Discovering puddles and little cat “presents” around the house, especially when you get home from a long day at the office, can be an irritating issue.

If your cat is ignoring his or her litter box on occasion, or totally, it could be a health issue, a urinary tract infection in particular.

Or, it could be a behavioral issue. She could be misbehaving for a number of reasons, including a litter box that is unclean for his or her high standards, in the wrong place, or just plain not attractive for a number of reasons.

If your cat was an outdoor cat, it could just be reverting back to its old habits of going at will. Or, perhaps it can’t contain itself. It could also be angry that you are not giving it enough time or attention. There is nothing worse than a pet who pees wrathfully, as we say in my house. (We had a dog who would look at you, throw her ears back, and pee on purpose the couple of rare times she would ever get annoyed by something).

So, if you have ruled out a health issue, and a behavioral one, here are some tips to get your pet back on track using its litter box:

* Place the litter box in a quiet, private location that’s easily accessible. You might want to get one of the ones that looks like a little hut.
* Try not to move the box around.
* Use a clumping litter so that waste can be easily scooped and removed.
* Keep it simple and scoop the litter daily. You might want to get an automated scoop litter box, but keep in mind that you will need to introduce it gradually so as not to scare your pet with this new mechanized box.
* Make sure there’s an adequate number of cat boxes available, and consider more than one box if you have more than one cat.
* Make sure your box is big enough for her to circle around in comfortably.
* Check the level of cat litter; your cat likely prefers a good 3-4 inches of litter for a good dig (my cat used to ‘dig to China’, dig the whole litter box for about 10 minutes, usually in the middle of the night!)
* If you’re using a scented litter, try switching to an unscented variety, or vice versa. I have to say, I definitely prefer the unscented!