Help Keep More Cats Out of Shelters with #PreciousCat Cat Attract Litter

You may be familiar with Dr. Elsey cat litter but we’re delighted to present an interview with the man behind the brand. Dr. Bruce Elsey owns a feline-only veterinary hospital founded in 1978 in Denver. He is the creator of the Cat Attract Litter Formula Cat Attract™ is scoopable blended with a natural herbal attractant making it more alluring for cats

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As a holistic cat behaviorist the most common issue I encounter is inappropriate litter box use. Sadly, a high percentage of cats end up being surrendered to shelters because they have litter box issues. Many of these perfectly healthy cats in shelters are euthanized. It doesn’t need to be that way. The first step to solving litter box issues is to rule out an underlying medical cause. When the cause is behavioral the solution can be as simple as getting a larger litter box, a new location, cleaning the box more frequently or using a non-bleach or chemical cleaner. No matter how often we clean a litter box, there’s nothing like a fresh, new litter box. I recommend replacing (the same style if it works) every one or years.

When our blind, 19-year-old Merlin began having a hard time getting into the box we “thought out of the box” and made an open-ended litter from a cat carrier. I’m happy to report he’s back to using his regular box but our creative efforts were appreciated.

Every cat is different and it’s up to us to find out what litter and litter box works best for our cats.

Q & A with Dr.Bruce Elsey

How old were you when you got your first cat?

Dr. Elsey: Fifteen, a Manx cat named Bob; he was called Bob because he’d been born without a tail. My family had a farm in southwest Kansas and Bob was at the farm when he started working there; he was a friendly stray that Dr. Elsey took in as his own cat.

Do you currently own any cats?

DrE: Mickey & Mini were from the same litter and were 19-years-old. I recently had to send them both over the Rainbow Bridge due to kidney failure. Their litter of kittens were left at the clinic front door with ringworm, so we took them in and kept them.

BP: Was there one particular incident that led to the creation of The Cat Attract Litter Formula or did you notice trends over time?

DrE: Vet practices, especially cat practices, hear from owners about cats that don’t use litter or that are spraying and that is a big problem, and source of frustration for the owners. If you can’t work with the cats and get them over these litter issues, many of the cats end up at shelters or are abandoned. Because of this he set to work on a litter formulation that would be more acceptable to the cat. He worked with local shelters and the clinic for testing and honed the formula and it’s been well received. As much as having a quality product, there is a need to educate the owner and the cat as well.

He states that his frustration is that 15-minutes in a room with someone is not long enough to go over two hours of necessary education so he and his staff continue to tackle the issue and educate cat owners.

BP: What are your recommendations when it comes to use of The Cat Attract Litter Formula for older versus younger cats?

DrE: The kitten attract formula has a finer particle size which is better suited to the small size of a kitten’s paw. There’s no reason a cat owner couldn’t continue using the kitten formula on an older cat but it tends to track a lot more than the Cat Attract does. Cats like a litter that is as close to sand as possible, from a texture standpoint; studies back up that point. Using sand isn’t an option because, even though cats like it, it doesn’t absorb. In the beginning stages of litter training a kitten starting with a finer litter size encourages use of the litter; the Kitten Attract litter is formulated with an herbal essence that is pleasing to a kitten. The switch to Cat Attract litter can be made once the kitten is around one year old. The Cat Attract formula has a different herbal essence that is found to be more pleasing to the older felines.

BP: In your experience, what percentage of cats have not used litter box properly due to health issues versus other issues (i.e., change in routine or environment, etc.)

DrE: Don’t know that there have been any real studies to nail down a percentage on that issue. There is a huge overlap. The number one reason to have blood in urine is interstitial cystitis. It’s more of brain problem than a health issue and is brought on by stress. Those cats, 90% under 10 years old, will not have a urinary tract infection (bacterial). If you have a cat that has blood in its urine there is only a 10% chance that it has a bacterial infection. Interstitial cystitis is more stress related and the owner would have to work with the cat on behavior and work to change/enrich cat’s environment to change that. Cats have urinary tract issues, but it is a behavioral issue many times. Veterinarians don’t typically see a lot of purely medical infections until the cats are more than 10-years-old. If a cat is under 10 and has inappropriate urination or marking it will likely be a stress-related issue where environmental enrichment is a huge thing to look into.

When it comes to alleviating stress, he explains that because cats are predators they should have about 3,000 square feet (per cat) to roam in and many cases cats are being asked to live in spaces that are too small for them. We put them in spaces with other predators – dogs, other cats and people – and this causes them stress. People think, “This cat just lies around and sleeps all day. How can it be stressed?” But cats should each have their own litter, need playtime, need to be brushed and need elevated spots where they can get away from others. All things that are stress reducing.

BP: When the cause is change in environment (i.e, change in litter, litter box, new home, new housemate,) what are the top three reasons that a cat may decide to no longer use their litter box?

DrE: Try to categorize cats’ not using litter box into subsets: marking behavior or feces and inappropriate urination. If a cat is marking with urine – that is oftentimes on vertical surfaces, or on horizontal surface or on a bed you’ll see a line rather than a puddle of urine. Marking behavior: if you see the cat doing this they won’t turn around and sniff it, but in appropriate urination they will turn around and sniff. There are certainly anti-anxiety meds which can be beneficial for cats that are marking and having inappropriate urination; generic Prozac has been proven to be beneficial for marking because marking is a form of communication for cats. It’s a normal way of getting their point across. Cats have glands in front of their ears where they mark you by rubbing on you, and on the bottom of their pads where they mark (when they scratch). Confine the marking behavior to things that are acceptable. If you add another cat/dog/person this can instigate marking behavior or stress them and then they will develop interstitial cystitis. There is a booklet available that addresses litter box issues and offers solutions. The booklet can be found on their website and is also included with every bag of Kitten or Cat Attract. http://blogp.ws/LitterSolutions Getting to the bottom of your cat’s behavior is the starting point to solving it.

Also, as it relates to marking behavior, if you have outside cats that spray urine on patio doors that ranks with cats wanting to mark their territory; most marking is just the cat claiming the territory. If you do something to threaten their territory you can have issues with marking. The number of cats in a household increases the incidence of marking; more than 10 cats is the “tipping point” with fewer than eight cats it may diminish. Bottom line, the more cats you the higher the chances of marking there will be.

BP: How can you get the cat back on track once they have stopped using their litter box properly? Are there any specific tips you would recommend that we share with our readers?

DrE: First, you have to start with hygiene. People need to scoop the box every day. Next, the box needs to be large enough; it should be one and one half times the length of the cat so he can easily turn around in it. Most litter boxes are not really that large. If you have multiple cats, you need multiple litter boxes; one box more than the number of cats in your home. Using a plastic litter box can eventually pick up an odor that the cats find objectionable and they will have an aversion to it. When it comes to health; we promote canned food because a cat will get twice the total water intake by eating canned food over dry and this will cut back on the incidence of urinary issues.

Another item to address is that some cats will have a location preference for the litter box; placing it next to a washing machine or dryer or furnace that cuts in and out can be an issue as it could scare the cat while it’s in the box. Most cats, too, prefer open litter boxes over closed styles.

BP: Do you have any final words?

DrE: I think a lot of problems with cats could be solved if they were on canned food; it may not be as convenient or cost effective, but it’s healthier for the cat and could add to the sanity of the pet parent! Also, kidney compromise is number one reason for demise of older cats. Cats are in a chronic stage of dehydration their entire life when on dry food and that’s not conducive to normal kidney function. Consider a cat’s diet in the wild would be a mouse with a moisture content of 80%; canned food is 72-82% moisture, and dry food has a 10% moisture. Cats simply don’t drink enough water to make up for the moisture deficit and this can have an adverse impact on kidney function. And that leads back to urinary issues.

This post is sponsored by Precious Cat on behalf of the BlogPaws Blogger Network. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Precious Cat’s Cat Attract formula, but Cat Wisdom101.com only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. Precious Cat is not responsible for the content of this article.