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Hey all. I've got a fairly niche problem, and I'm really hoping someone will have some suggestions for what to do, because I'm going crazy.
I have two cats, one of which—Matilda—went blind several years ago due to ongoing medical problems. She has more or less adjusted, though she's not one of those cats you'd "never know was blind!" She pretty consistently bonks into the wall or furniture. Despite this, she lives a happy life, and is a loving, purr-y girl.
After Matilda initially went blind, I worried that she'd have issues with finding the litter box. She proved me wrong, and had no issues even when we moved from our apartment into a much larger house. She continued to do well when we moved to a different city and back into an apartment, and continued still to do well when we moved into our current apartment. (I realize all this moving is not ideal for a blind cat, but it's been out of our hands, and we did our best each time to help her adjust. And we have always been patient and expected a learning curve. We've been in our current place for nearly two years now.)
At least she initially did. Our new place is smaller than the old one, and is more or less a big box, which I would think would make things less confusing for her (i.e. hug the perimeter, travel until reaching one of two litter boxes). And she was fine at first, but then she started peeing on our area rug. We took her to the vet to rule out a physical problem, and then tried our best to clean the rug with a special enzyme cleaner so she wouldn't be tempted to go there again, and would periodically pick her up and place her in a box to remind her of where they were. At a certain point, the rug was beyond saving, so we got rid of it, and for awhile, she didn't have any more accidents.
Now, because of some issues with her getting to a litter box but still missing the litter box (and not wanting to damage the hardwood floors and get hit hard on our security deposit when we finally move out), we placed silicone mats under the boxes to catch overflow. Initially this was a little confusing for her, and she would sometimes just stop on the mat and pee there. We did our best to help remind her again, and then she adjusted and started peeing in a box consistently.
But now, seemingly unprompted, she has chosen one litter box area to ONLY pee on the mat. She WILL NOT get in that box to pee, even if she brushes up against it and knows that it's there. I have seen this happen. And even though it could be worse, this is getting to be cumbersome. Mopping up lakes of pee is much more difficult than scooping a box, and I really hate how many paper towels we're burning through these days.
This does not seem to be a problem of urgency and her not being able to get to a box in time. The box is right there. The times I have seen her do this she has been slow and purposeful. She does not pee in random places, only on the mat. And more perplexingly, she has never had this issue with pooping. She always finds the box when she needs to poop. I have even frustratingly see her pee on the mat, and then move into the box to poop.
We clean the boxes twice a day, and spray the mat with a cat urine-neutralizing enzyme spray when we clean. She knows this is the general area for peeing, but she seems to have totally disassociated needing to be in the box from peeing.
Until recently, I had been working from home and was in a position to monitor her more and guide her to the litter box. Now both my husband and I are out of the house every day, and we come home to a mess. I desperately want to help her understand that the mat—which should feel nothing like a litter box to her—is not where she should be, but I also don't want to do anything (like removing the mats) that might encourage her to just start doing her business somewhere else.
Any suggestions, folks? I'm at my wits' end.
tl;dr blind cat consistently pees on mat under litter box
I have two cats, one of which—Matilda—went blind several years ago due to ongoing medical problems. She has more or less adjusted, though she's not one of those cats you'd "never know was blind!" She pretty consistently bonks into the wall or furniture. Despite this, she lives a happy life, and is a loving, purr-y girl.
After Matilda initially went blind, I worried that she'd have issues with finding the litter box. She proved me wrong, and had no issues even when we moved from our apartment into a much larger house. She continued to do well when we moved to a different city and back into an apartment, and continued still to do well when we moved into our current apartment. (I realize all this moving is not ideal for a blind cat, but it's been out of our hands, and we did our best each time to help her adjust. And we have always been patient and expected a learning curve. We've been in our current place for nearly two years now.)
At least she initially did. Our new place is smaller than the old one, and is more or less a big box, which I would think would make things less confusing for her (i.e. hug the perimeter, travel until reaching one of two litter boxes). And she was fine at first, but then she started peeing on our area rug. We took her to the vet to rule out a physical problem, and then tried our best to clean the rug with a special enzyme cleaner so she wouldn't be tempted to go there again, and would periodically pick her up and place her in a box to remind her of where they were. At a certain point, the rug was beyond saving, so we got rid of it, and for awhile, she didn't have any more accidents.
Now, because of some issues with her getting to a litter box but still missing the litter box (and not wanting to damage the hardwood floors and get hit hard on our security deposit when we finally move out), we placed silicone mats under the boxes to catch overflow. Initially this was a little confusing for her, and she would sometimes just stop on the mat and pee there. We did our best to help remind her again, and then she adjusted and started peeing in a box consistently.
But now, seemingly unprompted, she has chosen one litter box area to ONLY pee on the mat. She WILL NOT get in that box to pee, even if she brushes up against it and knows that it's there. I have seen this happen. And even though it could be worse, this is getting to be cumbersome. Mopping up lakes of pee is much more difficult than scooping a box, and I really hate how many paper towels we're burning through these days.
This does not seem to be a problem of urgency and her not being able to get to a box in time. The box is right there. The times I have seen her do this she has been slow and purposeful. She does not pee in random places, only on the mat. And more perplexingly, she has never had this issue with pooping. She always finds the box when she needs to poop. I have even frustratingly see her pee on the mat, and then move into the box to poop.
We clean the boxes twice a day, and spray the mat with a cat urine-neutralizing enzyme spray when we clean. She knows this is the general area for peeing, but she seems to have totally disassociated needing to be in the box from peeing.
Until recently, I had been working from home and was in a position to monitor her more and guide her to the litter box. Now both my husband and I are out of the house every day, and we come home to a mess. I desperately want to help her understand that the mat—which should feel nothing like a litter box to her—is not where she should be, but I also don't want to do anything (like removing the mats) that might encourage her to just start doing her business somewhere else.
Any suggestions, folks? I'm at my wits' end.
tl;dr blind cat consistently pees on mat under litter box
