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It's a frustrating situation. Cats are supposed to be clean animals, or so you've been told. You show them a box with litter in it and they magically know that this is the appropriate location for the less than savory aspect of life - elimination. Yet here you are, wiping urine off your bed, shoes, floor, or laundry. Perhaps picking up another pile of fresh presents deposited on the rug in the bathroom. What could possibly be wrong with this cat? Why is it soiling the house?

There are a variety of reasons a cat might be avoiding the litterbox. Termed "inappropriate elimination" in feline behavior circles, the most common cause is a physical one. Less often, causes are behavioral or environmental.

1 - Physical issues

The #1 symptom of a UTI, or urinary tract infection, is urination outside the box. The cat will soil other areas of the house, often where it relaxes or sleeps (e.g. your bed, a pile of laundry) but also other discrete areas such as closet corners. The reasoning behind this is that urinating is painful, so the cat may either associate the box with the pain and begin avoiding it, or may hold the urine until an accident occurs.

Cats are quite stoic about pain. A variety of physical problems may manifest as litterbox avoidance due to an unfortunate coincidence that causes the cat to associate the pain with using the box. For example, the pain may only occur when he paws into the litter to bury his feces, or bends a certain way, or strains to go, and the poor cat thinks maybe it won't hurt if he tries to go somewhere else.

Schedule a checkup with your vet to rule out physical problems such as paw problems, UTI, crystals, or IBD (irritable bowel).

2 - Something has changed about the box

Did you get a new type of litterbox? A new type of litter? Has the box been moved? Have you been neglecting to keep it as clean as before? The idea that a cat will use a box to do its business is counting on both instinctual behavior (i.e. they want to bury it) and habitual behavior ingrained by the mother cat. If a cat has been used to clay litter from the start, it may associate clay litter with where to eliminate, not the box itself. Remove the clay, and the cat becomes confused as to where it should relieve itself. If the cat is used to a very clean box, a dirty box may not be tolerated. Some cats even refuse to use the same box for both urination and defecation. They want one to pee in and have a different box for the poop.

If you've changed anything at all about

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