Training & BehaviorOur cat was raised with a self-cleaning litter box. About a month ago I bought a regular litter box and regular litter and she used that but we didn't like having to scoop it every day so we went bac to the self-cleaning litter box. The box is kept i
There are a large number of reasons that a cat will inappropriately urinate or defecate (outside the litter box). I am attaching a handout below which discusses this in detail.
https://www.vin.com/veterinarypartner/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951508
The first step in figuring out why a cat is going outside the litter box is to have your veterinarian do an examination and get a urine and/or stool sample to evaluate for a medical reason. If that is normal, then we need to look at other possibilities.
The handout above discusses litter box issues that can play a role. Unfortunately, some cats do become afraid of self-cleaning litter boxes if they turn on while the cat is in the box. I have a few suggestions for you. First, the "correct" number of litter boxes is the number of cats plus one. So, if Mystic is your only cat, you should still have 2 boxes. Keep the automatic box, but add another box in another location. Make sure the other box is not covered or lined and is cleaned da
Updated on September 24th, 2025