House
Soiling
House soiling is one of the major reasons pets are relegated to the back yard or given up for adoption. In young pets, dogs or cats, it is often a matter of teaching the animal where it is appropriate to eliminate. In intact adult or adolescent animals, marking behaviors are often the problem. In spayed and neutered pets, illness or stress can cause a change in elimination patterns. Below we have listed possible causes and solutions for various house soiling problems.
Specific
problems/solutions
House training your cat House training your dog
Cat is eliminating outside the box Dog is eliminating inside the house
- House training your kitten is usually pretty easy. Make sure the litter box is in a quiet place where the kitten won't be disturbed. Do not place it near his food and water bowls. Cats don't like to eat where they eliminate. Make sure the kitten knows where the litter box is and keep it clean.
- Confine young kittens to one room or a large crate when unsupervised (when you are sleeping or out of the house). When you cannot watch him closely, put him in his kennel so that he will not have an opportunity to make a mistake. Make the kennel or small room enjoyable with bedding, chew toys, scratching post, water and food bowl and litter box.
- If the kitten is not using the litter box, review the following:
Ø Are there enough boxes for every cat in the house?
Ø Is the box in a quiet location where the kitten isn't likely to be disturbed, frightened or harassed by other pets?
Ø Are you cleaning the box regularly?
Ø If your kitten is eliminating outside the box, but still near it, there may be a health issue. Take your kitten to your vet right away.
- Sometimes cats with urinary infections will stop using the litter box because they are now associating the pain of the infection with the box. Once the infection is treated, moving the box, changing the brand of litter, and replacing the box may help your cat return to using the litter box.
- If you are having problems with litter box training, the first step is to rule out any illness. Please contact us for an appointment.
- Another possible problem is marking behavior. Intact cats, especially males, but sometimes females, will spray urine to mark territory. Often spaying and neutering these animals will decrease or eliminate the problem. However, the longer they practice the behavior, the more likely they are to continue it. It’s best to spay and neuter early, before marking behavior begins.
- Sometimes cats will eliminate outside the box due to behavior problems related to stress. Cats can even develop urinary tract infections due to stress. Identifying and removing the cause of the stress is the first line of defense. Then we can treat any infection and hopefully eliminate the problem. If this doesn’t work, Dr. Marshall may recommend additional medication to help relieve your cat’s stress.
Supervision is the key to preventing accidents by your pup. Closely supervise your puppy at all times. Watch for signals from the pup that he needs to go outside. Use a leash or baby gates to keep him close. Frequently offer opportunities to go out and go with the pup to reward him when he eliminates in the correct place.
Confine the pup when you are
asleep or out of the house. When you cannot closely watch him, take him out on
a leash to potty, then put him in his kennel so that
he will not have an opportunity to make a mistake. Make the kennel enjoyable
with chew toys and a water bowl. Watch carefully to make sure that any bedding
and toys are not being chewed and swallowed.
As soon as you take him out of the kennel, put him on leash and take him
outside again. The more often he is successful at eliminating outside, the
quicker he will figure it out.
When you are home, but have things to do, have the puppy on a leash attached to
you or a piece of furniture near you. This 'tie-down' is like a playpen for a
baby. The puppy can be near you, interact with you, but won't be able to get
out of your sight and get into trouble. As the puppy gets better, you might use
baby-gates or closed doors to keep him in the same room with you. The idea is
to be able to PREVENT the puppy from having accidents in the house. You can't
do that if you aren't watching the puppy.
Until you are SURE the puppy is housetrained, the ONLY time the pup should be
loose in the house is when you are playing with it one-on-one. It's not the
puppy's fault if it has an accident in the house. Either you weren't
supervising it closely enough, or you didn't take him outside often enough.
Remember, they can't reach the doorknob and they can't come up and say 'let me
out' -- at least not until you teach them how.
1. Take the puppy outside on a leash. There are several reasons for this.
ü The pup needs to learn to go outside on a leash
ü If the pup is allowed to run around the yard unsupervised, he will probably come back inside and eliminate on the floor because he was too busy ‘playing’ to do his business.
ü If the dog is clear across the yard when he pees or poops, you can't reward him as soon as he's done
So, put the leash on the puppy. Each time you take the pup out give some verbal cue like, "Outside, do you need to go outside?" Repeat this several times on your way to the door so he learns to associate the word "outside" with going out the door. Now, if you missed the signals for him to go out and catch him in the act of soiling, try to interrupt the process by calling out loudly "OUTSIDE, OUTSIDE!" Quickly rush him out while he still needs to go. Once outside, calmly encourage him to finish then praise him for going in the correct place.
2. Again, go out with the puppy when he relieves himself otherwise you will have no way of knowing if he has relieved outside and he may just wait until you bring him back inside to eliminate. There will be no faulty assumptions if you go out with him and are right there to reward him for the correct behavior. Take a treat or two out with you at first and give them to the puppy as soon as he finishes relieving himself. Say 'Good Potty' (or whatever you want to call it). The words don't matter as long as you are consistent. Soon you will be able to tell the puppy to 'potty' and he will know that you mean for him to take care of business outside.
3. If you have given the puppy opportunities to relieve himself outside and he does not eliminate out there, DO NOT allow him free access to your home. Bring him in and confine him, either in the crate or on a leash, until you can give him another chance to go outside.
4. If you missed the signals and you find a mess on the floor, do not punish the pup. Punishment at this time will only teach the pup that you cannot be trusted when there is a mess on the floor. He can't associate the mess with the action he did 2 or 20 minutes earlier. Chalk it up to experience and from now on, watch the puppy more closely. Calmly clean up the mess with one of the many special chemicals on the market for urine odors.
5. If you are consistent in taking the puppy outside and rewarding him, soon your puppy will be house trained. Congratulations!
If your cat is eliminating outside the
box
In adult cats that are already litter box trained,
elimination outside the box usually indicates an illness. Cats will urinate
beside the box, on a nearby rug, in the middle of the bed, on a couch cushion,
on a pile of dirty laundry and any number of other places when they have a
urinary tract illness. We’ve even had clients tell us the cat urinated in the
bathroom sink or on top of the stove! We don’t really know why they urinate in
such strange places; possibly it’s a message to us that they don’t feel well.
Sometimes the cat has started to associate the litter box with the pain of an
infection. Check the color of the urine, does it look normal? Are you seeing
blood in the urine? If so, make an appointment right away.
Check out this document for additional information. If you need to bring your cat in, bring the form with you.
If everything else about the litter box has remained the same, then urination outside the litter box is not normal. Cats can be finicky, have you changed anything about the litter box or its environment? In other words:
Ø Are there enough boxes for every cat in the house. Got a new cat? Add another box. The rule of thumb is 1 box per cat plus 1… usually you can get away with 1 per cat.
Ø Is the box in a quiet location where the cat isn't likely to be disturbed, frightened or harassed by other pets? If you got a new cat/kitten, you may need to separate the litter boxes to give them a little peace.
Ø Are you cleaning the box regularly? This doesn’t just mean ‘scooping.’ If you use clumping litter, the entire box needs to be changed regularly, not just the dirty spots. The litter bags tell you to use 3 inches of litter. I find that it’s better to use less and dump it more frequently. However, some cats like deep litter to dig in. Each cat’s preference is different and some are much pickier than others.
Ø Have you changed brands of litter, litter box liners, replaced the box with a different style, changed the location of the box or put something new near it? Some cats are finicky, not just in eating habits, but in elimination habits. Try putting things back the way they were, then if you must change things, try to make small changes. For example: Mix the old and new litter for a few weeks, then gradually use less of the old. Make sure the new box is the same size as the old one, etc.
Ø The same applies for bowel movements made outside the litter box. But you also need to check that they are well-formed, not runny, or too hard. Sometimes long-haired cats will get fecal balls stuck on their coat. Check to see if a little trimming isn’t needed.
If your cat is eliminating outside the box, there may be a health issue. Don’t wait weeks, if cleaning the box doesn’t work, call and make an appointment right away. Sometimes cats with urinary infections will stop using the litter box because they are now associating the pain of the infection with the box. Once the infection is treated, moving the box, changing the brand of litter, or replacing the box may help your cat return to using the litter box more quickly.
If you are having problems with inappropriate eliminations, the first step is to rule out any illness. Please contact us for an appointment.
If your dog is eliminating inside the
house
The first thing you need to do is make sure the urine or feces looks normal.
If not, you need to call for an appointment with Dr. Marshall.
If they do look normal, you need to evaluate what might have changed in your dog’s schedule.
ü Did your daily schedule change?
ü Did you let the dog out/walk the dog in a timely manner?
ü New pet or person in the household?
ü Change of environment? Workers outside/next door? Strange noises? Thunder storm?
ü More activity than normal?
If none of these have occurred, and the dog’s eliminations are normal looking, then you may need to work on re-housetraining it. Call and schedule an appointment so Dr. Marshall can make sure there aren’t any physical problems and we can discuss how to handle the house-soiling problem.
(281) 444-8387
