Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have a multi cat household and are currently repairing damages from last year's hurricanes. My 3 cats are sharing one litter box for the past year. A couple of days ago, I noticed urine on the floor by the litter box. Thinking that it was pure accidental, I cleaned up the mess. It happened again today, and noticed that it was very strong smelling. Should I be concerned? I have my suspicions: my oldest cat, Oreo, who is 7 years old and overweight. How can I tell and should I call my vet?
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Liz

He may just be missing the box. We have one that misses all the time. We go to the dollar store and buy the plastic table clothes, and put those down under the boxes. That way clean up is fairly easy.
But because this is a new behavior you may want to bring your Kitty in for a check up. They can do a urine test to see if he has a UTI.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

Hi,

I do think this is cause for concern, especially since it happened more than once. Cats often urinate out of the litterbox when they have an infection, and the strong smelling urine may indicate that one of the cats has this problem. I recently saw one of my cats spray and also miss the box later on the same day. When I took her in, it turned out that she had not only an infection, but her kidneys were starting to fail. The antibiotics took care of the infection and she is now on subcutaneous fluids for her kidney failure.

BTW, a good rule of thumb is to have one litterbox per cat plus one extra. I am owned by 9 (soon to be 10)cats and have 11 litterboxes in the house. It would be a good idea for you to add at least one more litterbox.

Since you believe you know which cat missed the litterbox, I would take her in for the vet to get a sample of urine directly from her bladder. If you can possibly keep her from using the box for at least a few hours before bringing her in, that would be ideal.

Please let us know what the vet says.

AshleyElla

My big girl always misses, but she is ok. Just big. I put a puppy training pad underneath the litterbox so is hangs out from underneath the box about 4 inches right where she misses. That way it will not run under the litter box and get icky. I can pull it out and replace it as needed.
Breakfastatme

The advice given about the litterbox is just great, but I just had to chime in here to say, "What a beautiful cat!"
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!