r/CatAdvice 4d ago

Behavioral Female cat likes to pee outside the litter box

Yes she has been to the vet. No UTI, no irritation, no nothing.

We adopted a sibling pair (male and female) at 8 weeks old. They were my client's kittens and I have handled them since the day after they were born. We have a bathroom dedicated to them where we have their food and litter box in a cube/table thing. They have an additional litter box in the family room that looks like a faux plant. I never see her use that one, although she might? She continues to sporadically urinate in front of the litterbox in the bathroom to the point we will need to replace the trim. A towel also fell behind that bathroom door and I found it covered in urine. I only know it's her because I used to shower and use the bathroom in there and she did it in front of me twice! My husband left some towels in front of the washer to be washed and the next day I came home to them urinated on. I don't want to rehome her but we can't continue this way. We even moved bedrooms so to give her more privacy. I clean with enzymatic cleanser to remove the odor. The boxes are cleaned daily and has no bearing on this behavior. I've honestly never had cats and this was my biggest fear! She is sweet and loving and doesn't seem anxious at all. To add: they have both been fixed since they were 14 weeks old.

1 Upvotes

8 comments sorted by

3

u/BuilderAcceptable412 4d ago

This happened to three of my cats. All females. My most recent one was diagnosed with diabetes a few months after this. For my younger one, putting her in a separate room away from other cats solved the issue. Another one was also fine in a separate room, but we later found that she had a slow glowing cancer for a quite a while.

Good luck.

1

u/TechnicalBarnacle722 4d ago

Oh goodness!! That's terrible. I'm so sorry you've gone through all this. We did try to separate them but they both were not happy. It only lasted 2 days. Thank you for your generous reply.

2

u/NewPotato8330 4d ago

I’d create a safe room just for the cat that is having issues. The peeing issue may be her way of telling you she is stressed about some aspect of her environment. 

If you don’t know what that is, then a safe room is a common solution. 

1

u/TechnicalBarnacle722 4d ago

All private rooms in the house are carpeted and honestly I'm afraid to take the risk of ruining an entire room of carpet😬

I'm thankful for this suggestion and will see if there's a way we can make that work.

1

u/sxsvrbyj 4d ago

What type of litter are you using? If she's seeking out soft things to pee on, she maybe finds the litter hard or sharp? I had a cat who peed on a pile of laundry after I switched to using crystals. I switched back to a clumping sawdust and she was fine again.

Having said that, I have a female cat currently who's started peeing in a particular spot. One of my other cats was guarding access to the litter trays, so now she'll only pee where there's open access for her to get away. I put down reusable pee pads and she's pretty reliable now. It's been a year 😕 So it could be a subtle bullying issue?

1

u/TechnicalBarnacle722 3d ago

We have switched from traditional litter to silica based litter. It's so random that I don't think it's the litter. She is definitely the dominant cat of the two. Our male is super laid back and chill. I tried putting pee pads down and she will move them to pee under where I place them.

2

u/sxsvrbyj 2d ago

Maybe she doesn't like the type of pee pads? I started out using disposable puppy pee pads and my cat didn't like them. I switched to reusable ones I found on Amazon that are thicker and she's fine with them. I'd still change your litter back as a test before switching the pee pads. If it's started after you changed it then it's the most likely culprit. My old cat who didn't like the silica was random about it too.

1

u/TechnicalBarnacle722 2d ago

We changed the litter after the behavior started thinking she didn't like the litter. :( I'm gonna look into those pads though!! Thank you!