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5 Common Causes of Your Cat Urinating Outside the Litter Box
Author: Nancy E. Wigal

Have you ever had this happen? You're a happy cat owner, your kitty is using the box just fine, but one day…you come home and find a giant urine spot in the living room…the bathroom…heaven forbid – on your bed!

What happened? What went wrong? It isn't normal for a cat to use her litter box

faithfully, then one day decide it's no longer right for her. There's always a reason why a cat stops using the litter box.

Always.

If this happens to you, don't panic! The earlier you realize kitty isn't using her box, the earlier you can stop this problem cold. By careful investigation, you can figure out what's going on, and how to get kitty to use her litter box again.

Let's examine 5 common causes that could affect kitty, and the solutions for each.

Medical condition:

Your kitty suddenly stops using the litter box because she's developed a medical condition. It is most likely crystals in her urine, which form in the bladder, and make urination extremely painful. Kitty associates the urination pain with her litter box, so she continually tries to find a spot in the house that isn't painful – to her!

The solution – get kitty to the vet as quickly as possible. A course of medication can clear the crystal problem in the short term. A permanent solution is to change your cat's diet to canned food. Be sure to consult with your vet on large-scale diet changes for your cat.

New house or residence:

You moved to another location. It's fine by you…but kitty is stressed out by the move. A week or two after moving in and unpacking boxes, you start finding "accidents" in the new digs.

To solve this problem, you will need to confine your

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