
Here’s a step-by-step guide to help stop litter box problems in a multi-cat home. first of all, act fast. A litter box problem that continues for a long time can become harder and harder to solve. Litter box mistakes can lead to territorial responses, and disturb the routines and hierarchies of your entire household.
Find the culprit. Before you even try to determine the “why,” figure out the “who.” If you catch it early enough, you can hopefully nail it down to one cat. Many people like to isolate each cat to determine which cat is causing the problem, but displacing one cat, even overnight, can sometimes lead to dominance displays in the others, as they claim undefended territory.
If you have new cats, or kittens reaching adulthood, you may want to visit the vet for help. Your veterinarian can prescribe fluoresce in for your cats, helping you to determine which urine stain(s) glow under an ultraviolet light.
Rule out a Veterinary Problem. Veterinary causes underlie many litter box problems, particularly in household with older cats or those with access to the outdoors. Urinary tract infections are one of many common causes, where the cat develops an aversion to the box as a painful place to be. Other health problems can also cause litterbox mistakes.
Worse, without visiting the veterinarian, your other cats may be at risk, which could cause the problem to multiply. No behavior techniques in the world will help a cat with a veterinary problem, so don’t skip the trip to the vet.
Observe the Behavior. If the vet rules out a health problem, I next recommend a brief observation period. It’s always very frustrating to the owner to let the cat continue his litter box mistakes, but it gives you the knowledge to attack the specific problem.
During the observation period, try to concentrate on the things in the environment that may be important to your cat, like litter boxes, food bowls, favorite places, the routines of the other cats and people in the home, etc. Start a journal where you record as much information as you can about every litterbox mistake, then look for links.
Break the Habit. Elimination sites are matters of preference, and when the cat gets into the routine of going to a certain location, you’ll need to prevent the behavior from recurring. Since the smell of declining urine is a signal for the cat to “reapply,” clean the accident site with a pet odor remover – perhaps multiple times to get past the cat’s sensitive nose.
Block off the area while the product does its work. Remote deterrents, that work whether you are around or not, will keep the cat from returning to the area whenever you aren’t standing guard. Double-sided tape or an upside-down plastic carpet runner, pointy feet up, can keep your cat from standing in the same area.
Cats also hate to be startled, so anything that can safely surprise the cat when he visits that area can help make the area less “cat-friendly.”
Make the current litter box more appealing. While you are preventing bad habits, make good habits more appealing. The litter box should be clean, have privacy, and in multi-cat homes, escapability is also important.
This simply means that the cat can see off a distance, so he won’t be ambushed in the box, or on his way there. Most cats prefer clumping, non-perfumed litter, but work with your individual cat to determine whether a box of a different size, shape, or litter would help.
Retrain the cats. If it doesn’t seem to help to address the individual factors in your journal, or your cat has never regularly used the litterbox, you may want to retrain the cat by himself.
Many cats stick to a regular routine, so once you’ve determined when the cat is likely to use the box, you can let the cat out during low-risk times to maintain the hierarchy, and put him back in the room with the litter box during high risk periods. Repetition of successful use will increase the cat’s preference to the box.
General stress reduction. In some situations, it’s difficult to determine specific environmental triggers for a problem behavior. However, sometimes general stress reduction techniques will prove helpful, particularly in multi-cat homes.
For litter box problems that have arisen from territorial disputes, additional resources may reduce competition for resources.

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