Caught Urinating Outside The Box.

Hello,

I was wondering if there is any particular way to deal with a cat when you catch them in the middle of peeing outside the letter box?

I know you aren't supposed to punish them as cats apparently don't respond to that.

I yelled "no" at my cat and picked him up and put him in a separate room when I caught him, then thoroughly cleaned up his mess with a cat urine remove spray.

Side note for some background: My cat is in perfect health as I have taken him to the vets, his peeing outside the box I think is behavioural as there have been lots of changes happening and he isn't consistently doing it, once or twice every few weeks. When I first got him he was exactly the same until I changed his litter to clumping clay and he was fine. I changed his litter to clumping corn over a year ago and he has been fine with that too, but part of me thinks maybe he has changed has mind recently and wants the old stuff back, can cats suddenly decide they don't like their litter anymore?


Sorry this has turned into 2 questions now!

Any suggestions on the best way to handle it when I catch him urinating outside the box and if cats can suddenly dislike their litter after a year is much appreciated.

Thank you,
Thomas

Hi-
The litter manufacturers may have changed the way they make the litter. However, if I were you, I'd add a couple more boxes, don't yell at him, and try giving him a less stressful environment. For example, try giving him a room with his things away from the stress, and play classical harp music for an hour or so.
Play with him more too.
You, Your Cat And Stress

Thomas Sutherland said:

My cat is in perfect health as I have taken him to the vets, his peeing outside the box I think is behavioural as there have been lots of changes happening and he isn't consistently doing it, once or twice every few weeks.

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So you had a urinalysis and bloodwork done to be sure of this right? Because a check up and the vet saying he seems fine means literally nothing in this case. The fact that there have been a lot of changes in the cats life, means the cat is stressed. When cats are stressed they get urinary tract infections. No one can truly help without first knowing if you had at minimum a urinalysis done, when, and what were the results?

I agree. Urinalysis. Better safe than sorry. What could be making her stressed? Change the litter and get another box. Some cats like to pee in one,poo in the other. The best ones are home made. It should be roomy. Twice her length. Lots of litter like 3 inches.

Wow, lot's of great replies. Thank you all.

Yes, he had urinalysis and the vet said it was all clear. This over a month ago. The vet gave him Loxicoma and nutracys to help relax him and I stopped using it as soon as he started using his boxes fine again.

I have 2 litter boxes, both are very big. Would it be worth getting a third then with a different kind of litter?

3 inches of litter? Really, why so much?

Is there any specific way of handling the situation when I catch him in the act of peeing outside?

Thomas Sutherland said:

Would it be worth getting a third then with a different kind of litter?

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To see if this helps him, yes. Some cats prefer how deeper litter feels under their feet, and they like being able to dig as they bury their business.

However, there's still the stress issue. Try the music, and basically ...

Thomas Sutherland said:

Is there any specific way of handling the situation when I catch him in the act of peeing outside?

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no. You'll only stress him out more. I'd actually try that third box without litter but instead one of the things he's peed or pooped on in it, or put puppy pee pads in it. Experiment, and work with him to find a solution for him

Also, if you aren't already, try an enzymatic cleaner such as nature's miracle.

Agree with furballsmom

Try adding another litter box

Are there any other Cats coming into your garden or in the area?

Sometimes seeing another Cat can cause stress

Great article on this website about litter box problems

How To Solve Litterbox Problems In Cats: The Ultimate Guide

Hope this helps

Thanks Nanzeen,

No other cats around. Dexy is an indoor cat as we live on a 3rd floor flat.

I'll keep an eye on him and if he does it again I'll get another box.

Thanks for your help everyone.

Let us know how things go, we're rooting for you-all

Hello again folks,

My cat Dexy unfortunately peed outside his 2nd box again tonight.

I am going to give you all a lot of information on Dexy's situation and am ever so thankful for those who take the time to read this.

Previously:
A lot has been going on in my flat as me and my partner returned from a two week holiday last Wednesday (he peed outside the same box 5 minutes after we arrived home, because he missed us ) but I had my cousin and his partner living in my flat whilst we were away and Dexy is familiar with both of them, so he was in good company. Also my partner left on Sunday and is away for a week so maybe that could be affecting him?

A week before we went on holiday he peed on our kitchen floor which he has never done before.

I must stress that me and partner both have busy lifestyles and Dexy has been used to it as he didn't eliminate outside his box for a about a year or so. There was the odd episode where he would eliminate right next to his box which happened very seldom (once every three/four months, which we put down to the boxes not being clean enough).

I also have the feliway plug in which has been on for 3 weeks now.

Since Thursday:

So I have been playing harp music for Dexy in his main chilling room whenever I can and I also put it on when I have to leave the flat.
I also started giving him a treat whenever he successfully uses his litter-boxes.

However tonight he was a bit more hungrier than usual ( His last feed is at 10pm) and he was being very affectionate (as he always is when he is hungry). It was around 9pm and he let out a couple of sad meows as he has done in the past when he is wanting fed. I kept him company and made sure he was happy and purring and at about 9:55pm he went into the hall and peed on the mat in front of his 2nd litter-box (he has successfully used his main and 2nd litter-boxes successfully for nearly a week).

I politely ignored it, cleaned it up, threw out the mat and waited 5 minutes before I fed him.

He has been urinating outside his box once every week or 2 for maybe two months now and I am running out of ideas.

My next step is to take more of Furballsmom's advice and get a third litter tray and put the litter he used to use without and elimination issues before we changed him. (He was using catsan clumping and we changed him to a corn clumping litter as its easier to dispose of and he had been using it fine for over 6 months until recently).


If you made it this far thanks for taking the time to read.

Any suggestions or theories are most welcome, Thanks.

Sugar! That last paragraph should read:

"My next step is to take more of Furballsmom's advice and get a third litter tray and put in the litter he used to use. (He was previously using catsan clumping and we changed him to a corn clumping litter as its easier to dispose of and he had been using it fine for over 6 months until recently)."