Why Won't My Cat Use the Litter Box?

When a frustrated client called to tell me that his cat, Scout, had been defecating outside of his litter box for months and needed advice to stop this from continuing I immediately scoured the internet for answers because I feared that my client would be surrendering Scout to the animal shelter if his behavior didn't change quickly.

A litter box should be compared to a human's toilet which is, of course, flushed every day and therefore must be scooped/changed daily as well. 

If left in the wild, a cat would not choose to walk around in his own waste. Instead, he would simply choose another plot of land and that “plot of land” usually ends up being outside of the litter box or any other area of the home.

Upon further research I found that a cat’s sense of smell is much more sensitive than our own and when his litter box does not meet his standards he will stop using the box entirely.

For years, Scout's owner had been filling the litter box with Tidy Cats Long Lasting Odor Control litter but there are three problems with this litter:  

First of all, this litter is not very good at controlling odor. Secondly, the scent of ammonia is unpleasant. Last, if the soiled litter isn't replaced often enough, the urine will collect at the bottom of the box. The bacteria in the urine will multiply and convert the uric acid into foul-smelling ammonia. 

I carefully suggested that Scout would be happier with clumping (scoopable) litter such as Fresh Step as it is the cleanest, most effective type of cat litter available. The main ingredient, sodium bentotite, acts as a clumping agent, absorbing urine and turning it into tight, solid clumps that can be easily removed from the litter box and disposed of.

Within days of following my advice Scout and his owner are happily coexisting in a home where the litter box is well utilized and odor free!

I hope this information has been a help to every frustrated cat owner who has cleaned up way too many accidents outside of the litter box!  

Please tell me if you've experienced the same issues and what you've done to correct the problem!