Eliminating Litterbox Behavioral Issues
Don't let training problems cause owners to toss out the cat with the litter.

By Mark Cantrell

Veterinarians would no doubt be appalled if a sudden disease swept through the country's cat population, killing two-thirds of its victims. In fact, there is such an epidemic running rampant through the feline ranks: cats with litter box issues.

"Inappropriate urination is the No. 1 behavior problem in cats," said Nicholas Dodman, DVM, professor of behavioral Pharmacology at Tufts University in Grafton, Mass., and the author of The Cat Who Cried For Help. "Of the 4 or 5 million dogs and cats going to shelters every year, approximately 70 percent go there for behavioral problems. So conservatively, hundreds of thousands of cats die every year because people can't stand to live in a house that smells like a latrine."

Veterinarians are trained to identify and treat a wide range of feline physiological problems, but behavioral issues present a different kind of challenge.

Sometimes a physical ailment is an underlying cause of inappropriate elimination, said Phil Galdwell, DVM, owner of the Mountain Vista Animal Hospital in Las Vegas. "I saw a cat recently that had colitis and it was probably defecating outside the box because it had the urge to go all the time. So explore the medical aspects first before launching into the behavioral aspect, especially if a cat has been litter-trained its whole life and suddenly develops toilet-training problems."

Urine Marking

Once all medical possibilities have been ruled out, the behavioral angles can be researched- and there arc many. Because of cats' territorial nature, Dr. Dodman noted that they often spray urine to mark "their" property. Others use urine marking to express displeasure at an unwanted visitor's presence or even as a result of separation anxiety at the departure of a favorite person.

"Textbooks tell you that cats sending a marking message tend to go on a vertical surface and pass only a small volume," Dodman said. "But in real life, the specifics of each case aren't always available, so you have to play detective."

Dodman said that marking behavior can be differentiated from plain old litterbox aversion by the location of the deposit. Cats that mark territory go anywhere and everywhere, while those avoiding their boxes tend to use two or three regular locations. Once litterbox aversion is diagnosed, the search for its cause can begin.

"I see a lot of owners who simply don't clean litterboxes frequently enough and the cats will just start defecating around the house," Dr. Galdwell said.

Other owners with multiple cats don't provide enough litter-boxes. "The formula is N+l: A box for each cat, where N is the number of cats, plus one extra," Dodman said. "The cycle of not using the litterbox often starts when the owners go away for the weekend. The box fills up and the cats go somewhere else. Once that happens it leaves an odor, and that will attract them back like a heat-seeking missile to a jet engine."

A cat may also turn up its nose at a box that contains insufficient litter. This is one area where clients should be advised not to scrimp: Cats need at least two inches of litter to cover their waste.

Dodman thinks he may have a solution for litterbox-averse cats: a cat-attracting pheromone. "There's a particular amino acid in cat urine called felinine that seems to be the primary signaling device," he said. "If you take that substance in a concentration that is below that which human noses can detect and mix it with litter, cats will prefer that litter over one that's not scented that way." He is currently seeking a producer for the patented formula.

For persistent urinary marking problems, Phoenix-based Veterinary Product Laboratories mar-
kets the pheromone spray Feliway. This synthetic analog of the facial pheromone was designed to create a familiar feline atmosphere to calm the cat and, thereby, reduce its urge to spray. A plug-in version was recently UL-approved and will be available to consumers through veterinary channels by November or December.

Cleaning and Other Concerns

For cats that stare enviously at their owners' toilets, Pet-Centric Inc. has come up with LitterFree, a flushing toilet that uses cleaning solution and washable non-absorbent granules in place of litter.
After a cat eliminates and leaves the box, it triggers a sensor that fills the device with water and a cleaning solution. Mixing action turns the effluent into a slurry, which is then flushed down a sewer drain via a connecting tube. Afterward, the granules are dried using a 1300-watt heating element.

"Cleaning a litter box is really a barrier to cat ownership for some people, and it's the most unpleasant part of cat ownership for everybody else," said Elaine Wexler-Mitchell, DVM, owner of the Cat Care Clinic in Orange, Calif., and a LitterFree spokeswoman.

That's especially important for pregnant women or those with depressed immune systems, Dr. Wexler-Mitchell said. Cats' feces can contain Toxoplamsa gondii oocysts, which can cause especially dangerous cases of toxoplasmosis in newborns or immune-deficient individuals.

But Dodman noted that potential buyers with limited plumbing expertise might want to retain a plumber for installation because the device must be connected to both a water source and sewer drain or toilet.

Litter Options: Thinking Inside the Box

What if a client has covered all those bases but his or her cat still wont use the box? Perhaps the cat simply doesn't like the type of litter being used. For instance, the original clay cat litter could have the consistency of gravel and be rough on cats' sensitive paws. Such drawbacks have spurred a continuing campaign by manufacturers to produce alternative types of litter. Among the contenders:

Cat Country Organic Cat Litter: Mountain Meadows Pet makes Cat Country from pelletized Western red winter wheat grass. The company says it bonds with nitrogen to eliminate ammonia and lasts twice as long as clay litters; www.mtn-meadowspet.com

Feline Pine: Manufactured by Nature's Earth Products Inc., this litter is pine sawdust pressed into pellets that bond with ammonia The manufacturer says it absorbs up to four times its weight in moisture, then deteriorates into harmless sawdust that remains granular even after breakdown, reducing the chance of inhalation; www.felinepine.com.

Precious Cat: This manufacturer produces five litter formulas-three based on sodium bentonite (clay), one a pine litter and a training litter called Cat Attract The latter contains an unspecified "natural and completely safe herbal blend" that is said to attract cats to their litter boxes; www.preciouscat.com/.

SwheatScoop: This litter, made of ground wheat, is made by Pet Care Systems Inc. "When we grind the wheat kernel, we expose two things: starch, which causes the product to clump, and the enzymes of the wheat which neutralize the odor-causing enzymes in cat waste," said Mark Hughes, a company spokesman; www.swteatecoop.com.

World's Best Cat Litter: The manufacturer says this clumping litter is safe, nontoxic, 99 percent dust-free and can be flushed; www.worlds bestcatlitter.com/.

Yesterday's News: Made of recycled newspapers, this litter comes in three versions-the original type with large pellets and a smaller, softer-textured type in either scented or unscented formulations. According to manufacturer CanBrands Inc., a Ralston Purina subsidiary, the litter is up to 300 percent more absorbent than clay types; www.canbrands.com.