Paws, Reflect & Heal with Dr. Randy

The REAL Reason Your Cat Hates the Litter Box

• Dr. Randy Pet Vet • Episode 35

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Conscientious pet parents, this video is crucial if your cat has started peeing outside the litter box (a problem known as inappropriate elimination). Dr. Randy Aronson and Olivia Sacchi dive deep into the real reasons behind this frustrating behavior, covering both serious medical issues (like cat UTI, diabetes, or cat kidney disease) and the major behavioral causes like cat stress. Learn the expert, holistic vet approach to diagnosing and fixing this common issue, ensuring your feline family member is healthy and happy.

They explore critical factors like proper litter box setup (including the "one box per cat" rule for cat privacy) and the often-overlooked dangers of traditional clay litters. Discover why Dr. Randy recommends healthier cat litter alternatives like tofu litter and new sustainable pine options to prevent dust and ingestion issues. If you're struggling with your cat's behavior, tune in for practical, actionable advice from a leading integrative veterinarian.

#CatHealth #LitterBox #InappropriateElimination

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SPEAKER_00:

Dr. Randy here with my co-host, Olivia Sacci.

SPEAKER_01:

It's good to be back, everybody.

SPEAKER_00:

Nice to have you, Olivia. We're here to answer a question, our first one about litter box behavior.

SPEAKER_02:

Perfect. So we have a question from Amy in Kansas, and it is my cat started to pee outside the litter box. What does that mean and how do I fix it?

SPEAKER_00:

Great question, Amy. Very complicated one because there are multiple issues that could be coming up. So the first one we want to talk about are the medical issues that could cause that. Right. We worry about urinary tract infections, something like diabetes mellus, and even kidney disease or chronic kidney failure. That could all cause that litter box behavior change.

SPEAKER_02:

But there's another big component of that that's behavioral, right, instead of medical.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. So the behavioral part is that we worry about stress with our cats. Anytime your cat is stressed, it could change his litter box behavior. Things like new people coming into the house.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Things like a new animal in the house. Things like uh even just moving the litter box in a different location. That's all possible. And we do talk about litter box changes also could cause this problem.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. And actually, my cat had the same issue, my orange cat. He's perfect. Um perfect.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

But another issue is uh can we touch on having enough litter boxes, especially if you have other cats in the household?

SPEAKER_00:

That's a great question because some of our cats are very private about their litter box behavior, you know? They don't want to go into the toilet and have three other cats watching. I get it. No, me too. So, I mean, having an individual box for each cat is a great idea. Making sure that there's separation of those boxes. So even the other cats can't watch your cat going into the litter box.

SPEAKER_01:

They're private creatures. They like their privacy. I get it.

SPEAKER_00:

And then sometimes we even worry about the substrate around the box. Some cats like to have like a rug around the box so they scratch a little bit before they go in the litter. Some cats like it just on the bathroom or tile floor or wood floor, whatever it might be. So all of those things would be consideration. And the last thing is the litter itself.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, many times we are now, I'm now looking at some really neat litters, like a tofu litter that's actually um human-grade edible that the cats can lick their paws and go in. It's robot safe. Um, but there's some other possibilities. There are there are new pine litters that are natural. So we're trying to get a little bit away from the clay situation because of the dust and all of the tracking that happens. Those changes could happen.

SPEAKER_02:

That's actually really interesting because I think I saw a study about seeing like cat litter within uh X-rays. Oh, because they lick it off their paws.

SPEAKER_01:

Often.

SPEAKER_02:

And so that kind of the tofu-based one, as a vegetarian, I love that. Yeah, yeah. Um, that's really interesting.

SPEAKER_00:

We'll bring more, we'll bring more information to our listeners down the road.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, perfect.

SPEAKER_00:

So thanks for joining us. We hope uh this was helpful.

SPEAKER_02:

Perfect. And if you have any questions, you can feel free to send those in on the podcast, on our Instagram, anything like that, any avenue of contact. We're happy to respond to those. You can follow us both on social media for Dr. Brandy. He's at Dr. Randy Petvet on both uh Instagram and YouTube. So you can find him and subscribe or follow him there. And I'm at Dr. Sochi S-A-C-C-I. Um, so thank you guys so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Remember to tell your pet friends that have uh cats and dogs to listen to us down the road and subscribe.

SPEAKER_01:

Perfect.