Help! My cat pees everywhere

A cat peeing in the house is an annoying and frustrating problem for both cat and owner. To begin with, it is important to know that a cat never just pees in the house. Cats are very clean animals that prefer to use the litter box themselves. So if your cat suddenly pees outside the box, there is always something wrong. Therefore, never punish a cat for peeing in the house, they do not do this to bully you! The first step is always to take the cat to the vet to rule out a physical cause.

In addition to something physical, the problem often lies in or around the litter box. However, this can also occur in combination with a physical problem. Take a bladder infection as an example: the bladder infection can be caused by, for example, holding up urine due to one or more problems in and around the litter box. However, the litter box can also become an annoying place because peeing or defecating hurts or has done so.

Tips for a pleasant litter box environment for your cat

• Preferably use an open litter box or at least without a lid and large enough for the cat to turn around.
• Preferably use 2 or 3 litter boxes with 2 cats.
• Place the litter box in an easy to reach, quiet place. Not near food or drink or on a busy walkway.
• If your cat always urinates in the same place, then place an extra open litter box there (temporarily).
• Preferably do not use wood grains, these are hard and very uncomfortable. For example, if cats already have a bit of pain when squatting, wood pellets are very unstable.
• Use clump-forming cat litter (without odor!) Empty the box at least once a day and change the entire box once a week. With non-clumping grit, the urine remains in the box for too long and this smells very unpleasant for cats, which can cause them to dislike it.
• Do not put a plastic litter bag in the bottom of the box.
• Do not use air fresheners, fragrance powders, etc. in and around the litter box, cats find this very annoying.
• Clean the litter box completely once a week with a little bleach or chlorine. This scent attracts cats and therefore makes the box inviting. After cleaning, you could rub a drop of chlorine/bleach over the bottom before adding new granules to the container.
• Clean areas in the house where the cat has urinated with biotex (can be any variant) or urine off. This breaks down the urine so that the cat no longer smells it. For the reason above, do not clean with bleach, chlorine or vinegar!
• Make sure that there are no objects near the box that could startle the cats (for example, an air freshener on a sensor).

If your cat continues to urinate in the house despite the above tips, it may be that your cat's overall stress level is too high. You can read what you can do about this in our article How to make my cat happy