Discovering that your cat has urinated outside their litter box is never a fun experience. But while your first instinct might be to call the vet to treat your cat’s urinary problem, you should consider why your cat has urinated in the first place.

If you’ve ever had a cat who began to pee around the house as an indicator of a urinary tract problem, you probably understand how important urinary health is for our feline friends. Cats are susceptible to a number of urinary problems, from kidney disease to urinary tract infections to the dreaded urinary blockages in male cats.

Thanks to scooping and cleaning, cat owners are likely to be more familiar with their pet’s litter boxes than they’d like to be. But in some cases, this close attention to your kitty’s bathroom habits can be a good thing! Paying attention to your cat’s litter box can help you uncover problems with their health. One such problem might be a urinary blockage—a painful and potentially life-threatening condition common in male cats.

Cancer is one of the scariest health problems to affect our furry friends. Not only is it often life threatening, but it’s also difficult to spot until it’s spread or worsened. One of the reasons for this is that every type of cancer acts and presents a little differently and can sometimes masquerade as a different type of health problem. Such is the case with transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), or bladder cancer, in dogs.

Aside from newborn kittens who haven’t been taught yet, almost all cats use a litter box daily. It’s one of the easy aspects of owning a cat—there’s no need to take them outside or clean up urine or feces messes. That is, as long as your cat uses the litter box as they should.

With so many brands and types available today, the options for kitty litter can seem overwhelming. Should you go for the cheapest option? What does the difference in particle size mean? What scents do cats like best? Your biggest question might be, “Does the type of litter I buy really matter?”

As cat owners, we spend a lot of time cleaning up after our furry friends’ litter box, which gives us the opportunity to detect when something might not be right. Since urinary problems are so uncomfortable for humans, we understand that any sign of urinary issues in cats should be checked out immediately.

One of the major parts of owning a dog is attuning yourself to your dog’s cues, including those that tell you it needs to go outside—and fast. Bathroom breaks are not always convenient, especially if you don’t have a yard to let your dog loose into, but they are something every pet owner gets used to.

For dog owners who don’t have a doggy door or a gated yard for their homes, taking the dog outside can be a bit of an inconvenience. Sometimes, it seems like the dog whines every 10 minutes to go out and pee, even though you just took them out.