How can I tell if my cat's inappropriate urination is a UTI or behavioral?

Question

My cat has frequently gotten in the pattern of peeing to the side of her litter box or around it. This always seems to happen when I feed her cheap wet food from the grocery store. In the past, the vet tested her and she was negative for UTI, but suggested it was behavioral and I used aluminum foil around the box to divert her- instead, she found a different spot!How can I tell if she has a UTI instead of a behavioral issue again? I have since moved to a new location from her past behavioral issue and she didn't pee outside the box for 4 months. Now she is again and I am frustrated! HELP

She likes the cheap wet food!

She is also blind, I have 2 litter boxes in case she gets lost, but she seems to know where they are very well. She is also 12 years old and went blind after my dog died in May. Her litter problems were there before my dog died, so I don't guess that is new stress to her.

Answer 1

Some cats like their litterboxes really clean. Sometimes they prefer a different litter. They can be fussy about where they go and in what, because their nature is to be clean.

If you think she might have a UTI, then having her checked would either catch it for treatment or set your mind at ease. Those infections can be dangerous to a cat.

Sometimes the cat will not be happy with the placement of the litterbox. However, if she isusing it some of the time, then I would guess it had more to do with the contents of the box than the placement.

I let the pet store lady talk me into trying Feline Pine once. It was supposed to be the latest, greatest stuff. My cats refused to use the box I put it in to try. I have a couple who were taken from their mothers too soon and didn't learn to cover. I've seen a couple of them go to the box with the uncovered mess and leave to use another one. They won't use it because of what they see.

Most litterbox battles can be solved with a good clumping litter and a good scooping once or twice day. The clumping litter is better at keeping down the odor and it doesn't get all soggy like the clay stuff.

Hope you solve your problem. Just telling you what I know from experience. There is a poster to this board called Seattle, and she has a thing she posts about litterbox problems. Maybe she will see your question and post it. Maybe there will be something in that that can help you more.

Good luck.

Answer 2

A lot of times uti does not stop when the antibiotics end, but only afterwards. And many times they don't show all the symptoms but still have it. Even just one sign, weeing outside the box, is enough for the vet to run one or two tests to diagnose this. A cat with a UTI will not always strain and take a long time to urinate, often passing very little urine.They may show one sign, or more, each case is different. In some cases the condition comes back - in which case you need to look at causes, and sort those out or it just keeps coming back at irregular intervals. It's miserable for a cat. You can prevent this from happening again, after it has been sorted completely, by changing the diet. Since dry foods are linked to dehydration, stick to wet food to ensure enough liquids in the diet as well as it's better all round since it has a higher amount of protein. I'd suggest something like Wellness, no grains or fillers or "meal" or by-products, and many ingredients that actively work against UTI. Another thing you can do is to change litter, if need be - if you are using a clay-based clumping litter, be aware that two of the ingredients cause problems, one of them when in contact with liquid sets like concrete - and when you think about the fact that they mostly release some dust, as well as your cat walks in the litter then licks it off his fur - you can see why this is dangerous. Both if those are possible causes, and you can see in each case how it could keep causing a problem. It's always best practice to rule out physical causes first, not last - it can progress really fast into a really dangerous situation. Good luck!

Answer 3

I had success using Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract litter. It has some special herbs in it that gets the kitty to want to go to the box. I understand the herbs themselves are now being sold through veterinarians and you can add them to any litter. Since she is blind that might work with her as she would be finding the box by smell which she obviously does anyway it's just that the herbs might make it more appealing to her.

Chestnut Bud is a Bach flower essence you might try with her. "Chestnut Bud - instilling effectivelearning patterns during training; to stimulate the animal's emotional memory and abiity to retain training, not repeat mistakes." A bottle will cost you about $16 with tax from a health foods store. You just shake the bottle well and put three to four drops on the fur between her ears as many times a day as you can for a week to ten days. It cannot harm her in any way. I am not an expert in prescribing essences and there are professionals who could do so. It seems inexpensive and easy to use. If it isn't the right essence it won't harm her at all, it just won't help.

Answer 4

You can check for blood in your cat's urine by locking her in the bathroom with water and a litter box with the tiniest bit of litter and paper towels in the bottom. If there is blood, it will show on the paper towel. Cats can be very private about peeing - if they are frightened or intruded on this can make them not want to use their boxes. Try moving the box to a more secluded location. Also, is the box clean? And I mean really clean, like scooped every day. Some cats are really fussy about that. Is the cat declawed? Cats that are declawed can get grains of litter up in the places where their claws used to be and that can put them off their box. In that case you can try using a pellet type little.

Or, she could just be like my cat Alberta, who has always been a pee er. Sometimes it is a clear message and sometimes not so clear. I figure she is like primitive people, who can have many different meaning for a word depending on how it is pronounced. Sometimes she is saying we've had company too long and sometimes there's a hole in the ozone and I'm just not smart enough to tell the difference.

Answer 5

The vet has to check for UTI. Some cats are just finicky about their litter box. Why don't you buy a new box, get some clay litter, such as Fresh Step, and change the litter EVERY day. Good luck. You don't say how old she is. My poor old cat has to stay in the laundry room because when he's out he gets nervous or cranky and goes everywhere but the litter box--he's very defiant--his blues eyes shine like they are on fire.

Answer 6

You would have to have a vet check her to determine if it is a UTI or bahavioral. First of all, don't feed her cheap wet food. Stick with what she likes and keeps her content. Second, change your brand of litter. Sometimes the cat, for whatever reason, doesn't like certain brands or styles. Try some of the "natural" litter and see if it works better or the clumping litter, you might just have to experiment.

Answer 7

I would say that if the doctor tested her and she was negative for UTI's, that it is probably behavioral. Is there something different going on in your life? New significant other? Sometimes our cats find odd reasons to get pissed-off at us (no pun intended).

We thought our cat had a behavioral issue when he started peeing on my clothes at one point. Turns out he was prone to UTI's and the vet explained that he associated his litter box with pain, therefore my clothes were a comfort spot to him. He's been on a special diet for the past few years and has had no reoccurences.

You might have her retested one more time, and then if it's negative, ask you vet for suggestions on how to help with behavioral issues. Good luck!

Answer 8

okay my cat is 15 the one prior to her was 21 and both enjoyed a diet of cheap cat food and good food scraps.

Cats like varity, they eat that in the wild. My loved carrots, bell peppers, wheat grass and bugs- had to be sure they only ate outside bugs ( no pesticides).

You may try a kitty "hormone" spray. Manytimes a stressed out kitty acts out! MIne only did that when I was "gone" more often and she was "pissed off" literally.

Good luck.

Answer 9

Is the litterbox so small that she's MISSING it when she "aims"? My cats used to make that mistake. It should be larger than a TV tray, definitely.

Answer 10

I had a cat that done that so, if it's still doing that, get it another cat. My cat was too bussy having sex with the other one that it forgott about peeing