How to Stop Cat Urinating

Cats are usually well-behaved, clean companions. If your cat suddenly begins urinating anywhere in your house other than in its litter box, you have a problem on your hands. Your cat may have a urinary tract infection or be suffering from stress. Conditions in the household may have changed or you may be purchasing a new litter he doesn't like. Regardless, once a cat urinates in an inappropriate place in your house, his sense of smell brings him back to that location. Identify the problem that caused the cat to urinate inappropriately in your house in the first place and remove the odor in the affected area to solve this problem.

Things You'll Need

  • Cat urine odor remover
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Instructions

    • 1

      Take your cat to the vet and have him checked for a urinary tract infection. If your cat is spraying, rather than urinating, have your pet spayed or neutered.

    • 2

      Keep the cat's litter box in an open area, not a tightly enclosed space, and clean the litter frequently. Use the same litter you have been using successfully, if it is available. If you have more than one cat, set out more than one littler box. Occasionally one cat will bully another by preventing access to the litter box.

    • 3

      Keep the litter box clean but don't use strong disinfectants on it. Chemical odors can cause a cat to abandon a litter box. If your cat is elderly, put out a litter box with low sides; at some point, your elderly cat will experience pain when trying to climb into a tall box.

    • 4

      Moving can be stressful for cats as well as humans. When you move, confine your cat to only one or two rooms that contain his litter box until he becomes accustomed to its new location. Leave some "used" litter in the box, so his nose directs him to the new location.

    • 5

      Introducing an additional cat into a household can stress an established cat. Try to keep his routine as regular as possible. Provide separate litter boxes for a while. Keep the animals separated during a getting-acquainted period.

    • 6

      Keep the litter box accessible at all time. Prop doors open if your cat like to shut them. If he ever needs to go and can't reach his box, well...when you gotta go, you gotta go.

    • 7

      Remove the smell of the cat urine completely. No matter the reason the problem began, your cat will keep going back to the same spot if it smells its urine. If possible, close the room off temporarily and use a heavy-duty cat urine odor remover in the affected area. Odor removal is essential to solving this problem. Hire a professional cleaning service that specializes in pet odors if you are unable to completely sanitize the area yourself.