Inappropriate Peeing Or Spraying?

[weebeasties]

I hope you can help me in some detective work.
15 (ish) year old neutered male has either peed or sprayed outside of the litterbox twice (that I know of) in the past two days. Not sure if it is pee or spray because I haven't actually seen him do it and he's a "high pee'er" anyway.

He has been to the vet several times in the past month. He had a complete senior blood panel, urinalysis, urine culture, xrays, and several ultrasounds. Everything came back good except for an inflamed bladder and a small amount of blood in his urine. No bacterial infection, not dehydrated.

So the vet thinks it may be stress causing the inflammation in his bladder. I'm trying to figure out where the stress is coming from. We have had him for 9 years now. There is nothing new in the house. He gets along well with us and the other cats.

I thought that if the "accidents" were actually him spraying, then it could be narrowed down to a territorial issue causing the stress. If he's actually peeing then the stress is from something else. Is my logic sound? Any ideas about how to track down the cause of his stress? Is there even a way to know if he's peeing or spraying without catching him in the act? I hate knowing there is something bothering him and I can't fix it!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! My first thought is, can you put up a camera and see if you have wanderers outside, and a camera focused on his box?

 

[FeebysOwner]

HI. I would do as Furballsmom suggested and get a baby cam video set up - I don't think they are terribly expensive. And, many of them come with multiple cameras if you have more than one litterbox you want to keep an eye on. That way you could find out whether it is spraying or peeing - but to be honest, I am not sure finding that out is going to make a corrective action any easier.

If you suspect spraying that is caused by a territorial issue, then you must have some reason to believe there is a cause for a new territorial type behavior?

Also, about the inflammation in the bladder, has the vet suggested an anti-inflammatory to help with that? Whatever might be the cause of the inappropriate peeing/spraying, the bottom line is the inflammation is only serving to cause stress itself. So, helping reduce the stress with an anti-inflammatory would seem to be the first action to take.

How is he behaving otherwise - eating/drinking/playing normally? How active is he, and does he have entertainment through cat trees/other elevated spaces, toys, etc?

 

[Kflowers]

Get a black light, I think they are cheap, scan your doors - outside, windows and the bushes near the house for urine. sometimes outside you can't smell it. If you find it you'll need to enzyme clean it off. Then I'd cover the spot in a good big spray of white vinegar to show the stranger cat the turf is claimed. Do NOT use an ammonia based cleaner. Ammonia smell like cat spray to cats and your cat will feel there are more invaders and respond every where.

Just a suggestion. Cover the heat vent in the room with his litter box. One of mine, who sprayed for territory, also peed down the heat vent (nothing wrong with him per vet) Cat urine will actually eat through duct work. Really.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

... He has been to the vet several times in the past month. He had a complete senior blood panel, urinalysis, urine culture, xrays, and several ultrasounds. Everything came back good except for an inflamed bladder and a small amount of blood in his urine. No bacterial infection, not dehydrated.

So the vet thinks it may be stress causing the inflammation in his bladder. ...

weebeasties - Has it just been one vet reviewing all of the results of diagnostic tests? Did the radiologist review the ultrasounds? Maybe you could get a 2nd opinion, just to be sure it's only "stress" causing the bladder inflammation. Maybe there is still an as-yet-to-be-found physical or health cause.

Other than that, if it is stress-induced by an environmental thing, remember that some of our kitties are much more sensitive than other kitties in picking up our human moods, stress, fear, and tension. Could that be a possibility here? I know when my husband is grieving over a family death, our kitty gets really stressed too. She's never had major litter box accidents but she does get upset. Maybe there have been a lot of emotional changes in your house in recent months? (I'm just conjecturing ) It can be smaller things too. Last night my plate of veggie burger and salad got upended all over our rug when I carried it in from the kitchen -- while I was trying to hold in my frustration when cleaning it up, Milly decided it was time to yeowl, bite my foot and do Zoomies in the middle of it all.

 

[weebeasties]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I don't know if video surveillance would work...we have 10 litterboxes throughout the house so that's a lot of cameras! The boy in question mainly uses just two of them though. He is still using them, his pee clumps are a bit small which is one of the reasons he was taken to the vet to begin with.

He is currently on the medication Prazosin 0.5 mg twice a day. As I understood it, it is not an anti-inflammatory med. It is for muscle spasms in his bladder.

Im am unsure if a radiologist looked over the ultrasound results, or if it has just been the vet. Every time he has been seen lately, I drop him off in the morning and pick him up in the afternoon.

I will pick up a black light to see if I can spot any place outdoors that a strange cat may have sprayed.

His eating is good, but he doesn't seem interested in play much anymore. He seems a bit depressed and occasionally restless.

He has many toys, we have 5 large cat trees, two shelves at windows as well. He has a fountain and is very close to one of our other cats who he suggles with.

The only stress I know of in the household is that one of his humans has a lot of health problems...but that has been going on for almost a year, and his problems are new.

Should I speak to the vet about an anti-inflammatory?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Yeah, the cameras could get pricey! But, you could put them at his 'favorite' litterboxes to start with.

The human health issues - any recent new meds? I have heard sometimes the chemical change in one's body from meds can make a difference in a cat's behavior.

The anti-spasmodic may have anti-inflammatory properties in it. You can ask about it anyway.

 

[weebeasties]

There has been a new addition to her pills lately. I have been working a lot more hours the past few months as well.
I forgot to mention that he walked over to one of my shoes last night and looked like he was squatting to pee on it. As soon as he heard my voice he ran into the living room and had a guilty look. I guess that means peeing and not spraying?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Squatting sounds like peeing to me! Not sure what that tells you overall, but that 'ain't the way they spray'.

 

[weebeasties]

Squatting sounds like peeing to me! Not sure what that tells you overall, but that 'ain't the way they spray'.

Yep. That's what I'm thinking. I could be way off on this, but I was thinking that if it's spraying then the cause is likley another cat. If he is peeing (which I think it is) then ultimately it's stress caused inadvertently by me. I don't know. I've never had to deal with this before. I've had many cats over the years but this situation has me stumped. I definitely don't want him to be ill, but if they had said he had a UTI, it would have been easier to treat. Not knowing what the problem is stresses me out, which stresses him out. It's a vicious cycle.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Maybe it's the new meds, but there isn't anyway a vet would confirm or deny that. Hopefully, those meds are temporary, but even if not, might be something that loses it's impact over time. That is a 'pot shot' you know?