Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have 2 cats about 4 years old. We got them both at the same time when they were about 8 weeks old.
They are shut in the laundry room at night and their food, water, beds and litterbox are there. I have arthritis and am afraid of falling over them at night if I get up. The litterbox is in a separate area between the washing machine and a wall.
They have always shared the litter box with no problems. In the last few weeks, and not every morning but on several occasions, one of them (we don't know which one) has urinated just in front of the litterbox or on the rubber mat that is supposed to stop tracking.
We use clumping litter. The box is sifted morning and evening. Once a week the box is cleaned completely and once a month it is cleaned and brand new litter is put in.
Nothing has changed in the way we deal with their litterbox in 4 years.
Why might this be happening? Is there anything we can do to stop it?

I guess the first thing experts here recommend is to check your pet (in this case, BOTH cats) to see if the vet finds something physically wrong with them (urinary tract infection or others).
Also, you could try isolate them at night, in different rooms, with their own food, water, litterbox and toys. You may find out who has the problem.
Also, maybe they are just 'protesting' for being enclosed at night, but since I assume you've done this for a while, they should be acustomed by now.
Good luck with your kitties. GLOW
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Bob, Daisy, Karla and the Goldfish

Do you know which cat is doing this? If not, seperate them for a night or two to find out. Then take that cat to the vet for a urinalysis. Odds are you will find the one that is urinating outside the box has a urinary infection. That is the number one reason that causes cats to go outside the box. Urinary infections are painful and the cat associates the pain with the litterbox. Once any medical problem is ruled out, you should add another box....covered if the one you have is not or open if it is covered. You can try another type of litter too. My guess is that it is something medical since this just recently started.
Keep us posted!
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Purrs,
Munchie

From the way you describe it, I too would be very surprised if this weren't caused by a medical problem. Even a mild urinary tract infection or a few crystals in the urine can cause pain and lead to litterbox aversion. The sooner your vet checks this out, the better.

Whether the problem was caused by an underlying medical condition or not, one thing to keep in mind is that the floor area must be THOROUGHLY cleaned. If there's a faint smell of urine on the floor, that will trigger the cats to urinate in that spot. Cats have a much keener sense of smell than we do. It's possible you have cleaned the area well enough so that no human could detect any residual urine, but a cat could still smell it. Just to be on the safe side, I recommend cleaning the floor with an enzymatic cat urine cleaner. You can buy these products at most pet stores. A bottle only costs a few dollars.

Best of luck to you and both kitties. Let us know what the vet finds.

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PHCurious
Cat Chat Host

Thanks to all who have replied.
It has not happened for 3 days now and before that it was only happening on occasion. After I posted the question, I then cleaned the floor around the litter box and the "litter catcher mat" where this had been happening with "Nature's Miracle". It has not happened since. Would this a indicate behavioural problem?
We have decided that, if it happens again, we will take the cats to the Vet ASAP.
Is a Uninary Tract Infection contagious? I want to know if both cats will get it if they share the litterbox and will both, therefore, have to be treated? We have no idea which cat it is.
We are super clean about the litterbox - sifting it twice a day, washing it once a week and changing the clumping litter completely every month. I know that would not prevent a UTI but wanted to add it since it may indicate it is a medical problem.

UTIs are not contagious and it sounds like you are doing a good job keeping the box clean. If the cat was still smelling the urine and hasn't done it again since you cleaned the area, hoepfully the problem is solved. If it should happen again, you can try and isolate the cat you suspect to be the culprit, but if you can't determine which one it is, you might have to check both their urine samples to find out if either has an infection. If both cats are medically fine and it is determined to be a behavioral thing, you might try adding another litter box somewhere in the house. It's possible that in between the times you clean the litter, one cat's "scent" may be offending the other. With 2 boxes, there's more of a chance of the cats finding a clean place to go. Let us know how things go.
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Dottie
Proudly owned by The Catnip Crew...Munchkin,Casey,Maddie,Harley,Meadow,Ashley,Nicky and Mushka

Well, had both cats to the vet. No medical problems. They were there overnight. Last night (first night back) we had to put them in separate rooms because, since they came home, he has hissed and growled at her everytime she is within a few feet of him! That's a new behaviour - certainly for him. We separated them since he is twice her size and we were afraid they would be fighting all night. In her room she urinated just outside the litterbox. Now we know there is nothing wrong medically and that it is the female that is urinating outside the litterbox.
We have 2 problems now - the hissing and growling and still urinating outside the litterbox. Only difference is - we know there is no medical problem and we know which cat is urinating outside the box. ANY SUGGESTIONS NOW????
Thanks.

Many times when they have been separated, such at the vets, when they are re-united the scent that they were familar with is not there so they hiss and growl. You will probably need to keep them separated and re-introduce them again. I have never had a problem with any of my cats going outside the box but you might try this. Put some paper down around the box so that the next time she goes outside the box, the paper gets wet. Take a little piece of the paper that she has urinated upon and put it into the box. Maybe the scent will attract her to the box. It may take a few tries but sometimes it works. I am sure that others will have more suggestions.
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Boris's Human, Pam

You obviously now have two problems on your hands. First of all the cats were shaken up by the vet visit and this is causing a lot of aggression between the two. Second the female is having some behavioral issues that need to be resolved.

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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

I have pretty much the same problem. I have two female cats, 10 and 6 years old.
The 6 year old has the start of kidney disease, we give her fluid theropy 3 times a week. She doesnt have any infection right now but every few days she urinates outside her litter box on a vinyl mat. I've cleaned the mat with special cleaners and every 1 to 2 days she does this again. I think may be a behavior problem because the 10 year old hisses at her every time they pass eachother. I separated them for 24 hrs, liter, food, water, and the vinyl mat was clean. I brought them back together and the next morning I got a surprise again. I'm hoping if I continue this eventually she'll catch on. Good luck with your cats hopefully we will get some advise.

I was interested in your problem with your cats. Ours APPPEARS to be solved. We separated them for 5 nights and also took the top off a covered litterbox. The urinating outside the litter box happened the first night they were separated but we took the cover off that litterbox and it has not happened again. The hissing and growling got gradually less as the days went by and last night we put them together again. They have both always been shut in the laundry room at night (since they were kittens) so that I don't fall over them if I get up at night. I have severe arthritis and osteporosis and can't afford to fall. They have always accepted this since they knew nothing else. We put the hissing cat (the larger) in the downstairs bathroom for those 5 nights. In the morning he needed lots of attention and insisted on being on my lap for a long time. She was also lonely since we could hear her crying for us when she heard us up in the morning. Yesterday they were back to normal - no hissing - playing together - eating together- watching the birds out the window together and only one hiss. With a day like that, we decided it was time to put them together again. No problems of any kind. We will now leave the cover off the litter box, continue to put them together at night and hope for the best! I think that more than 24 hours is necessary to resolve this problem. At least, that's my experience. Good luck!

I am happy to see your problem seems to be resolving itself.
We're still not settled here. I added another liter box and still there was pee on the mat. The cat that is doing this sleeps in my bedroom at night,the other cat doesnt come in my room at all, never did.The door is spring loaded so it is kept just about closed all the time, the 6yr old knows how to open the door just fine. The liter boxes are kept in a spare room across the hall from my room. Yesterday we decided to add another box to my room thinking she might feel more comfortable
with one there. She used it 2 times in 24 hrs. also used the other boxes and left pee in front the 10 yrs olds box in the morning. I'm thinking of giving it a little time for her to realize only she is using this new box and maybe, hopefully , this will get resolved.

It sounds like the six year old may be "marking" trying to be dominant. She may feel "strange" due to the kidney problems and may feel that she's losing power over the other cat or whatever.

You might try spritzing a little Feliway on the mat after you've cleaned it and see if she'll leave it alone. Feliway is a very good deterrent for urine marking behavior. Just be careful not to get it into the box itself, or the other cat may avoid the box.
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!