Cat's Pee Won't Clump

wolfmaddie517

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Currently I have two cats, one female and one male. And my female cat's pee will not clump in the litter, but the male cat's pee does. I am very confused with this too. We use multiple litters all the time, all of them being scoopable and clumping litter. She has not been to the vet for it either, I'm not sure if there is something wrong with her pee. Also she has had worms in the past before we adopted her, but they are all gone. Does that have something to do with it?
I'd really appreciate if someone could answer!
 

silkenpaw

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As far as I know, clumping litter clumps on contact with water. Since urine is water-based, the litter clumps. Is your female urinating in the same box as the male. If not, maybe the different litters have different clumping properties. I would test both types of litter with a tablespoon of water to see how they clump. I'm curious what others have to say about this.
 

Margret

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That sounds very strange; I suspect silkenpaw silkenpaw is correct and that the litter your female cat is using isn't as clumpable as its publicity says it is. I've never heard of any cat having urine that refused to clump with a properly clumping cat litter.

Margret
 

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Hi, and welcome to TCS :hithere::welcomesign:

Clumping litter should clump with every cat. However, it can present differently with males and females. I think its down to anatomical differences making them pee in slightly different positions.

In both cases, the litter has clumped (in that the soiled area has stuck together to form a piece that can be cleanly removed) but the female clumps are flat and shallow, rather than actual balls of clumped litter. Is this the difference you're meaning?
 
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wolfmaddie517

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Hi, and welcome to TCS :hithere::welcomesign:

Clumping litter should clump with every cat. However, it can present differently with males and females. I think its down to anatomical differences making them pee in slightly different positions.

In both cases, the litter has clumped (in that the soiled area has stuck together to form a piece that can be cleanly removed) but the female clumps are flat and shallow, rather than actual balls of clumped litter. Is this the difference you're meaning?
Her pee does not clump at all. It goes straight through the litter scooper.
 

Columbine

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That IS odd :confused: I guess, as others have suggested, that you'll need to check that the litter she's using will clump properly, and/or work out which of your litters clumps most effectively and use only that type for her boxes.
 

Micmo

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Currently I have two cats, one female and one male. And my female cat's pee will not clump in the litter, but the male cat's pee does. I am very confused with this too. We use multiple litters all the time, all of them being scoopable and clumping litter. She has not been to the vet for it either, I'm not sure if there is something wrong with her pee. Also she has had worms in the past before we adopted her, but they are all gone. Does that have something to do with it?
I'd really appreciate if someone could answer!
Hi, did you solve this? I think I have the same issue. I have multiple cats and they share the same litterboxes. I use the same littersand. Some cat pee won't clump! this is so annoying while most clump to a perfect goofballs while some remain wet. this make the sand last so much shorter...
Did you solve this issue?
 

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Just wondering how often you clean the litter box. My one cat always pees in the same spot, does not cover and will pee right over his old pee spot 2 or 3 times. Our cat has kidney disease, so he pees a lot. Well anyway the reason I mention this is that sometimes when the area is over saturated, the litter will no longer clump, it's just wet and falls apart when I scoop. I also find that sometimes his pee will spread out and form like a pancake, which breaks apart easier than if it forms a ball.
 
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wolfmaddie517

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Hi, did you solve this? I think I have the same issue. I have multiple cats and they share the same litterboxes. I use the same littersand. Some cat pee won't clump! this is so annoying while most clump to a perfect goofballs while some remain wet. this make the sand last so much shorter...
Did you solve this issue?
Sorry if this is an extremely late reply, but no, I have not been able to fix this at all. I've tried everything and nothing will work.
 

Micmo

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Sorry if this is an extremely late reply, but no, I have not been able to fix this at all. I've tried everything and nothing will work.
That's fine, old posts tend to be left unanswered I've been able to solve this though. 1: the shape of the litter box was round, or oval, which prevented my scoop to pick up all urines. this causes some urines to be left out which eventually made the sand to clump less and less. I solved this by buying a Eurobox (what we call here in Norway) an industrial grade stacking box to use as our new toilet. the square corners and the flat bottom made it super easy to scoop up all urin. and the plastic is very scratch tolerant.

the second was even better. we found a new litter sand which works perfectly. the sand is made by organic plants like soybean and corn etc.. the clumping is surprisingly good. even the most non-clumping urine Will clump. It's called "Almo Nature Cat litter". you can even flush it in the toilet.. if that's fine with you... hope it helps!
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Sorry if this is an extremely late reply, but no, I have not been able to fix this at all. I've tried everything and nothing will work.
Have you had her tested for kidney disease? The only times I've seen this happen at the shelter, the cats in question were producing so much urine at once that it was too much for the litter. They all had developed kidney problems.
 
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wolfmaddie517

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Have you had her tested for kidney disease? The only times I've seen this happen at the shelter, the cats in question were producing so much urine at once that it was too much for the litter. They all had developed kidney problems.
I have not tested her for kidney disease. Now that you mention it, I may go to a vet and see if she may have it.
 
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wolfmaddie517

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That's fine, old posts tend to be left unanswered I've been able to solve this though. 1: the shape of the litter box was round, or oval, which prevented my scoop to pick up all urines. this causes some urines to be left out which eventually made the sand to clump less and less. I solved this by buying a Eurobox (what we call here in Norway) an industrial grade stacking box to use as our new toilet. the square corners and the flat bottom made it super easy to scoop up all urin. and the plastic is very scratch tolerant.

the second was even better. we found a new litter sand which works perfectly. the sand is made by organic plants like soybean and corn etc.. the clumping is surprisingly good. even the most non-clumping urine Will clump. It's called "Almo Nature Cat litter". you can even flush it in the toilet.. if that's fine with you... hope it helps!View attachment 262742 View attachment 262745
Thanks for this! If I can find something similar to that in a store I'll pick it up and test it out!
 

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I know this post is VERY old, but I’m having the same problem. I’ve been searching the internet for a few hours, and this is the only place I found my specific problem discussed.

My sweet 16 month old female’s urine simply will not “clump”. I adopted Nell and her companion cat (Kody, male, now 13 months) together just before New Year’s. Kody’s urine always clumps as expected. Nell’s does not. You can tell by looking at the litter that it has been urinated on because there are small dark pieces in a small area, which I guess I would call “clumpish”. But no matter how carefully I scoop the area, it all just runs out of the scooper. I’ve begun using a large food serving spoon to pick up the clumpish litter, but as you can imagine, most of it stays within the box. This defeats the whole point of using clumping litter in the first place, as the litter box begins to stink quickly, and the entire litter box needs to be emptied and cleaned much sooner than is ordinarily necessary.

I’ve adopted and occasionally fostered female and male cats over the years, and I’ve experienced numerous cat health issues and various maladies. Never have I ever had this problem. Both Nell and Kody have have been fixed and have a clean bill of health from their vet. They always use the litter box they share with no problem (they shared a litter box before I adopted them too), and I scoop the litter box every day - at the very worst, every other day. Of course I’ve tried everything I can think of, including different brands and types of clumping litter. I’m starting to wonder if perhaps there could be something biological with certain cats’ urine that prevents clumping.

Has anyone who’s experienced this issue ever found out why it occurs? I would truly appreciate any advice or information about this. Thank You!
 

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I have been having the same problem...I have used Tidy Cats forever and never had this issue before.
 

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I have also been experiencing this. Ive had a male cat and have always used tidy cats. Never had an issue. He had passed and I have since gotten a female kitten. Her pee absolutely won't clump. Wondering if other brands would help. I've been using essential oils to help prolong the litter life instead of dumping it all everyday. Its interesting that everyone on this thread who has issues with it, they are all female. I have to do a vet checkup in a few weeks, ill ask her if she has any insight.
 

Docs Mom

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Does your cat scratch, and scratch to cover her pee spot ? Resulting in broken up clumps ?

I have a kitty or two that you would think she is digging a crater..when she covers her urine spot...resulting in broken clumps.

For my inside kitties I use Clump and Seal which makes great clumps.... unless the amount of urine is too much for the depth of the litter. I.E. my kidney or hyperthyroid kitties.

Just some thoughts on the puzzle....
 

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My cats pee does not always clump. Part of the reason is if there is not enough litter in it. They like to dig. So it should be at least 3 inches. Sometimes they pee standing up so no clumps
 

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Not so sure about that. My shop cat's litter box was under her food/water table. For-Ever.....it wasn't clumping very well-to-not at all.
I moved the litter box one Friday and forgot to put it back under that table. Monday morning all was clumped as it should be.
Turns out, she was splashing around her water bowl, it would spill and end up in the litter box below.
Something about fresh water wasn't clumping.
Moved the litter box and no more problems.
Does your cat drink A LOT of water?
 
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