You haven’t cleaned your cat’s litter box often or thoroughly enough.The following common litter-box problems might cause her to eliminate outside of her box: If your cat isn’t comfortable with her litter box or can’t easily access it, she probably won’t use it. Why Do Some Cats Eliminate Outside the Litter Box? Be certain to read the entire article to help you identify your particular cat’s problem and to familiarize yourself with the different resolution approaches to ensure success with your cat. Behavioral treatments are often effective, but the treatments must be tailored to the cat’s specific problem.

Litter box use problems in cats can be diverse and complex. If your cat does eliminate outside her box, you must act quickly to resolve the problem before she develops a strong preference for eliminating on an unacceptable surface or in an unacceptable area. It is also important that you pay close attention to your cat’s elimination habits so that you can identify problems in the making. See our common litter-box management issues below, and our ways to make litter boxes cat-friendly. The best approach to dealing with these problems is to prevent them before they happen by making your cat’s litter boxes as cat-friendly as possible. Once a cat avoids her litter box for whatever reason, her avoidance can become a chronic problem because the cat can develop a surface or location preference for elimination-and this preference might be to your living room rug or your favorite easy chair. Elimination problems can develop as a result of conflict between multiple cats in a home, as a result of a dislike for the litter-box type or the litter itself, as a result of a past medical condition, or as a result of the cat deciding she doesn’t like the location or placement of the litter box.

Still others eliminate both in and out of their boxes. Some only use their boxes for urination or defecation but not for both. At least 10% of all cats develop elimination problems.

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