![]() “Would you want to have a porta-potty in the middle of a highway? Not so much." The laundry room is a common location for a litter box, but the noise from the washer and dryer can make cats stressed, says M. The key is finding a quiet and easily accessible spot with privacy, says Fellacher. Beyond being inconvenient, poor placement like this can even hurt your pet. “If the boxes are always down in the basement, they have to go up and down stairs,” says Jokela. Many experts say people place the litter box where they want it and not where the cat would prefer it. In a cat's eyes, placing two litter boxes next to each other is essentially creating one giant litter box, she adds. Jaworsky recommends placing them in different parts of the house that are convenient for the cat. If you have one cat, you should have two litter boxes if you have three cats, you should have four. Have More Than OneĪll five veterinarians Discover spoke to for this story recommend following the “N+1 rule.” What does this mean? Simply put, it’s best to have an extra litter box for every cat in the house. One 2019 study revealed cats “were often observed eliminating immediately post-scooping of the litter boxes,” which confirmed that “litter cleanliness plays a critical role in elimination behavior.” Beyond making sure the box is cleaned regularly, says Jaworksy, it's important to provide your cats with different bathroom options, too. She references how humans immediately leave a bathroom stall in a public restroom if someone didn’t flush the toilet before them. Try these litter box recommendations backed by experts and scientists to help keep your cat as happy, comfortable and stress-free as possible: Clean Your Litter Box Stress can lead to other health issues for a cat, such as a flare up of the herpes virus or painful bladder conditions. “Oftentimes if they do urinate outside the litter box it's because they're stressed out about something,” adds Marina Jaworsky, associate veterinarian at GreenTree Animal Hospital. Beyond that, veterinarian Christine Fellacher says behavioral problems, such as house soiling, are often related to issues with litter boxes too. Improper management of litter boxes and inadequate resources in the house can also induce stress in your feline friend, says Jokela. She says humans go into the pet store with their credit card and select the box they like, but “if the cat had the credit card it’d go, ‘Oh, no, no, no, that does not look like a toilet to me.’” For starters, many cat owners make decisions based on things they want, rather than what may be best for the cat, says Fiia Jokela, veterinarian and owner of Chicagoland Veterinary Behavior Consultants. But veterinarians still see owners making plenty of mistakes with them. ![]() If you're a cat owner, you already know that litter boxes are super important. ![]()
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