Cat on Urinary diet still pees on the floor

[Felinesage]

Hello everyone, first post here.
I've read other threads on the matter and I want to share my problem. English is not my first language to bear with me.

My 2 years old fluffy cat has always had issues on this matter. He got neutered at 7 months cause he started peeing everywhere and kept going even after that.
His fav places to pee outside of the litter box are CARPETS, we had to remove all the carpets in the house cause he would just pee on it on and off.

In November what started as his usual "I'm peeing on the floor behavior" turned out to be UTI with crystals and he had to spend 3 days at the clinic. It got bad to the point he couldn't pee and it was horrible.

Since then, he started a Urinary food only diet, it was hard to find a combo he liked but we figured it out.

Now something is clearly going on and I don't know what it is. He seems healthy, eats, plays a lot, doesn't behave at all like he did we I had to take him to the clinic. But he started once again peeing outside the litter box on the floor every now and then.

He pees two times a day now that he's on the Urinary diet ( when he was on normal food he used to pee much more )

I'm starting to think it's a behavioral problem cause he mostly does this when we get home from work and at night before we go to sleep.
He also has this bad habit of attacking my legs and hurting me when I don't give him food immediately.

I'm trying to figure out if all of this is stress related or if he's starting to have issues with his bladder again. Can that happen even if he's on a diet?

I texted my Vet earlier and i'll wait for an answer tomorrow ( hopefully ) but I want to hear your opinions

Thank you

How on top of litter box cleaning are you? I find that one of my cats expects a pristine box (scoop 2-3 times a day) or she will just do her business on the floor

 

[suzeanna]

7.5 kg can be a lot, does your vet think your cat is overweight? When my cat was very overweight she was demanding and aggressive about food (still demanding now of course, but not aggressive). Yelling can be very stressful for them -- whether directed at them or someone else in the household. One time I was annoyed at my partner and talking to him a tone that made my cat end up trying to scratch his ankles as he walked by.

 

[Alldara]

My Vet keeps telling him he might be stressed.

I'm going to agree with your vet on that one if this outside the box business has been a constant theme.

As per when he fights you, what do you do?

 

[Alldara]

My littler box upper part is not removable but i'm gonna try to add a second one and see what happens. I've seen the "plant" one and it looks cool. We have that one here on Amazon too. The bathroom door is never closed by the way.

How do you clean it if the top doesn't come off?

I don't think any cat would want to use it if you can't even do a full clean on it every month or two.

 

[Alldara]

I do want to make two unorthodox suggestions Alyss_ . But I'll preface with this: Though I suggested you watch the catification videos, I don't fully agree with Jackson Galaxy on everything .

1- Get a brightly colored oven mitt that looks very different from the one you use in your kitchen. I recommend a holiday one. Spray some catnip on it or rub some dried catnip on it.
You can use this to wrestle him. He's needing that wrestling energy out that another cat would give him. He's learning to use your body as that outlet which isn't great.
The oven mitt isn't exactly human shaped and you can slip your hand out if he's too rough. Anytime he gets your skin or otherwise attacks you, make a high pitched "EEEP!" Sound. This is similar to a squeek that another cat would make.
Pared with this, I recommend using a sound to tell him you are playing like mimicking a cat "brrrrr" sound.

2- get two to four recordable buttons. I think you'll only need 2. The purpose is to eliminate the communication frustration he's experiencing that could contribute to him attacking you and then the stress in the house going up..Mini Recordable Pet Buttons Mini Dog Buttons Pawtone - Etsy Canada

Put one by his food and have it say whatever you use to indicate food..I used the word "hungry". Just press it before you feed him. It took about a year for Magnus to press it but he was only 5 months when we started. Calcifer was faster.

Then use the second one to say "play" and put it in the area you normally play in. Always press it before you begin to play with a wand toy or the oven mitt or anything

 

[r-kins]

Hello! I'm not sure if my advice will be helpful, but I wanted to add some of my own experiences in case it helps. This could all be related or be individual problems. It's great to hear that you're talking to your vet about this.

• Do you play with your cat until he's exhausted? With wand toys or whatever he likes? My cat tends to start biting and nipping if he has too much energy. At two years old, yours may have excessive energy, especially if he's home alone all day. And as an added bonus, now he assumes that bad behavior will eventually get him food.
• As others have suggested, a litter box without a lid can sometimes solve a problem easily. In my case, I had one cat that got scared (by another cat) when coming out of the litter and was too afraid to go inside because it made him feel vulnerable. Taking the lid off allowed him a full view of the area and he began going in the litter again.

 

[Alyss_]

How on top of litter box cleaning are you? I find that one of my cats expects a pristine box (scoop 2-3 times a day) or she will just do her business on the floor

I basically clean it all the times and change the whole thing every 3 days

 

[Alyss_]

How do you clean it if the top doesn't come off?

I don't think any cat would want to use it if you can't even do a full clean on it every month or two.

NOo i always clean it - it has a drawer

it's this one:

 

[Alyss_]

I'm going to agree with your vet on that one if this outside the box business has been a constant theme.

As per when he fights you, what do you do?

I try to distract him with something else, but I don't always have something on me to do that. I try to get inventive.
Since my first post he hasn't been peeing outside the litterbox anymore, but he still attacks me at night mostly, my legs are full of scratches. when i'm getting ready to go to sleep he waits for me outside of the bathroom to ambush me. I'm like a prey ahah gosh.

 

[Alyss_]

I do want to make two unorthodox suggestions Alyss_ . But I'll preface with this: Though I suggested you watch the catification videos, I don't fully agree with Jackson Galaxy on everything .

1- Get a brightly colored oven mitt that looks very different from the one you use in your kitchen. I recommend a holiday one. Spray some catnip on it or rub some dried catnip on it.
You can use this to wrestle him. He's needing that wrestling energy out that another cat would give him. He's learning to use your body as that outlet which isn't great.
The oven mitt isn't exactly human shaped and you can slip your hand out if he's too rough. Anytime he gets your skin or otherwise attacks you, make a high pitched "EEEP!" Sound. This is similar to a squeek that another cat would make.
Pared with this, I recommend using a sound to tell him you are playing like mimicking a cat "brrrrr" sound.

2- get two to four recordable buttons. I think you'll only need 2. The purpose is to eliminate the communication frustration he's experiencing that could contribute to him attacking you and then the stress in the house going up..Mini Recordable Pet Buttons Mini Dog Buttons Pawtone - Etsy Canada

Put one by his food and have it say whatever you use to indicate food..I used the word "hungry". Just press it before you feed him. It took about a year for Magnus to press it but he was only 5 months when we started. Calcifer was faster.

Then use the second one to say "play" and put it in the area you normally play in. Always press it before you begin to play with a wand toy or the oven mitt or anything

never thought about the buttons but i thought about the mitt, problem is it's not just me in the house, so if my mother users her hands to play with him we're not gonna solve anything. as for the food he has other ways to ask for it, like banging on the door where it's stored or clanging (?) his foodbowl. Still, gets aggressive, and i don't even know anymore if it's about the food or just you know, too much energy.

Hello! I'm not sure if my advice will be helpful, but I wanted to add some of my own experiences in case it helps. This could all be related or be individual problems. It's great to hear that you're talking to your vet about this.

• Do you play with your cat until he's exhausted? With wand toys or whatever he likes? My cat tends to start biting and nipping if he has too much energy. At two years old, yours may have excessive energy, especially if he's home alone all day. And as an added bonus, now he assumes that bad behavior will eventually get him food.
• As others have suggested, a litter box without a lid can sometimes solve a problem easily. In my case, I had one cat that got scared (by another cat) when coming out of the litter and was too afraid to go inside because it made him feel vulnerable. Taking the lid off allowed him a full view of the area and he began going in the litter again.

I'm like SURE that now he thinks bad behavior = food. but why does he do that just with me and with my mom just asks for food normally? Ugh.

I'm going to get a new litter box this week and hopefully we'll solve something in the litter-box front.

 

[Alldara]

never thought about the buttons but i thought about the mitt, problem is it's not just me in the house, so if my mother users her hands to play with him we're not gonna solve anything. as for the food he has other ways to ask for it, like banging on the door where it's stored or clanging (?) his foodbowl. Still, gets aggressive, and i don't even know anymore if it's about the food or just you know, too much energy.



I'm like SURE that now he thinks bad behavior = food. but why does he do that just with me and with my mom just asks for food normally? Ugh.

I'm going to get a new litter box this week and hopefully we'll solve something in the litter-box front.

Do you think your mum will get on board with the oven mitt? You can give her the second one

Much easier to get your mum on board with the button for food I'm sure. She'll likely think it's cute; especially if you show her things like Bunny the Dog.

I'm glad to hear about the litter. Thanks for your patience in sharing with me about your current box too, as I've never seen that one before.

Kibble treat toss down the hallway is a great way to to help wear down a younger energetic cat. Getting some kind of fetch game going with him could be great too.

 

[Alyss_]

One month later update:
I got him a HUGE litter box and he's not doing his stuff on the floors / carpets anymore - he loves it and it's really spacious:

this is him when i first got it home:

He can "stand" in it basically and can easily turn around

--

The whole biting me when hungry or when i'm walking by is still going though, but i'm trying to redirect him to a toy or such when he does it

 

[Alldara]

Alyss_ Wonderful update. Thanks for sharing and the adorable photos too.

Keep it up with the biting training. It can take time.

 

[Magneto007]

My cat was having very similar issues with peeing outside his litter box and crystal formation for about a year before I figured out the problem. I changed his dry food to wet food and I got him a fountain but the problems persisted until I got one of those feliway diffusers. Like magic he immediately stopped having urinary problems. I now give him mostly wet food and supplement it with hydracare to make sure he’s getting enough water.