Cat Continues To Go Outside Of Litter Box - At A Complete Loss For What To Do

[PerfectlySaneCatLady]

Hi all,

About three months ago, my 1 year old spayed female cat Cinnabon started peeing AND pooping outside of her litter box. There was one specific corner of the first floor that she did her business in. Nowhere else - just this one corner. She still uses the litter boxes, but it's seemingly completely random as to when she'll use the litter boxes vs. the corner. I would say about 60-40 or 70-30 litter box to corner.

Since then, here are the methods I've tried, with no success obviously.

• Cleaned her old litter box thoroughly and replaced the old litter with a fresh layer
• Swapped out her old litter box for a new one
• Placed a second litter box over the corner (she used it a few times, but also simply peed right outside of the box); this box has since been moved to the first floor bathroom
• Used an enzymatic cleaner and cleaned out the entire corner area
• Used a citrus spray on said corner afterwards to cover any remaining traces of smell/dissuade her from going there again

The last two steps I've done at least 5x times now, because after each round she will eventually pee there anyways.

She has two clean litter boxes in the first and second floor bathrooms, containing the same litter we have always used with no issues (until now). There are no other cats to bug her.

Any advice would be appreciated - like the title says, I am clean out of ideas as to how to proceed from here.

 

[Azazel]

Take her to a vet. This is often a sign of an underlying medical condition, possibly one that is very painful if she is associating the litter box with pain.

 

[PerfectlySaneCatLady]

Take her to a vet. This is often a sign of an underlying medical condition, possibly one that is very painful if she is associating the litter box with pain.

Yeah, I think I'm going to do that. I didn't do so earlier because she's still using her litter box, and she's also pooping as well as peeing out of the box, which made me think it was more behavioral than medical.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I agree with A Azazel . You should probably rule out medical issues - especially UTI.

If the areas she has gone on outside the litterbox are carpeting or rugs, you might want to buy "The Equalizer" (amazon.com) as it does NOT require the material to be saturated wet to remove the smells (and stains, if applicable).

 

[PerfectlySaneCatLady]

I agree with A Azazel . You should probably rule out medical issues - especially UTI.

If the areas she has gone on outside the litterbox are carpeting or rugs, you might want to buy "The Equalizer" (amazon.com) as it does NOT require the material to be saturated wet to remove the smells (and stains, if applicable).

I got the Rocco & Roxie one, which I think someone recommended to me as well. If it turns out it's not medical I'll look into it.

 

[daftcat75]

Rule out medical reasons first. No amount of behavioral fixes will correct a health issue.

I spent months chasing down my Krista’s inappropriate marking only to finally take her to the vet and find out her teeth were bothering her. The marking was a cry for help. We pulled the bad teeth and the marking stopped.

Inappropriate peeing and pooping behaviors should always start with the vet first.