Post Punk Kitchen Forum

My old (17 years) cat has stopped peeing in the litter box. It's not like he is unable to make it in time because he always pees around the litter box and not in random other places in the house. He is also perfectly capable of getting in the litter box because he poops in there. We keep the litter box super, super clean, so I don't think that's the issue. Any suggestions?

I would take him to the vet to rule out any medical problems first, especially since he is an older cat. Check for any urinary problems (infections, crystals) and arthritis (sometimes when cats are in pain they do weird things).

If he has a clean bill of health, you can try a different litter (like Cat Attract), use Feliway plug-ins (sometimes helps with inappropriate elimination) and clean the spots where he pees really really well with a cleaner designed to clean up animal accidents. If all else fails, and he continues to pee in one spot, you can get puppy pee pads to put in that spot.

He's been to the vet and got some antibiotics in case of a UTI, but it didn't do anything. I may try the Cat Attract litter. Thanks!

Cat Attract worked wonders for us. My cats had a clean bill of health and no apparent reason to pee outside the box (which had World's Best in it). Using CA fixed it, which was great. Cat pee is annoying.

Has he had a UTI before? Not all antibiotics work on all UTIs. I recently had this happen with my cat; she didn't respond to the antibiotic injection and had to be given a different broad-spectrum antibiotic to clear it up.

Yes, I've had my vet change the antibiotics before for a urinary infection because I guess there's a more standard infection that they assume most UTIs originate from but after the culture results, my kitty had an infection from a different source than typical so antibiotics had to be changed (Kizzy's last UTI was from him cleaning his bunghole and some of the germs from his asparagus grooming getting into his urinary tract).

oh hmm, interesting about the antibiotics. if the cat attract doesn't work, i may call the vet and see. it's hard because i don't actually live with my cat since he's in vancouver and i'm in edmonton, but now that i'm home for the holidays i want to help my parents out since they spend a good 45 minutes a day cleaning cat peas.

Nimrod always pees outside the box. We just buy puppy pee pee pads, and she goes #1 on them always. I just line a boot tray with them so nothing spills over the sides. It's the only thing that works!

[quote="almiratanner"]oh hmm, interesting about the antibiotics. if the cat attract doesn't work, i may call the vet and see. it's hard because i don't actually live with my cat since he's in vancouver and i'm in edmonton, but now that i'm home for the holidays i want to help my parents out since they spend a good 45 minutes a day cleaning cat peas.[/quoteb

Your cat could be in pain NOW. Please take the cat to the vet!

Just to clarify, he has been to the vet and had a physical, etc... We were told to get another litter box, which we did, but it doesn't seem to have helped. I got some really good deodorizer and the cat attract litter today, so we shall see...

Have you actually witnessed him peeing outside the box? I thought my cat was doing this too until I realized that she just pees high. I saw her standing in the litter box to pee one time and saw that she just pees too close to the edge sometimes and high enough that it would go over the side. I got a litter box with higher sides and a lid and I'm no longer mopping up cat pee.

Direct observation is so important!! This happened to me and the same solution worked miracles. Since your kitty is an oldster, you might want to try a high-sided box with a little entrance way or maybe a covered litter box (though in general I don't favor cover littered boxes as the only option for a cat). Good luck!

Yeah, my big kitty has peed outside the litter box only once, and it was because we accidentally put the lid on backwards and he couldn't get his big fat self in. Your kitty may be starting to have trouble getting in the box, so I would try and catch him to see if he's struggling.

Guess I'll be doing some kitty stalking

I'm having the same issue with Mystique, although this has been going for as long as I remember. She did it at the shelter before I adopted her, too. I did all the things you're supposed to do; blood panel, urine samples, new litter, new boxes, putting the box right where she's peeing (she poops outside the boxes, too), etc. etc. I've just grown to accept it at this point. It's beyond frustrating.