A cat who suddenly stops using the box deserves a vet visit before any training plan. Urinary tract infections, crystals, arthritis pain getting in and out, and other medical issues are behind a large share of litter box problems, and no amount of retraining fixes a cat who hurts when they pee. Once health is cleared, move to the box itself.<\/p>\n
Most box problems are box problems. The standard rules: one box per cat plus one extra; boxes in quiet, separate locations (not all in a row in the laundry room); unscented litter, two to three inches deep; scooped daily. Many cats hate covered boxes and scented litter even though owners love both. Size matters too \u2014 the box should be at least one and a half times the cat’s length. Fix these and a majority of avoidance resolves within a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n
Accident spots need enzymatic cleaner \u2014 regular detergent leaves scent markers that invite a repeat. Never punish a cat for accidents; punishment teaches them to fear you, not to use the box, and spraying or hiding behavior usually gets worse. Instead, make the box the easiest good choice and reward use with calm praise and a treat. If the problem persists after health and box fixes, a certified feline behaviorist is worth the call.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When a cat avoids the litter box, they’re telling you something. The five most common causes \u2014 and the fixes that work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demos.cbadspro.com\/cat-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demos.cbadspro.com\/cat-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demos.cbadspro.com\/cat-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demos.cbadspro.com\/cat-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demos.cbadspro.com\/cat-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demos.cbadspro.com\/cat-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demos.cbadspro.com\/cat-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demos.cbadspro.com\/cat-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demos.cbadspro.com\/cat-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demos.cbadspro.com\/cat-training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}