Why is my cat urinating outside of the litterbox when it is not full and right next to where she urinates?

Question

We recently adopted two other cats.

Answer 1

Many cats will not share their box. Urine scent is a way of marking territory and in her mind she has been told that that box belongs to whoever has the strongest scent. Her idea of full vs reusable may also differ from yours. Some cats just plain will not use a box where there is any odor hers or another cats. She may also be upset by the presence or 2 more kitties. Try a 2nd box, more frequent scooping, multi cat litter, and maybe even one of thise selfcleaning cat boxes that scoops itself after each use and stores the waste in a container at the side. The fact that she is going by the box not somewhere else in the house means that she wants to do what she knows is right and she is not getting into a territory marking feud with the other cats which are both good things. Please help her by getting one or two more boxes and keeping them super clean especially right now.

Answer 2

Make sure you are using a multi cat litter and keep the litterbox as clean as possible. If you don't have an automatic litter box, then you may want to consider getting one. If your cat was the only cat in the house and now you brought in more, he is most likely acting up because he smells the other cats have been in his box. Cats can be very territorial and it can take them a very long time to accept new cats.

Answer 3

Make sure there's no food dish anywhere near the litter box. They won't eat and pee in the same place.

Also if the problem continues you might want to verify that your cat doesn't have a urinary tract infection.

There may of course be a behavioral explanation involving the two other cats but I'm not sure how to solve that one. Does the litterbox smell ok? If the pee sits too long it can smell like vinegar, which is most unappealing.

Good luck.

Answer 4

You got some good answers to your question. There is a few things tho that I would like to recommend to you. Seeing you now have 3 cats in the house. It might be a good idea to get one or two more litter boxes. Keep them in different rooms and keep them as clean as possible too. I once had 6 indoor cats and had 6 big litter boxes for them. Once a week I would empty all of the boxes, wash them out with hot water and some disinfectant, dry them real good and fill them up with clean litter. Cats are maticulate creatures and do not like going in dirty boxes.
Try sprinkling baking soda in with the litter a few days before you change them. Scoop out poops every day so they won't build up in the boxes. I hope this helps out a bit as you don't want your cat to make a habit of going outside of the box.

Answer 5

Your cat is mad at you and that's how she's gonna show it. Besides, unless you slowly introduced the cats (like let your first cat smell a room after the other cats were in it before putting them together) then your cat probably wasn't expecting it and might not like to share.

Answer 6

If the cat keeps urinating in the same place it's because she smells urine there and figures that's the spot. What you want to do is get some "pet stain and odor remover" and hit that spot well. This outta do it.

Answer 7

I think it's probably marking its territory except that it's a she cat. Maybe doesn't like the smell of the other cats.

Answer 8

That's the reason - two other cats. Your cat must be one of those fussy litter box users who insists on having her own litter box. If you now have three cats, you need three litter boxes.

Answer 9

It looks like she don't want to share the litter box, cats are very moody.

Answer 10

the cats are climing terratory? you have to change that box often are they spraying the area if so one cat won't use the others space neauter those puppis ha ha