Cat Suddenly Started Urinating & Defecating Just Outside The Litter Box

[Foronethread]

Hi, I have a problem where one of my cats started defecating and urinating just outside of the litter box. This is very sudden, as he's never done this before, and we haven't changed anything within the past few months. We have one litter box for both of our cats, so we make sure to clean it weekly and wash it often. Our other cat doesn't have a problem with using the litter box. At first, I thought he was just doing out of spite, as we'd just taken him to the vet for his general checkup (he has special food that he has to have regular checkups for), but it's now been almost a week, and I just want this to stop. Any suggetions?

 

[Jem]

What do you regularly need to bring him to the vet for? What food is it? What type of testing and exam did the vet perform?
It's possible he may not be feeling well (caught something from the vet), is stressed from the vet visit and may have developed a UTI/cystitis. Both of which unfortunately means a second trip to the vet.
How has your other cat been treating him since he came home? Is your other cat being a bit of a bully?
Try putting out a second litter box in a different area of the home. They may have shared a box up until now, but your kitty's preferences may have changed. The general rule of thumb for litter boxes is one box per cat plus one.

There are so many other things that can cause a sudden stoppage of litter box use. And none of them are out of spite. A cat will stop using it's box because they are ill/in pain or stressed about something, and the stressed about something can lead to an illness (cystitis/UTI...) I would call your vet, and ask them if you could bring a urine sample in for testing, considering you were just there and I assume was deemed healthy.

 

[Foronethread]

What do you regularly need to bring him to the vet for? What food is it? What type of testing and exam did the vet perform?
It's possible he may not be feeling well (caught something from the vet), is stressed from the vet visit and may have developed a UTI/cystitis. Both of which unfortunately means a second trip to the vet.
How has your other cat been treating him since he came home? Is your other cat being a bit of a bully?
Try putting out a second litter box in a different area of the home. They may have shared a box up until now, but your kitty's preferences may have changed. The general rule of thumb for litter boxes is one box per cat plus one.

There are so many other things that can cause a sudden stoppage of litter box use. And none of them are out of spite. A cat will stop using it's box because they are ill/in pain or stressed about something, and the stressed about something can lead to an illness (cystitis/UTI...) I would call your vet, and ask them if you could bring a urine sample in for testing, considering you were just there and I assume was deemed healthy.

Thanks for the reply. He has to go to the vet to renew his prescription for a certain kind of food that helps with his constipation. I'm not sure the brand off the top of my head. I considered the idea that it might have been acting up, but he's acting completely normal aside from the bathroom incidents, and the doctor just deemed him healthy, so I ruled that out pretty quick.
The vet just did a general examination of him & clipped his nails. Since it's marked on his file at the vet that he's a "difficult", I'm sure he wouldn't let them do much else.
The two cats have been acting normal with one another, I haven't noticed any changes.
Thanks for your suggestion. I'll look into getting another litter box and keep an eye on his behavior.

 

[Jem]

He has to go to the vet to renew his prescription for a certain kind of food that helps with his constipation.

A little off topic from your original question but...
Does your vet really need you to bring your kitty in for an exam JUST to renew the food? Or is this a yearly exam and you renew the food at the same time. Two of my cats had to be on a prescription food and never did my vet require me to bring them in to pay for an exam just to renew the prescription. I guess it depends on the food and if it's for life or just temporary, but I simply question the vets motives. Unless of course you need them to clip your "difficult" kitty's claws to prevent injury at home

 

[Jem]

Oh and is your kitty's poop OK? If pooping is causing him some discomfort if it's too hard, he could be associating the pain from pooping with the litter box, so that's why he goes outside of it.

 

[Jem]

Sorry I keep thinking of more things....
Does your kitty have IBD or is he just prone to constipation due to hairballs or not enough moisture in his diet? If it's hairballs or moisture, you don't need a prescription food to help that.

 

[Foronethread]

No worries for all the questions. To answer your first question, yes, the vet does require us to bring him in to renew the food. I think he wants to make sure it's still working before he renews the prescription, just in case something's wrong/he has to put him on a different food/etc. It also helps that we can get his nails clipped when we visit, too, haha. Last time he visited, our vet did a thorough checkup, checking everything but his eyes, as our kitty didn't like that very much. The vet said he looked great - nice coat, gums looked good, teeth looked great, and he was at a healthy weight.
His poop looks fine - normal. Nothing out of the ordinary there. He has IBS-C.

 

[She's a witch]

I am always astonished by vets that say the cat is healthy only after physical checkup. Unless he has magic hands, how can he deem a cat healthy based on touching only, especially if a cat has a possible symptom (like in your case)? How would he know if the cat has UTI?

If i were you, I’d change that vet for a cat only vet if you have such possibility.

 

[CosmoBot]

This happened has happened with our cat few times.

One time, it turned out he was having trouble opening the flap on his litter box. We just lifted it up. This is completely unhelpful if you don't have a lid on your box.

Another time, it was because we were using a light-weight litter that didn't absorb the pee quickly and it would pool out under him. He didn't like that!! Switched back to a fast-absorbing (very heavy) litter and he was fine.

Another time it was constipation. If the litter height is too high, kitty may feel like he needs to poop over the side in order to get enough of a crouch going. We lowered our litter level and he stopped.

Try to see if you can spy him when he goes to see if he's standing on the litter box edge, or just squatting outside of it.