Does your cat have “unusual” litter box habits? Usually there is a reason for your kitten’s bathroom behavior. However, you may not know that these questionable habits can be a crucial indicator of a health problem and what to look out for.
For example, if your fur baby is constantly in the litter box, it is unlikely that your cat will do so because it is bored. This would also not be considered a normal littering habit for a cat with no digestive problems.
This is a common sign that your kitten is having trouble clearing it due to a urinary tract infection or bladder blockage. Conditions like this need to be treated by a veterinarian immediately, so it is important to identify them sooner rather than later.
Here are some of the most common litter box behaviors that can indicate health problems in cats.
A cat’s litter box habits are explained
Overuse
If you notice your cat peeing more than usual, it may be due to something harmless, such as: B. Your cat drinks more water or even eats more of its wet food. However, increased urination is also a classic sign of this common feline health problems such as kidney disease, diabetes, and hyperthyroidism. This can also be a cause for concern if you have frequent bowel movements.
As a rule of thumb, cats typically have bowel movements once or twice a day. If your fur baby goes to the bathroom much more frequently, check the consistency and color of the poop to see if your cat is experiencing diarrhea.
Many things can cause diarrhea in cats, and this doesn’t always indicate a health problem. Even so, it can indicate inflammatory bowel disease, colitis, worms (intestinal parasites), pancreatic disease, and other feline viruses. Hence, it is always best to keep an eye on things and consult with your veterinarian if necessary.
Avoid her litter box
If your cat is not using the litter box, the first thing to do is determine if they are going elsewhere. If eliminated outside of the litter box, the problem may be behavioral rather than physical. They like the trash, litter box shape, or tray may be too dirty to use.
On the other hand, if it looks like your cat isn’t eliminating anywhere, it could be a sign of a significant health problem. Although cats can go quite a long time without urinating, they don’t tend to hold it when they don’t have to. If a cat is unable to urinate, it is a medical emergency as it can cause a severe blockage and should be treated immediately.
If your kitten doesn’t get number 2, they may feel constipated. To help with this, you can increase their water intake, add a cat-safe oil to the food, or feed them pureed pumpkin. However, as with diarrhea, if your cat is constipated, be sure to book a visit to the vet. Constipation can be due to something blocking the colon, such as: B. string or bone or other problems with the colon or kidney.
Frenzied digging without removal
Digging through trash and covering up their litter is normal behavior for all cats. However, if your kitten comes into the litter box and frantically digs and then leaves without removing it, this is cause for concern.
Cats with urinary tract infections (UTIs) have difficulty peeing and will be in and out of the litter box. They either eliminate very little or not at all. If you’ve ever had a cystitis yourself, you know how uncomfortable and frustrating it feels. Your cat can frantically dig to let go of its physical frustration.
Track your cat’s bathroom behavior with an automatic litter box
Manual scooping is a great way to spot problems like diarrhea. Because of this, an automatic litter box could make it more difficult to check that your cat is healthy.
However, an automatic litter box can track your cat’s bathroom habits much better than you can yourself. Here’s why:
Some self-cleaning litter boxes like AutoEgg and Aimicat have innovative health monitoring features. For example, the AutoEgg records data every time your cat uses the litter box. It records the weight of the waste and the time it spends in the box, as well as the time and date of each bathroom trip.
The intelligent technology learns your kitten’s everyday bathroom habits and detects when something is unusual. For example, if one day your cat uses the box much more than usual it will be displayed in red.
The system also uses the weight of the waste to determine if your cat has diarrhea. You can access this information on the display panel, with deviations highlighted in red.
Automatic litter boxes, which use a rotating or rake mechanism to clean up the waste, have a waste compartment in which the soiled waste is sifted during the cleaning process.
One of the regular maintenance tasks for these units is to empty this waste drawer once it is full. This is an ideal opportunity to review your cat’s excretory behavior, especially if your self-cleaning device doesn’t have a health tracker.
You can check the consistency of your kitten’s poop, but keep in mind that the stool will become hard over time. So it is best to watch the litter on top of the box as this is the newest.
Other things to watch out for are blood and worms. If your cat has intestinal parasites, they can often appear in the feces so you can easily spot them in the garbage can.
You can also look at the size of the lumps. If the lumps of urine are very large, it indicates that your fur baby is holding his urine for a long time. This could be a sign of kidney disease, diabetes, or hyperthyroidism. If you find that your cat’s urine clumps are getting bigger and bigger, book some tests with your veterinarian.
Our thoughts
As a cat owner, it is important to keep an eye on our cat’s bathroom habits. A self-cleaning litter box not only does the daily scooping for you, it also helps keep track of your fur baby’s health.
If you’re in the process of upgrading to an automatic litter box, choose one with cat technology. With this advanced technology, you can rest assured that your kitten is taken care of.
Published on March 17, 2021
