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A cat not using the litter box is the number one behavior complaint cat owners bring to vets and shelters, and it is also one of the most fixable. Cats are clean animals by nature. When one stops using the box, they are telling you something, and it is almost never spite. It is usually one of five things.

1. The box is not clean enough for their standards

Their standards are higher than yours. Scoop at least once a day, dump and wash the box monthly, and skip the scented litters. A cat’s nose is roughly fourteen times stronger than a human’s, and a perfume-scented box can smell like a chemical factory to them. Most litter box problems end at the scoop.

2. Not enough boxes, or the wrong kind

The rule is one box per cat, plus one. In a two-cat house that means three. Covered boxes are popular with owners and often hated by cats: they trap odor and create an ambush point another pet can guard. A big open box with unscented clumping litter wins most cage matches.

3. The location is wrong

Cats want a quiet spot away from the washing machine and the dog’s food bowl, but not so hidden they feel cornered. If the box moved recently, or a new pet, baby, or houseguest changed the routine, stress alone can do it. Put a box back in the old location if you can.

4. It hurts when they go

This is the one you never wait out. Straining, frequent trips, crying in the box, or blood in the urine means a vet visit now, especially for male cats, where a blockage is an emergency. A cat who associates the box with pain will avoid it, which is why a medical problem can look exactly like a behavior one.

5. The accident scene still smells like an accident

Clean past mistakes with an enzyme cleaner, never ammonia. Ammonia smells like urine to a cat, and you are basically re-marking the spot for them.

Related reading: bringing home your first cat? Start with adopting a cat for the first time.

Here is the uncomfortable truth most pet stores will not tell you: the guinea pig cage on their shelf is usually too small. Rescue groups and humane societies recommend around 7.5 square feet of floor space for a single pig and more for a pair, and most commercial cages do not come close. Bigger is always better, and a two-by-four grid-style cage is the budget favorite for a reason.

The floor and the bedding

Wire floors are out: they hurt toes and feet. You want a solid bottom with paper-based bedding, an inch or two deep. Skip cedar and pine shavings; the aromatic oils irritate small lungs. Spot clean daily and do a full bedding change at least weekly.

Where the cage lives

Indoors, out of drafts and direct sun, steady between about 65 and 79 degrees. Guinea pigs also want to be near the action: a quiet spare room is actually worse for them than the family room, because they are herd animals and the sound of the household is their entertainment.

What goes inside

Unlimited timothy hay is the single most important item in the cage; it is food, dental care, and bedding enrichment all at once. Add a ceramic or bolted water bottle, a heavy food dish, at least one hideout per pig, and safe chew items. Hideouts matter more than they look: a guinea pig without a place to hide is a stressed guinea pig.

The daily vitamin C most new owners miss

Guinea pigs cannot make their own vitamin C, the way humans cannot, so it has to arrive fresh every day. Bell peppers, parsley, and a slice of orange all work, or a supplement. This is the deficiency behind most “my pig seems tired” vet visits, and it is the cheapest problem on this list to prevent.

And get two, if you can. A single guinea pig is a lonely guinea pig no matter how attentive you are, and a bonded pair does not cost double the work, only double the hay.

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