litter box

Question
We have 4 year old cat.  He is very affectionate with the family and gets along extremely well with our dog and kids.  Last week he flipped out his litter box.  I figured it as because when he jumped up, he accidentally hit it.  I COMPLETELY cleaned the area.  I moved his box to another spot in the room, thinking it was more secure.  He stopped using the box, I moved it back to the original spot where it was thinking he wasn't using it b/c of the location change.  He is still NOT using it!  He is using our laundry room - on the clothes that fall out of the basket or in the basket inself!  He is peeing and pooping.  He was a complete indoor cat - back slowly started sneaking out when the door would open.  We have sure there was no way he could get out this winter.  Is he mad b/c he can't get out?  I don't know how to stop this behavior. It has never happened before.  What can we do?

Answer
Colleen,

Sometimes, all it takes is one incident to get a cat off its proper litter box habits.  One thing you might try is a product called "Cat Attract" (available from most pet supermarkets) in the litter pan to get the cat back into its normal routine.

If this does not work, you can crate the cat where it has a litter pan, food and water dishes and nothing else until it gets back into its correct habit.

Anywhere there was a mishap, the are needs to be cleaned with an enzyme based cleaner specifically for pet stains and pet odors (available from most pet supermarkets and farm stores).

You can also follow the following link for a series of excellent articles on feline litter box problems.  There may be some further suggestions therein:


http://www.geocities.com/heartland/pointe/9352/litterboxhelp.html


Best regards... Norm.