Orange or Lemon Scented Floor Cleaner

I'm in the process of trying to figure out why my cat sometimes urinated in the litterbox and other times preferred the living room carpet. She consistently used the litterbox to deficate. I had started to clean my kitchen floor on a weekly basis with a lemon scented cleaner and then switched to an orange scented one. Last Monday, I put a second litterbox in my living room and she is now using the litterbox there and not using the one in the kitchen. She hasn't been urinating on the carpet either (yippy). It should also be noted that my kitchen is a good 5 degrees colder than my livingroom since it's wintertime. Is it more likley it's the orange scented floor cleaner than the colder room temperature that apparently has changed her preference for litterbox location? Any thoughts?

How old is your cat? Is she in her senior years? Is she an indoor kitty only? Has she had any health problems recently or currently? Have there been any changes to your house, (like furniture moving, painting, repairs done etc)?

Just asking these questions in order to find out more so I can suggest something to you to try and help.

My cat is a 16-month old, indoor only, spayed female who I found as a stray in July 2003. The problem started when I was using Feline Pine in October. She started to defecate in front of my toilet and sometimes urinate. I switched back to Tidy Cats regular clay litter and she returned to using the litter box…mostly. About once per week, sheâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]d urinate in front of the toilet. I cleaned the spot in front of the toilet with various products (febreeze, oxyclean, Natureâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s Miracle and Capture) over the next 3 weeks and shut my bathroom door. During this 3-week period, I also start using orange scented floor cleaner on my kitchen floor on a weekly basis. Since she didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t have access to the bathroom, she started to urinate on my living room carpet in one corner behind the tv. After I blocked that corner off, she urinated in another corner in my living room. Over this period of time (11/19-11/30), she mostly urinated on my carpet in the living room and sometimes in the litter box. She still, however, defecated in the litter box. As of 12/8, I placed a second litter box in the living room in a corner and she immediately started using that box and has been using it exclusive of the box in the kitchen and carpet itself. On 12/14, I interchanged the litter boxes and she has continued to use whatever litter box was in the living room. I had started to change litter brands (Tidys Cats regular clay to Worldâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s Best) in mid November and thought maybe she didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t like the new litter. Thatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s why I added the 2nd litter box and placed it in the living room. However, the 2nd litter box only contained Worldâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s Best and she had no problems using it.

It had crossed my mind that she might have an UTI or something related, but there was no blood in her urine, she didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t seem to have difficulty urinating, didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t make any “unusual†meows, and her “personal area†didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t appear red or swollen. There have been no changes in my household. No repairs, no remodeling, no chaos, and Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m the only human in the household. The only changes were my using the orange scented floor cleaner and the temperature dropped outside around mid November. Kitchen (68) is definitely colder than my living room (73). I might try moving the litter box in the kitchen to another location in the kitchen since the box is currently next to a door with a cold breeze (32). I really donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t want the litter box in the living room, but itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s better she uses a box than not.

Originally posted by MissCharlotte
It had crossed my mind that she might have an UTI or something related, but there was no blood in her urine, she didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t seem to have difficulty urinating, didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t make any “unusual†meows, and her “personal area†didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t appear red or swollen.

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When my cats have had UTIs they never have had any of these symptoms. The only symptom any of them have had is peeing on the rug or kitchen counter. Please take your cat to the vet and have her checked right away!

Please click here to read about how to stop inappropriate urination.

Cats generally don't like the scent of anything citrus, so she may be avoiding the area as much as possible and only going to defecate because she really has to go and being a stray knows that she must bury that. That would be a pretty simple solution - just stop using the citrus scent.

I had already read the thread suggested before submitting this post. On Saturday, I cleaned my floor with Mr. Clean Invigoring Breeze scent. Tonight when I got home from work (Tuesday), she used the litter box in the kitchen. I'm still going to leave out 2 boxes and give this some more time. It is possible she just doesn't like the box that is deeper and designed to be used with a hood. The hood hasn't been on for a month. Thanks for your input.

I would take her to the vet for a check up just to be on the safe side. Hopefully, it's just the citrus smell like valanhb suggested or it could be her adjusting to the deeper litter tray.

Do you have one of those door warmer things? I'm not sure what their called. But they're made of material and are the length of a door's width. You just pop them down at the gap between the floor and the door out. They're used to stop drafts. That could help stop the cold air coming in.