 |
| This image summarises the study findings. Image: MikeB. Words: the study. |
Well, the answer is obvious so I'll keep it short. Cats instinctively look for a suitable substrate on which to urinate and defecate. There is nothing in the home which anywhere near meets their criteria for an effective substrate except the litter in the cat litter tray which is somewhat like earth or sand from outside the home except better as it is made to be more absorbent. So, they make a beeline for it.
Substrate: an underlying substance or layer. |
| Cats and kittens use them instinctively as the substrate is ideal. Image: MikeB |
They can poop and pee on it and if they feel the need (not all domestic cats do) they can bury it. Most often they bury poop. My male cat did not. Perhaps because he felt confident enough not to hide his scent. Hiding poop is a sort of submissive act to make themselves invisible to more dominant males.
Of course, after they've used the new litter tray for the first time it smells of their poop and pee so they recognise the litter tray as their toilet. They already know it is a nice substrate. Becoming their toilet reinforces its use.
Cat litter trays should not be over cleaned and disinfected as it kills off the cat's scent which they like. It is just possible that a cat might stop using their litter tray if it is bleached and scrubbed to well.
It should be kept clean but not overclean.
Indoor/outdoor cats don't need a litter tray indoors as they'll find a suitable area outdoors in the same way: a nice substrate. Although if you put down a litter tray, they'll probably use it as it might be more comfortable for them.
Jackson Galaxy says that in general cats prefer uncovered litter trays as covered ones might be a bit of a barrier. I disagree. Covered litter boxes are more private and cats like that. And cats feel more protected in covered litter trays during what is a vulnerable action.
Declawed cats are seven times more likely to pee in inappropriate places.
Declawed cats can find litter substrates of any kind uncomfortable to use because of their sore feet. They may pee and poop outside the box. Declawed cats are about 7 times more likely to do this than non-declawed cats. A warning to those who are considering this obnoxious operation (mutilation).
Another warning: don't use litter substrates which are too dusty as kittens will inhale a ton of dust when digging a hole to poop into. The worse cat litter and the most dangerous as far as I am concerned is Tidy Cats Lightweight Cat Litter. Avoid the stuff please. It is no good. Some cats have died using it.
The manufacturers sold out health and safety to make Tidy Cats more convenient for women to use as it is easier to carry. The directors thought it was a good idea as cat litter can be heavy but they overlooked the health implications.
Environmentally Friendly Cat Litter
I asked Bing's AI for advice about the best cat litter substrate. The response it not great:
The best cat litter substrates are made up of natural materials that are safe for your cat and the environment. Here are some of the best cat litter substrates and why:
I hope that helps!
Some people ask whether it is safe to put a cat litter tray in a child's bedroom? Other people might ask whether it is safe for a child to play around with cat litter. They might do that if they are curious. And sometimes toddlers might put cat litter in their mouth. Would that harm the child?
 |
| Image: MikeB |
Chemically-speaking, cat litter is pretty inert and therefore I think you will find the general consensus is that cat litter is not toxic for children in general terms.
But there may well be problems. Although litter is not poisonous as such, some litter such as Tidy Cats Lightweight is extremely dusty. I have written about it and it is a popular page because a lot of people report catastrophic cat health problems after using this litter.
As it is so dusty it could harm a child if they are rummaging around in it, kicking up the dust. The dust particles would get in the eyes, mouth and ears. My advice then is to keep children away from this particular brand of litter.
All clumping litter is dusty to a certain extent which should be noted. It is big weakness in the efficacy and safety of this product.
And clumping cat litter may be dangerous for a child because it is highly absorbent. That is the reason why the material has been selected to be cat litter. It is sodium bentonite. It is mined from clay mines.
Is bentonite cat litter safe?If a child wanted to eat a bit of cat litter it might do some damage because it would potentially expand in the throat or stomach having absorbed the liquid in those areas of the child's anatomy, possibly causing a blockage.
We can't ignore the fact that there is likely to be domestic cat faeces and urine in a cat litter tray. It would be highly unwise for a child to dive into a recently used cat litter tray. Although faeces per se are not particularly toxic, if the domestic cat concerned carried Toxoplasma gondii oocysts they may be in their faeces. If they were ingested by a child, he or she would contract toxoplasmosis.
A lot of people in many parts of the world have contracted toxoplasmosis and it is usually asymptomatic. But the domestic cat is often vilified for being the primary vector of this normally benign disease which can rarely be quite serious and cause blindness.
The important thing to note by the way about toxoplasmosis and its transmission from cats with an active toxoplasmosis infection is that they are only capable of passing it on for 7 to 10 days of their entire life when they are suffering from an acute infection. So please don't become overly nervous about it.
There's lots of talk about pregnant mothers getting rid of the domestic cat for this reason. My advice is don't get rid of the cat but take sensible precautions such as using gloves when cleaning the litter or ask somebody else to do it for you.
Cat owners can help themselves with respect to this disease by keeping their cat from roaming and hunting. That's because they get the disease from the prey animals that they kill. Faeces from the litter box should be disposed of carefully to avoid other people coming into contact with it. Litter boxes should be cleaned and disinfected often using boiling water and diluted bleach solution.
Although it is unwise to overdo this because the litter box then loses its natural feline fragrance which is an attractant to a domestic cat. It makes them want to use that litter box again and again.
Please note that the biggest risk by a wide margin for contracting toxoplasmosis is not domestic cat faeces but eating raw and/or undercooked meat particularly lamb or pork.
The bottom line about kids being around cat litter trays is that it is unwise not because cat litter is chemically toxic because there may be some physical negative consequences as described and a single disease, toxoplasmosis, which is well-discussed on the internet.
The reasons why a female cat might pee on things are the same reasons that a male cat might be on things. The question is one of Google's predictive questions meaning that they ask questions for you in the belief that they know what you want to ask.
 |
| Stress is a factor in inappropriate peeing. Image: MikeB. |
I'm going to interpret the word "pee" very widely to include urinating and spraying. Clearly, female cats are just as likely to eliminate inappropriately as male cats. Therefore, if they don't pee in the litter box it may be because the substrate i.e. the litter material, is not a good match for that cat. Domestic cats do have a preference or they can object to a certain litter material. Declawed cats pee outside the litter tray 6 times more often than non-declawed cats. Tender feet and stress are the cause?! Or the litter tray might be in the wrong position.
Or in a multi-cat household she may be bullied and therefore is forced to urinate outside the litterbox because she is forced off it i.e. there are not enough litter trays. Or the bullying may cause her to feel stressed and anxious.
On the subject of anxiety and stress, it can lead to what is called feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC) which is cystitis caused by no known cause except the cause is going to be stress and anxiety. If you combined that mental state with a permanent diet of dry cat food there is a possibility that the cat will develop urinary tract problems and a bacterial infection which leads to cystitis. The major cause of FIC is conflict with another cat in the home.
Male cats are more prone to cystitis because of their anatomy, however.
Female cats do spray urine just like males but less so. They are territorial like male cats. They have their own home range. But they don't defend it so aggressively compared to males. That is probably why people ask whether female cats do spray urine. Urine spraying is like a calling card as it tells are the cats that this is the resident cat's home range.
The matter of a home range is relevant to multi-cat households as well because the home ranges are much compressed which is one reason why without careful management the cats can become stressed or a timid cat can become stressed and spray.
The bottom line in answering the question as to the reasons why a female cat might pee inappropriately or spray is because of cystitis, stress and anxiety and/or defending a home range. Of these 3, the most common will be stress as it can lead to cystitis and spraying. Separation anxiety is a factor here too.
Feral cats have lower incidence of cystitis compared to domestic cats. This is probably because they are less emotionally stressed but they are probably more physically stressed.
This is a cat litter catastrophe! The cat upends the litter tray with urine and poop in it. You can see why it happened in the video. He is resting his legs on the edge of the tray which levers it up and over. It must have happened before. How else would the cat's owner have decided to prepare themselves to video it?
 |
| Cat upends litter tray. Screeshot. |
So how would you prevent this happening and why did it happen? One possibility is that the tray is a little bit too small which encouraged the cat to go to the edge which in turn encouraged him to put his forepaws on the raised edge of the tray which levered the tray over. A slightly bigger tray might have prevented it. Looking at the tray it is pretty obvious that it is too small. It should be twice this size for this cat.
Further, if the sidewall was a little deeper that would have certainly prevented it. I think that is the biggest factor in this cat litter catastrophe but it is linked to tray size. The size and depth of the litter tray is important in the world of domestic cats. I have a page on litter tray size which you can read by clicking here.
Note: Sometimes videos stop working if they are embedded from other sites as this one is. If that has happened I apologise. I won't know about it.
It is interesting to ask why the cat should place himself right on the edge of the tray like this. In addition to the reason given, it must be to do with the relative unpleasantness of pooping and peeing inside the tray. It is more pleasant and acceptable for the cat to position himself on the extreme edge. That may be partly due to the size of the tray as mentioned and partly because there was pee or poop in the tray before he got in. Another slight possibility is that he sometimes poops in the human toilet and he is positioning himself as if he is on a human toilet. That's what it looks like.
Comment from one: "I have 7 inside cats and this has never happened. Too small a litter box. Needs to be deeper and if necessary a top on it. Not the cats fault!"
Well, they should be cleaned every day at the end of the day. That's my common sense suggestion. There is no absolute rule on this. You could clean them twice a day or immediately after your cat has gone to the toilet in the litter box. I would have thought that at least it should be once-a-day.
 |
| Cat in cat litter box or tray. Picture: Pixabay. |
An important point though is that a litter box should not be scrubbed and cleaned to the nth degree and disinfected or perfumed. In other words it should not be over-cleaned because it is a very good idea that the litter box retains some of the smell of the faeces and urine and the cat. This is because the cat will then recognise the litter box as their toilet. They will be familiar with it. They will be comfortable using it. They will be attracted to it. It will help protect against inappropriate elimination.
You want your cat to use the litter box routinely without any doubts. If you introduce foreign smells into it it can help to lose its attraction for your cat. Don't forget that cats have a completely different attitude towards smells than humans. Humans tend to dislike these natural smells.
They want the place to be sterilised normally and to hide away cat litter trays and pretend that their cat never goes to the toilet. Humans do have a kind of toilet or the smell of shit complex.
But for a cat it's a perfectly normal and good smell. It actually has some use because faeces and urine as you know are scent markers. They tell the world that the cat is here. They are calling cards. Sometimes cats bury their faeces because they want to be submissive but sometimes they don't.
And in a very warm, welcoming home they might not because they're not fearful of anybody or anything else in the home and therefore there is no need to be submissive.
I would simply remove the faeces and urine from the litter tray every day and then perhaps once a week clean it properly with soap and water. I'm not sure you should use disinfectant and it should be air dried ideally. I wouldn't use any perfume to make it smell better. I don't believe in clay-based litters because of the dust they can produce which can harm cats.
I know they are clumping but I prefer wood-based litters which are very good at suppressing odour but they don't clump. I don't think clumping is important. In fact clumping can be unpleasant because you get this wet, urine, grungy mass all balled together.
With wood-based litter you get high absorbency but it is not a solid messy mass. It just looks cleaner to me. There's also the issue of the environment. Clay-based litter is mined from the ground whereas ideally wood-based litter should be the waste from timber industries. That said, I have a total hatred of cutting down trees in any shape or form.
I don't think we should be doing it any more. It's time to find alternatives to chopping down trees. And I mean sustainable alternatives not plastic. Something which is biodegradable which can be made by people which can be moulded and cut in the same way that wood can. Anyway I digress.
The answer to the question is to clean your litter box regularly, at least once a day do it well but don't kill completely your cat's scent or the scent of their faeces and urine. And one tray per cat in multicat homes plus one extra according to Jackson Galaxy.
i hate cats, no i hate f**k**g cats is what some people say when they dislike cats. But they nearly always don't explain why. It appe...
