uses that trade to do their business as it slowly moves into the ideal location. To then put them off actually going to the toilet in the bath, you can add just a little bit of water in the bath and keep a little bit of water in there. Just an inch or 2. Cats really aren't gonna go to the toilet in in that situation. So it's going to put them off and, again, encourage them to use that litter tray. And then my final thoughts, obviously, having, you know, not, kind of met you, Kim, and not seen your cat and examined your cat to make sure that there's no, Gastrointestinal issues that there's no problems with, their frequency and that urge of toileting, making sure that their stool quality is good. There's no concerns about the potential for parasites. There's no mucus or blood there, which may suggest a colitis, Where we frequently get to a real urgency to go to the toilet, that there's no kind of diet related issues that, are responsible for this. So think if you're struggling to get this under control, a checkup with your vet is never going to be a bad idea, you know, monitoring Their weight and all of that kind of thing that we should be doing anyway for our cats. Helping your pet live the happy, healthy life they deserve. Now if you've got a question about your pet's health, your your dog, or your cat's well-being, that Could be their physical health, their mental well-being, a problem that you're having with them, and you'd like to ask me that question, then you can do so. There's a link In the description to this podcast, which should be in the app if you just kind of click through, you can also go to our pets health dot com slash question and submit your question just like Kim did, and I'll do my very best to get back to you. I am a a 1 man band, and sometimes it can take me a little bit of time, but I certainly do do my best and hope to, Yeah. Be speaking to you and helping you out in a future episode. Also, make sure that you hit that subscribe or follow button on whatever App you're listening to this on, I think, with Spotify. It's now follow. Apple Podcasts, I'm not too sure. I'm an Android man. But Hit that follow subscribe button, and you won't miss out on any of my future episodes. And until the next episode, I'm veterinarian doctor Alex. This is the call the vet show because they're family. That's it for this episode of the call the vet show. Be sure to visit callthevet.org to join the conversation, access the show notes, and discover our fantastic bonus content. We'll see you next time.