Is Your New Dog Driving Your Cat Out of the Litter Box?

Coming to the aid of poor and defenseless animals is something that my wife excels at naturally. So when her boss's mother passed away, she quickly volunteered to her orphaned dog Maggie. After meeting the dog and finding it quite likeable, I had no major objections, but I knew of another member of our family that would. Our cat of five years does not take too kindly to dogs, no matter how well behaved and harmless the dog might be. Soon she was showing her displeasure for her new house-mate by urinating everywhere in the house except in her litter box.

Our first attempts to get the cat to start using her litter box again were filled with frustration. We tried positive reinforcement by giving her treats every time she stepped in the litter box. We tried negative re-enforcement of yelling at her every time we found a fresh unwanted puddle, but she only seemed confused by our outbursts. We would use cleaners of every sort to try to remove the smells, but nothing seemed to work.

Finally, after a little research I found the one solution that kept our house from permanently smelling like a public bathroom. We had to put the cat into solitary confinement. We took her and put her in her own room and kept the door shut. In the room we placed her food, litter box, and toys. She was not let out of the room for any reason.

Why did it work? Cats are very particular about their bathroom rituals. Our cat had formed a new ritual of going outside the litter box in because she wanted to make sure that the dog knew it was her territory. We had to get the cat back into her old potty habits, by putting her in her own room where she didn't feel threatened by the presence of a dog. Once the threat of the dog was gone, our cat felt safe enough to start going in the litter box again.