History taking and diagnosis in cases of feline house soiling

House soiling problems (defined simply as the deposition of urine and/or faeces in unacceptable places from a human perspective) are one of the most common reasons for owners to sense a breakdown in their relationship with their pet and seek professional advice. The behaviour is distressing from a human perspective, but is also a sign that all is not well for the cat. There are a number of potential causes of house soiling behaviour and the most important part of investigating these cases is to establish the underlying motivation. The four important differential diagnoses are:

In a breakdown of cases seen at Vicky Halls' Referral Practice in 2014 (n=195) the distribution of cases shows the importance of all cats presenting with house soiling problems being given a thorough veterinary examination before being investigated purely from a behavioural perspective (Box 1). Most cases have one or more presenting problems, for example urine spraying together with elimination related to primary social and environmental factors, or intercat aggression with urine spraying. For the purpose of these statistics the behaviour noted reflects the veterinary surgeon's initial referral.