A cat not using litter box is probably the main reason why cat owners give up. It's frustrating and annoying find your cat pee all around home. Fortunately many people have been in your shoes before, so there are lots of answers for this problem.

These are the four main reasons for a cat not using his box.

- Urinary Tract Infection.

Do you noticed any change in your cat behavior? If so, you may handle with an urinary tract infection and this is the reason why your cat not using litter box.

Immediately take your cat to the vet and make sure that's not a healthy issue. Vet are trained to treat urinary tract infection.

- The box is in a loud or high traffic area.

Is your cat toilet in a loud and high traffic area? If your answer is yes, this is the reason why your cat not using litter box. Moving the box form the loud and traffic room to a more quiet and silent room, you can easily solve the problem. Cats need privacy to do their business.

It can happen that your cat was scared by a loud washing-machine and she may associate the fear with the litterbox itself (and not with the room) and start avoiding it. Since cats leave a fear scent when they get scared, this scent can be the reason why your cat not using the litter box.

To solve this problem, thoroughly clean the bathroom box with mild soap and water. You can also use some ammonia type cleaners (you should have it in your home), so your cat will be more attract to use it. This way, you also avoid your cat not using the litter box.

- The box cause pain.

This can happen very often when your cat needs to recover from a surgery. Your cat may associate the pain with the litter box - and avoid it in order to prevent further pain. This happens most often with cats that have been recently declawed because the recovery is so long and painful. Rarely, it may happen with a cat that has been spayed - but cats typically recover from being spayed/neutered very quickly.

Once your cat associate the pain with the litter box there is almost nothing to do. You should buy a new litterbox.

But, if you know ahead of time your cat is going to have a surgery, get a new box just for use during the recovery period. To save money you can also use a large Tupperware storage container.

- Litterbox smells.

Cats are very clean creatures and they don't want to use a dirty litter box that hasn't been cleaned for 3 weeks any more than you would want to use a toilet that hasn't been flushed in 3 weeks - especially since they have to stand in their litter box.

Make sure you scoop out clumps daily and do a complete dump once a week. (Or every 2 weeks for clumping litter). By doing this you'll stop your cat not using the litter box.

If the litterbox still smell, maybe you cleaned it with something that your spoiled kitty considers stinky.

Make sure you don't use any strong chemicals like bleach or comet to clean you cat box. Plain water, or water with diluted dish soap will work fine. Definitely avoid using anything with a citrus smell, because most cats despise the smell of citrus.

Another reason not to use harsh chemicals is because cats like to be able to smell their familiar scent in the box. The scent reminds them it's safe, comfortable place to do their business.