Cat Suddenly Urinating Outside Litter Box

[seatownredhead]

Hello! I'm new here and at a total loss about what to do for my cat. She's 14 yo. The vet determined she has very beginning renal disease, so I moved her gradually over 3 weeks to prescription cat food from Fancy Feast. Suddenly, every night the cat is urinating and occasionally defecating outside of the box, just at the edge. She is healthy otherwise and does not have an UTI or other infections.

I bought her a brand new litter box with brand new litter, the kind we've used her whole life. I then bought her a second box. She continues to do this. I put up Feliway anti-anxiety diffusers. I am still feeding her the prescription food which she eats and asks for. She is still as cuddly and sweet to me as always.

What is going on with her?! How do I stop this behavior? Clearly she's mad about the new food change, but it's not like it was sudden. I'm at a loss of what to do. Thank you for any advice.

 

[RajaNMizu]

Aw, the poor baby. I'm sorry to hear that. Is it possible she's just not feeling well enough to make it to the box/or her bladder is too full and she "almost" makes it? Have you tried finding a box or tray with a lower area to step over? Perhaps even adding another box in addition to the ones you have to make sure they're close to where she is. I'm not sure I would associate it with the change in her diet considering she is still eating and interested in her food?

 

[basschick]

our elderly cat goes just outside the box, so we got an extra large dog crate tray and put it under the box. it extends well beyond it. then we put a light covering of litter on the tray. that's worked pretty well. it looks ridiculous, but i spend a lot less time cleaning the floor. my husband recently put plastic tarp material taped with easy release tape to the floor so the pee really never gets on the floor anymore. HK, btw, is going on 20, and he has a number of health issues, although he's still a happy cat.

did your vet put your cat on sub-cutaneous fluids? that helped our kidney patient senior cat more than anything. he hated kidney cat foods and wouldn't eat them, so back to fancy feast we went. we were happy with the powerful results from the sub-qs. his kidneys actually improved.

is your cat on meds? when our heart patient cat was still with us, the cats didn't use the box because they didn't like the smell of the meds in his urine.

btw, has your vet done a very recent urine test?

 

[seatownredhead]

Aw, the poor baby. I'm sorry to hear that. Is it possible she's just not feeling well enough to make it to the box/or her bladder is too full and she "almost" makes it? Have you tried finding a box or tray with a lower area to step over? Perhaps even adding another box in addition to the ones you have to make sure they're close to where she is. I'm not sure I would associate it with the change in her diet considering she is still eating and interested in her food?

Hi, thank you for your response! She seems like her usual self otherwise and she has used the litter box just fine during the day. I left the light on for her last night and she peed outside her box again. I've tried a second box and it didn't help. I see her in her box using it during the day. She's just having one "accident" every night. It makes no sense to me.

 

[seatownredhead]

our elderly cat goes just outside the box, so we got an extra large dog crate tray and put it under the box. it extends well beyond it. then we put a light covering of litter on the tray. that's worked pretty well. it looks ridiculous, but i spend a lot less time cleaning the floor. my husband recently put plastic tarp material taped with easy release tape to the floor so the pee really never gets on the floor anymore. HK, btw, is going on 20, and he has a number of health issues, although he's still a happy cat.

did your vet put your cat on sub-cutaneous fluids? that helped our kidney patient senior cat more than anything. he hated kidney cat foods and wouldn't eat them, so back to fancy feast we went. we were happy with the powerful results from the sub-qs. his kidneys actually improved.

is your cat on meds? when our heart patient cat was still with us, the cats didn't use the box because they didn't like the smell of the meds in his urine.

btw, has your vet done a very recent urine test?

Hi, thanks for your response. That's a good idea about the tray underneath! Like a big litterbox under the litterbox. They did not put her on fluids. She eats her special food and drinks water, but not too much. I've spoken with the vet who confirms she is definitely healthy (besides the early renal disease.) She did have a recent urine and blood work done. She's healthy. Something is wrong though, whatever this aversion is.