cat urinating????

Question

my cat goes to the bathroom outside her litter box! she is about 12 years old, we have tried everything, litters, boxes, sprays, i mean everything, nothing helps, she pees in different areas and ooops i different areas,,, we need help, as we are getting new caroet and know she will do the same thing, she is not sick, just getting older, she has been doing this for quiet awhile. if i take her to the shelter, im afraid they will put her to sleep..

Answer 1

I have a 10 year old cat, and the only thing that I can think of several reasons why she may be doing this.

Have you brought any new pets into the house lately? Or any new family members?

Has your routine changed? Are you spending less time at home?

Is her litter box uncovered? Have you moved it to a different area?

I would try a covered litter box, I know my cat is very fussy about doing her business very privately, and besides, a covered box makes much less of a mess in the long run.

By urinating outside of her box, she may have a urinary infection, and she is trying to tell you to get her to the veterinarian. When my cat started to have reactions to her food, she threw up in very well occupied areas of my house to make sure I took notice.

I would certainly have her checked by the veterinarian. If the vet gives her a clean bill of health, then it is obviously a behavioural issue, which will take some more work to resolve.

Hope this helps you.

Answer 2

Please do try to work with your cat - at 12 years old, she is not adoptable - unfortunately, people want kittens and ignore the older cats.

Take her to the vet and have a good work-up done. One possibility that can be difficult to pin down is feline diabetes but that is a very real cause of a cat urinating in a variety of places around the house. You should also place a number of litter boxes in the house in the places she's going. If she's feeling her age, also check with the vet about the possibility that she has arthritis and her joints are hurting - she might need to be on medication for pain and the litter pan may be too tall for her. If you have one of those pans with the dome or curved sides, take that off to see if it helps her get in and out of the pan easier. If it's still too tall, buy another pan (don't just look in the pet section, a storage bin that you can take the lid off might work better).

You might think now that your new carpet is more important than your cat, but I'm going to hope that can stop a moment and really consider how you'll feel actually taking her to the shelter, leaving her in one of those small cages and abandoning her, leaving her wondering where her favorite bed and toys are, and where her loved family is, then to be put down at the hands of strangers. I hope that when that reality sinks in, you'll discover new energy to find a way to help her.

Answer 3

There are 2 things that you can do:

(1) Cats tend to use the same general area when they want to pee or poop. When she goes outside the litter box, clean the area with a vinegar cleaner or citrus cleaner. This will make her not want to use that spot again.

(2) Pick her up and place her in her litter box. Especially if she just did her business outside of the box. This is the friendly reminder her for "this is your box, please use it" and if you do it often enough, she will use it.

Also, if you have more than 1 cat, try getting a box just for her to use. Maybe she is offended by the smell of the other cat and therefore doesn't want to share the box.

Good luck. Whatever you do, don't take her to the shelter. Cats become part of our families and you wouldn't take your child to a shelter to have him or her put to sleep. If it comes down to it, you can find her another home with a loving family.

Answer 4

If you have a hooded litter box, many cats feel threatened and "trapped" when they are in there.

Try this: Take the hood off the litter box and leave it right where it is.

In another part of the house, put a brand-new litter box with the same kind of litter in it.

Show her where the new box is by putting her in it. She will climb right back out, but that's okay. She's now knows where it is.

Okay. Here's something else I heard from one of the people that adopted a cat from me. They were lining the litter box with a plastic liner and when the cat started covering his business, his claws got caught in the plastic. He didn't like this and chose to use the litter box outside the box. Could this be the problem?

That's all I can come up with right now.

Good luck!

Answer 5

My cat picked up the same habit after we got hard wood floors. I tried every kind of litter, getting a second litter box, squirting her with water when I caught her using the bathroom on top of or in front of the litter box. Nothing worked, finally after she had ruined the new floor I moved her box to the bathroom. Immediately she stopped. This may work, give it a try! Also I use feline pine cat litter. Hope this helps and GL with the kitty!

Answer 6

Hi,

I cannot answer your question, but I am in the same situation. Emily (my siamese mix)
has been using the bathroom outside of her litter box as well. On the carpets, bathroom rugs, behind tv's. Nature's miracle, nothing takes the smell away. I also have 2 other cats (female, male) and they do not do this. We have 2 litter boxes in our home.
Emily is alot younger than your cat though, she is 3 yrs old.
If anyone can answer the question..I would be happy to read it as well.

Good luck..