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As your kitty ages, her litter box habits may change. What could cause your older cat to stop using her litter box?
1. She develops stiff joints and arthritis, making it difficult to use certain types of litter boxes. Be sure you monitor your cat's ability to easily get in and out of her litter box as she ages. If you see her having difficulty, switch to litter boxes with lower sides, or a cutout for easy entry/exit.
2. Behavior that is similiar to Alzheimer's Disease in humans. Kitties may develop reduced mental capabilities as they age. One manifestation may be forgetting where her litter boxes are located. If your older cat stops using her litter box, have your vet confirm or eliminate a physical cause. Set up more boxes around your house for her, particularly in the places she now frequents for her elimination duties.
3. Physical ailments. Older cats may develop diseases or disorders that make elimination painful. If this occurs, your vet can probably prescribe different medications to alleviate her discomfort. You will also have to adjust the litter box types and locations in your home to better accomodate your senior kitty.
Sarah has asked Scout some good questions about removing cat urine odor from her home:
Well scout I have 2 cats,and previously had a dog. The dog peed on the bed then the cat started peeing on the bed so finally I decided just shut the door to the bedroom and then the cat seemed fine for a while then he peed on the chair in the living room. Then a few months later he peed on the couch. Most of the time he uses the litter box? I cannot figure out why he is doing this - I have not change food or litter. Help also how to get rid of smell on furniture?
Click on the link above to read Scout's answer to Sarah.
If a cat becomes disabled because she has lost a limb, or the use of her hind legs, good litter box habits can be challenging.
A cat who has lost the use of her hind legs may also lose the ability to know when she needs to eliminate. Since she cannot feel it, her bladder and bowels will act whenever they need to.
If a cat has lost a limb to amputation, she could develop balancing problems when trying to use the litter box.
These are special challenges, and the feline owner who is in these situations must work closely with the cat's vet to come up with the best possible program for both kitty and her owners.
You never thought this would happen in your household - you discover a puddle of cat urine outside your cat's litter box.
Before you jump to any conclusions, the first thing you want to do after cleaning up the cat urine spot is to phone your vet, and make an appointment to get your kitty checked.
There are many cases where a cat suddenly stops using her cat litter box because she's developed a medical problem that makes urination painful.
Since your cat associates the litter box with her pain, she'll use other places in your home in an attempt to escape the pain.
So, channel your concern in the right direction from the start - have your vet eliminate any medical conditions that may be causing your cat to stop using her litter box.
| Wednesday, April 27, 2005 | |
Do you want to eliminate your cat's anxiety for weeks at a time?
Use the Feliway Comfort Zone Plug-In unit to relieve your cat's anxiety.
It plugs into any electrical outlet. Buy several, and install them in your cat's favorite rooms.
You can use natural flowering essences to soothe your cat's anxiety and reduce the chances of her urinating outside the cat litter box.
Simply put a few drops twice per day into your kitty's canned food or water. It will dissolve naturally.
You must get our approval if you wish to change the type of cat litter box we use. It is never your decision. It belongs to us. You may consult with us by placing the new cat litter box in a quiet area. We will approach it when it suits us. We will inspect it. If we deem it worthy, we will test it once. This will suffice to tell you we have decided you did a good thing.
We must always have more than one cat litter box for our needs. Always.
Never, ever, ever put our cat litter boxes in busy places. We want solitude and privacy as we contemplate our output leaving our bodies. It is sacred and precious, because it comes from the cat.
Always check with your cat if you think you're going to be cheap and buy us discount litter. WE will tell YOU if we approve or not. Put down a box with your penny-pinching sand in it. If we use it, you may buy more. If we reject it, don't go there. We will make you very sorry.
Scout's gotten another cat urine odor question to answer. Read what she says to do to get rid of cat urine odor in your home.
Every year, on my birthday, buy me new litter boxes. The old ones hold the cat urine smell, and after awhile, I can't stand using the cat litter box JJ has been in. No amount of scrubbing gets rid of his cat urine smell from MY boxes. He's a mean kitty anyways, and his stuff STINKS!
| Wednesday, April 20, 2005 | |
Throw away the used litter and completely scrub my litter boxes every single week. As soon as you put down the clean box with new litter, I will jump in and use it. Humans are SO pitiful; I can't believe the noises Nancy makes over me when I urinate in the cat litter box. If it's clean...duh!
If you're a really smart human staffer, and you don't want cat urine odor and stains, be sure to scoop the litter box every time the cat uses it. We deserve, and demand clean boxes. Would you use a toilet that hasn't been flushed?
One of the most common causes of Feline Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD) is what your cat eats. A feline diet that is too high in carbohydrates and magnesium, and low in protein can lead to FLUTD. When their cat is initially diagnosed with FLUTD, feline owners will usually first try to get their kitty to eat the prescription food recommended by their vet.
But what if the cat rejects their offering? As an alternative, there are specific, non-prescription cat foods available to maintain your cat's urine pH balance at 6.6. A high urine pH value indicates struvite crystal formation in your cat's urinary tract. The challenge is to find the right cat food that appeals to kitty, contains the proper amount of protein and magnesium, and has few or no by-products.
[Read More!]
Scout's Tip:
When your human wants to check your cat urine for the pH value, make sure she understands that if she tests your cat urine a long time after you've eaten your delicious cat food with DL-Methionine, the value might be a little high.
Your human staff should NOT take you to vet then, but she should test your urine one more time. Play along with your human, and give her that urine sample shortly after you've eaten your cat food. It's more accurate that way.
Scout's Tip:
If you hurt really, really bad when you urinate, do it outside the box, at your human's feet, and cry. Make sure they look at your urine, and do something to fix the hurt.
Scout's Tip:
When you're humoring your human staff by giving them some cat urine to test for the pH value, be sure to leave some off the litter granules they put in the box. The urine pH test value will be more accurate.
After all, you're only trying to avoid a visit to the vet, who sticks things in us in places we can't talk about.
Scout's Tip:
When your human staff mixes powdered DL-Methionine into my canned cat food, be sure she mixes it up very thoroughly. If I even get a taste of it, I WILL refuse to eat!
| Wednesday, April 13, 2005 | |
Scout's Tip:
If you're going to urinate outside the box, do it someplace where your human staff can easily see it and clean it up quickly. After all, we're only boycotting our litter box because something is very, very wrong!
Want to learn more about how you can use homepathic remedies to keep your cat healthy?
If so, check out Aspenbloom WellPet's upcoming seminar on April 14 at 9PM EST.
Interested? Keep reading...
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Scout wants a shot at giving some RSS content to her subscribers. With her permission granted, I proudly give you Scout's tips!
Scout's Tip:
Your human staff should care about you first and foremost, even before themselves. When they purchase delicious cat food for you, they better only buy you food that won't make you hurt when you use the litter box. Otherwise, you won't use the litter box.
Here are the key things humans should be aware of when buying your cat food:
Contains dl-methionine to keep the cat urine pH at 6.6
The magnesium level should be
Scout will answer a question from Anna, who wants to know,
"How do I know which cat food will keep Carl from getting crystals in his urine?"
Oh, this is too easy...removing cat urine smell from your home should be this hard! Scout didn't have to think too long on this...read her answer at the URL above.
If you're on the computer right now, and you're reading this article, chances are your cat is right there with you!
Since I'm getting "Baydream" ready for the sailing season, I'm putting other expert information here...
Enjoy!
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Here's a great article about how our kitties can help us stay healthy...I'm getting my sailboat, "Baydream" ready for the rigors of the Chesapeake Bay, so I'm letting other authors take up my slack...
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Scout got a question about whether or not Anti Icky Poo is available outside the U.S.
While I'm trying to get ready for spring, I've decided to post some guest articles about our favorite pet - the feline!
Enjoy!
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I'm posting some guest articles for the next few days...they're all about cats!
I need to spend some quality time with my sailboat, "Baydream," so I'm letting some others do the work for me...
Enjoy!
[Read More!]
| Wednesday, April 06, 2005 | |
Scout's been asked another question about removing cat urine smell from an anxious feline owner.
See her answer...
Enjoy Larry's article about cats and fleas...I am getting my sailboat, "Baydream," ready for the 2005 sailing season!
[Read More!]
Cat urinary tract infections can cause crystals to form in cat urine, which causes pain when kitty uses the litterbox.
Research shows that diet is one of the factors that contribute to crystals forming in your cat's bladder.
One of the main causes of cat Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) is diet. You can prevent UTI from occurring by doing one simple thing:
Change the food kitty eats to prevent UTI!
Wysong Uretic dry cat food is one such diet change.
For cat anxiety symptons, Bach's is probably the most popular flowering essence product I've come across.
It was the first flowering essence I used on Scout. I really didn't think it would make a difference, but after administering Bach's Rescue Remedy drops for two days, Scout started using her litter box to urinate.
How would you like to calm your kitty down long-term, or permanently...and not have to remember to administer drops every day?
How would you feel about going away for the weekend, knowing that kitty's anxiety levels are still being managed?
There are easy ways to prevent cat anxiety, and in turn, halt your cat litter box problem.
Natural flowering essences that are liquid, odorless, and colorless which mix in well with food or water twice a day to fool kitty in taking what’s good for her - to calm her down!
Cat behavior is something that baffles many of us cat owners. I like to say that if I could just speak meow, I could retire.
What if you could understand why your cats acts the way she does?
What if you knew the causes of inappropriate elimination? Do you think you could take better care of kitty?
You bet you can, and when it comes to cat urine issues, kitty behavior and/or cat urinary tract infections are often the root cause.
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