By Lynnie

Pets. They give us their unconditional love, and they're frequently considered to be members of the family, like our children. Unfortunately, just like children, cats and other pets can cause a lot of damage to our personal property.

Inappropriate urination is one of the most frustrating and destructive behaviors seen in cats. With just one accident outside of the litter box, inappropriate urination can quickly become an unwanted habit if not corrected immediately. Once the behavior becomes ingrained, breaking the pattern can be extremely difficult.

If your cat has begun to urinate outside of his litter box, first and foremost, he should be examined by your veterinarian. Many times cats will seem fine, but they might have a urinary tract infection - something that, at the least, can cause inappropriate urination and, at the worst, can indicate that a "blockage" is coming - bladder stones, or even kidney disease. If there is a urinary tract infection (or other disease process), a cat might urinate inappropriately because it's painful to hold his urine, or he experiences a frequent urge to urinate. If you've ever experienced a bladder infection, think of how you felt like you had to go every ten minutes. It feels the same to your cat, only your cat does not necessarily consider where he is urinating when he's "gotta go".

If a vet exam, urinalysis and blood work show there is no medical condition, the next step is to begin considering behavioral causes. Generally the first thing to ask yourself is whether there have been any changes in the household. What kind of changes? It could be anything, depending on your particular cat's personality. Frequently, things like movers/people working in the house, guests staying over, a new baby, a new carpet, new furniture, a change in cat litter, and especially new pets in the house, can cause a cat to start urinating out of the box. You'll need to don your detective hat and pay attention to where the cat is urinating, and whether it seems to be related to any specific event or change.

If you can't find an obvious cause, you can try discouraging the behavior to see if it will stop. There are a number of ways to discourage inappropriate urination. First, clean the spot very well with an enzymatic pet urine cleaner, one that will hopefully prevent your cat from going back to the same spot. You may need to do this numerous times.

You can try to keep the cat away from the main place(s) that he likes to urinate on by restricting access to a room, covering the spot (after cleaning) with a piece of furniture, or even laying tinfoil sheets over the spot. Wall plug-in devices that emit a hormonal deterrent are available, too.

Increasing the number of litter boxes in the house helps many times. Have at least two or three litter boxes around the house; for multi-cat households, have 2 more boxes than the number of cats, to keep everyone happy. You can also try to isolate the cat in one room by himself for a while, until he begins to go regularly in his litter box again, and then try to reintegrate him into the house afterward.

If none of this works, it's time to go back to your veterinarian to discuss any other ideas, and the possibility of medicating the cat to try to break the behavior. Though it does not work in all cats, medicating for anxiety can sometimes end the inappropriate urination. Your vet can guide you on doing a medication trial to see if this is a possible answer to your cat's behavior. Lastly, your vet may be able to recommend a behaviorist and, if you believe in that sort of thing, there are more than a few people who have found their answers to such perplexing behavioral issues in a pet psychic.

If nothing else seems to work and your vet has no other suggestions, you could try making the cat an outdoor cat as a last resort, or rehoming him to see if the behavior stops. If you plan to let your cat live outside make sure he has adequate shelter, food and water and he's kept current on all vaccinations (Rabies, FVRCP, Feline Leukemia, FIV), and dewormed regularly. Finding somewhere to rehome him may be difficult, but it's not impossible; local rescue groups might be able to help.

Be aware that cats surrendered to a shelter for inappropriate urination rarely make it out alive. As a responsible pet owner, you should be willing to do the necessary diagnostics/treatments to end bad behaviors so you and your cat can once more live in harmony!

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