Sight not smell of another cat’s feces in litter tray of multi-cat home is off-putting

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Domestic cats prefer a visually clean litter box to one that has been used by other cats. However, a study found, rather surprisingly to me, that the odour of faeces and urine deposited in the litter tray by other cats did not deter a domestic cat using litter box in a multi-cat home. The deterrence comes from the cats seeing other cats’ faeces as obstructions to “expressing the behaviors in their natural elimination sequence.”

This was determined by placing in a clean litter box with substrate (litter material) false urine and false faeces. The presence of what the researchers describe as “faux-faeces” deterred cats. To put this another way, “malodour (a bad smell) nor chemical communication (scent marking issues) play a role in litter box preferences, and instead [the study] emphasised the importance of regular removal of physical/visual obstructions as the key factor in promoting proper litter box use.”

I have modified the quote from the study’s summary. But it’s quite clear. Domestic cats like a clean litter box. We know that. But what we didn’t know and perhaps what people still don’t know is that cats prefer a clean litter box not because it might smell bad from the waste deposits of other cats in a multi-cat home but because VISUALLY it looks wrong to a domestic cat.

Cats preferred a clean litter box to a dirty one, but the identity of the previous user had no impact on preferences. While the presence of odor from urine and/or feces did not impact litter box preferences, the presence of odorless faux-urine and/or feces did.

Does previous use affect litter box appeal in multi-cat households?

Cats prefer to eliminate in unused litter boxes over used litter boxes. However, this does not appear to result from signals communicated chemically, as the identity of the previous user had no impact on box use.

Does previous use affect litter box appeal in multi-cat households?

In the study, they mimicked what it was like in a multi-cat household. In their report they make it clear that all the cats got along nicely. There were no “agonistic interactions”. They admit that it’s possible that in a multi-cat home where there were agonistic interactions (aggressive interactions) with one cat being dominant over another for example the smell of faeces might deter the use of a litter box if they were deposited in a litter tray which was used by more than one cat.

Elimination preferences do appear to be influenced by physical/visual obstructions. Cats preferentially avoid litter boxes with obstructions. It is likely that this aversion to physical/visual obstructions was due to the increased difficulty in expressing the behaviors in their natural elimination sequence.

Does previous use affect litter box appeal in multi-cat households?

Cats have a process or sequence when going to toilet. All cat caregivers have seen it. It appears that the sight of a ‘log’ deposited by another cat is offputting as it might interfere in this hard-wired sequence.

In single cat homes, it’s a known fact that the litter box or tray should not be scrubbed completely clean using chemicals with the result that the cat’s natural odours are removed from litter box because this might deter the cat from using the tray. A cat’s natural odours are an attractant to an area where they can go to the toilet. In the wild, wild cats have toileting areas, often in central or important places as strong scent markers to signal their presence and deter others from entering their home range.

Study: Does previous use affect litter box appeal in multi-cat households? Researchers: J.J. Ellis, R.T.S. McGowan, F. Martin. Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2017.02.008

The advice from the best experts is that in a multi-cat homes there should be one tray per cat and one extra (Jackson Galaxy). If that happens the research here becomes irrelevant. However, I suspect in many multi-cat homes that policy is not followed. I can remember visiting the home of a cat photographer who I won’t name in this article who had one large litter tray for a few cats and it was not a good sight. I suspect that the cats didn’t like it because they would have seen these faeces obstructions which might have deterred their natural processes when defecating.