FLUTD cat and covering pee in litter box- am I just paranoid?

[catluvs]

Hi.
My 3 1/2 year old kitty has FLUTD. His first ever episode was last November, when he blocked. A couple weeks prior I that I of course noticed extra licking and he wasn’t covering up (small-ish) amounts of pee in the litter box, which I now know are all signs of FLUTD. His last episode was in early February, where he technically didn’t have a complete blockage but had a really rough week with meds to get him back to peeing normally.
He’s been pretty much solid since February, when I switched him completely to the diet cat food. He drinks a good amount of water, I obsessively watch his behavior/peeing habits, and write them down even now, and he hasn’t had any tell-tale signs or episodes. However both last night and this morning, he didn’t cover his pee. I watched him pee both times, and they were both big amounts, and he had no other signs of FLUTD. It didn’t take him super long to pee, he didn’t do any strange licking right after, he didn’t immediately jump out after peeing, he didn’t vocalize, the pee was a normal amount. He stayed in for a few seconds and pawed the side of the litter box instead of covering his pee then jumped out. Why? Could this be some kind of warning sign or am I just paranoid? He usually covers.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I would just keep up with the monitoring process you currently have in place to look for signs of a potential issue. A key question would be: was he scratching the sides of the box when he was having his previous episodes? If yes, all the more reason to be very diligent in tracking his volume of pee. If no, and his pee amounts stay in the normal range and don't start to decrease in size, it could just be a new temporary (or permanent) behavior of not covering his pee.

Sometimes, I think if there is too much 'stuff' in the litter box a cat might scratch the sides of the box instead of covering the actual pee clump with litter. And, in Feeby's case, she goes back and forth between covering her pee and not covering it - but, covering happens a lot less frequently.

 

[catluvs]

Hi. I would just keep up with the monitoring process you currently have in place to look for signs of a potential issue. A key question would be: was he scratching the sides of the box when he was having his previous episodes? If yes, all the more reason to be very diligent in tracking his volume of pee. If no, and his pee amounts stay in the normal range and don't start to decrease in size, it could just be a new temporary (or permanent) behavior of not covering his pee.

Sometimes, I think if there is too much 'stuff' in the litter box a cat might scratch the sides of the box instead of covering the actual pee clump with litter. And, in Feeby's case, she goes back and forth between covering her pee and not covering it - but, covering happens a lot less frequently.

Thanks for your reply. He always scratches the sides/top of the box every time he uses it, then gets out and goes to “cover up” his food. But he always scratches the litter to cover it up before he gets out of the box. I’m probably just being an insane cat owner, but I’m super paranoid. I’m glad I saw him do it and noted he didn’t have any issues or else I would be having a full on freak out noticing uncovered pee. I’ll just have to keep an extra close eye on him

 

[fionasmom]

I do understand your concern. Jamie was dxed with a possible kidney condition at a very young age and I often stand next to the box when he eliminates to see what comes out before he covers it. He has no privacy. Just keep watching but try to remain calm and remind yourself that you will get help for him if things don't look right and that you do have a plan.