Inside The Box, Peeing Out

[tdonline]

I have a nine year girl who has always used her litter box. She always likes to step into the box and pee. But in the last year, she's gotten into the annoying habit of stepping in just enough and half the time, the pee just about stays in the box. The other half, some or all of the stream ends up just outside the box.

She has two high sided boxes with lips that are lowered for her to step in. The lip is where she aims. These boxes are extra large and she has room to move further into the boxes. Nothing has changed--same litter and same boxes over the years. I do not scoop any less or more than usual. I swear if she would just move TWO inches forward, the pee would stay in the box. Once I tried to gently move her forward and all that did was stop her from peeing and leaving the box. Obviously, I didn't try it twice. I don't want to discourage her from using her boxes and technically she is, but how can I get her to return to her old ways when she managed to pee inside her boxes all the time? Again, the difference is literally a couple of inches.

 

[IndyJones]

Has she had a vet visit recently? She may have pain associated with the box.

 

[di and bob]

Maybe you could put a 'puppy pee pad' just in front of the box and change it daily. They are very inexpensive and save a lot of cleanup!

 

[margd]

One solution for this problem is a top loading litter box, like this one. (That's assuming your girl would use it.)



First, you should have her checked out by the vet though. She may be associating her litter box with pain if she is developing arthritis or (more likely) dealing with an UTI. When it comes to sudden changes in litter box behavior, it is often due to a medical issue, such as a UTI. Is she peeing more often and/or straining when she tries to go? Both are signs that she has a urinary tract issue.

For an immediate practical solution for all of the clean-up, try putting some puppy-pads down in front of the box so the stream of urine lands on them, and not on the floor.

Good luck! I hope you can find a solution quickly.

 

[tdonline]

She is due her annual vet visit so we'll be going soon. As a cat rescue volunteer, I give the same advice about medical health/litter box problems. But in this case, her behavior hasn't changed that much. So I'm not not sure it's medical. I watch her pee a lot now due to this issue and she doesn't exhibit any signs of pain or discomfort. There's no hesitancy about going in. She goes right in as before and does her business. She's not loitering around the box, stepping in gingerly, making noise, etc. As mentioned already, it's literally a couple of inches difference. She has always "peed on the edge". Her clumps are always right at the entrance of the box where the lip is. But up until about a year ago, she's always kept the urine in, her aim was unerring. For some reason, now, sometimes her stream goes just beyond the lip. I watch her and I dare not touch her mid-stream but I can see the stream just hitting the very tip of the lip and sometimes, the stream just going over. I'm so tempted to scoot her up the box just a smidge!

She poos at the back of the back of the box so I know she has no problem going to that area of the box. I'm going to empty the boxes and give them a thorough cleaning. I now realize that though I've been scooping regularly (I live/work in an apartment and scoop at least 2X daily and on demand when it comes to poo), I've fallen off schedule in terms of washing the boxes. Let's see if that will help. If not, maybe it's time for new boxes?

Thought about the puppy pads this morning and will definitely pick some up if problem persists. I had already bought 2 large dog crate trays to cover the carpet and bathroom floor. Still a smelly and messy chore to clean though.

The top down box would definitely fix the problem but yeah, I'm not sure my cats would accept the dramatic change in box styles. They are also rather small compared to the boxes currently being used. Also the box wouldn't work in one of the current locations and as I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, litter box locations are severely limited.

 

[Animal Freak]

How big is your cat? How big is the litter box? It sounds to me as if she's trying, but missing. Your cat should have enough room to get in comfortably and turn around. My experience with a cat in pain has led me to believe she wouldn't be using the box at all. My cat has gone through a few UTIs and he always goes on bags, rugs, towels, etc. Not just over the edge. He's also a somewhat large cat at eleven pounds and has a large litter box.

 

[maggiedemi]

Are you using large size litter box or jumbo? What kind of litter are you using, is it highly scented?

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

I have a nine year girl who has always used her litter box. She always likes to step into the box and pee. But in the last year, she's gotten into the annoying habit of stepping in just enough ...
... I swear if she would just move TWO inches forward, the pee would stay in the box. Once I tried to gently move her forward and all that did was stop her from peeing and leaving the box. Obviously, I didn't try it twice. I don't want to discourage her from using her boxes and technically she is, but how can I get her to return to her old ways when she managed to pee inside her boxes all the time? Again, the difference is literally a couple of inches.

Do you have the litter box in a corner of a room, e.g. with one long side against a wall and the side that is opposite the "entry", lower-lip side also against a wall? Meaning, as she enters the box, is a wall straight ahead of her?

I ask because maybe she is having just slight deterioration of her vision (being a senior kitty at 9 years old), and her perception of a wall straight ahead of her is a bit skewed... so she stops just (2 inches!) short of where she normally used to stop to pee. Is this a possibility?

If so, maybe if you move the litter box outwards from being flush with the walls, she'll have a sense of having more room to move, and might pee once again in the "right" location?

Just a thought...

(edit: I hope what I said made sense, lol. What I meant to say was, you could try pulling the box out from the walls just a bit so that there is space all around it -- a cat with vision or perception problems might feel like there is more room to maneuver)

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

She is due her annual vet visit so we'll be going soon. As a cat rescue volunteer, I give the same advice about medical health/litter box problems. But in this case, her behavior hasn't changed that much. So I'm not not sure it's medical. I watch her pee a lot now due to this issue and she doesn't exhibit any signs of pain or discomfort. There's no hesitancy about going in. She goes right in as before and does her business. She's not loitering around the box, stepping in gingerly, making noise, etc. As mentioned already, it's literally a couple of inches difference. She has always "peed on the edge". Her clumps are always right at the entrance of the box where the lip is. But up until about a year ago, she's always kept the urine in, her aim was unerring. For some reason, now, sometimes her stream goes just beyond the lip. I watch her and I dare not touch her mid-stream but I can see the stream just hitting the very tip of the lip and sometimes, the stream just going over. I'm so tempted to scoot her up the box just a smidge!
...

Thought about the puppy pads this morning and will definitely pick some up if problem persists. ...

I just want to add a bit more (I just saw your other post, above ^ )

Another thing that can affect senior cats is some stiffness or arthritis in their legs. Perhaps she is getting some of this in one or both of her back legs, and she cannot bend them quite as far in a "sit-'n-pee" position like she used to over the past year. So, her "pee stream" and aim is a bit off! If this is the case, then Di and Bob's idea of puppy pee pads might be a good one.

 

[tdonline]

Both boxes are approximately 22 X 17 inches so they look to be big enough for her. One is 2/3 covered and the other is uncovered but high sided. The lip entrances are about 5-6 inches tall. They seem to be big enough for her for many years. She's about 11 pounds. When she's in the box, her face is well away from the back of the box. It's not like her face is smushed up against the back of the box. She has plenty of space to move towards the back of the box...which is what I wish she would do. Take one step forward and all problems solved!

Interesting theory about eyesight and the wall. One box is 2/3 covered (no door) and the entrance faces the wall. So her butt faces the wall when she walks in and pees. She's used that box for years so she's always faced the back of it as a covered box. The other box is uncovered. The back of it is up against a wall, true. But it has always been against the wall so it shouldn't a new sensation for her either.

So both boxes are quite large for her, situated differently and are different styles--and yet she has the same problem whilst using them. A few months ago I did switch the boxes from their locations--a straight exchange. BUT I made the switch as an attempt to fix this problem...so the problem predated the exchange.

They use Swheat Scoop unscented and have done so most of their lives. No change there either.

And yes, no action outside of the box ever. She always uses her boxes...so yeah, not a UTI issue I think.

 

[tdonline]

I just want to add a bit more (I just saw your other post, above ^ )

Another thing that can affect senior cats is some stiffness or arthritis in their legs. Perhaps she is getting some of this in one or both of her back legs, and she cannot bend them quite as far in a "sit-'n-pee" position like she used to over the past year. So, her "pee stream" and aim is a bit off! If this is the case, then Di and Bob's idea of puppy pee pads might be a good one.

Yes, her sister likes to pee around the entrance too. I think she manages to keep it in because she is more of a sitter, while J stands. Maybe that's the difference. I'm trying to remember if J was ever a sitter? Hmmm...maybe that's why the pee goes out now?

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Both boxes are approximately 22 X 17 inches so they look to be big enough for her. One is 2/3 covered and the other is uncovered but high sided. The lip entrances are about 5-6 inches tall. They seem to be big enough for her for many years. She's about 11 pounds. When she's in the box, her face is well away from the back of the box. It's not like her face is smushed up against the back of the box. She has plenty of space to move towards the back of the box...which is what I wish she would do. Take one step forward and all problems solved!

Interesting theory about eyesight and the wall. One box is 2/3 covered (no door) and the entrance faces the wall. So her butt faces the wall when she walks in and pees. She's used that box for years so she's always faced the back of it as a covered box. The other box is uncovered. The back of it is up against a wall, true. But it has always been against the wall so it shouldn't a new sensation for her either.

So both boxes are quite large for her, situated differently and are different styles--and yet she has the same problem whilst using them. A few months ago I did switch the boxes from their locations--a straight exchange. BUT I made the switch as an attempt to fix this problem...so the problem predated the exchange.

They use Swheat Scoop unscented and have done so most of their lives. No change there either.

And yes, no action outside of the box ever. She always uses her boxes...so yeah, not a UTI issue I think.

Ok, well thanks for that info.

One more theory I'll throw out, though. In your most recent post (and, I just realized, in another post) you said "my cats" and "They use Swheat Scoop unscented and have done so most of their lives." So, you have more than one cat. Could it be that the other cat(s) are peeing in different locations in the (shared?) litter boxes, causing your nine-year-old to ALSO pee in a different place for this past year? That is, could some of the urine scent markings in the litter box from another cat be shifting up the "litter box real estate", and so she is peeing in just a slightly different place to compensate?

(I'm out of theories now. And.. I just saw that you posted again about the other cat... sigh! I don't have any more ideas!)

 

[tdonline]

Doing some research, there is a very large top entry box on Amazon. My concern is if this style of box is appropriate as my cats enter their senior years. J has always been the active one and she still running and jumping around pretty well. I'll ask the vet to check for arthritis on our next visit.

There are also very large boxes with slightly taller lip entrances so I may give them a shot.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

You could also just try get one or two new versions of the same boxes you have used for years for the cats... new boxes with no old urine smells to them. Like I mentioned, years of patterned "litter box real estate", as I call it, and the fact that cats are creatures of habit and do a lot of things from their sense of smell, might call for the tabula rasa of brand new litter boxes.

 

[tdonline]

Ok, well thanks for that info.

One more theory I'll throw out, though. In your most recent post (and, I just realized, in another post) you said "my cats" and "They use Swheat Scoop unscented and have done so most of their lives." So, you have more than one cat. Could it be that the other cat(s) are peeing in different locations in the (shared?) litter boxes, causing your nine-year-old to ALSO pee in a different place for this past year? That is, could some of the urine scent markings in the litter box from another cat be shifting up the "litter box real estate", and so she is peeing in just a slightly different place to compensate?

(I'm out of theories now. And.. I just saw that you posted again about the other cat... sigh! I don't have any more ideas!)

Hey, your post about sitting versus standing was very helpful and may be on the money! Her sister sits to pee and with high sided boxes, that means zero chances of any liquid going out. J though, now that I think about it, stands while she pees. Or more accurately, doesn't sit all the way down like her sister. Her sister really squats down (it's almost funny she really presses down!) Now I'm racking my brain to remember if J has always stood or if she's only started doing that this past year. If so, that totally makes sense why the stream now goes out. So she's situated exactly where she's always been to pee...but now that she's standing, the stream goes over the entrance. Whereas I was thinking she, for whatever reason, was refusing to scoot up a little bit like she had in the past. But may be that's not the case at all!

 

[tdonline]

You could also just try get one or two new versions of the same boxes you have used for years for the cats... new boxes with no old urine smells to them. Like I mentioned, years of patterned "litter box real estate", as I call it, and the fact that cats are creatures of habit and do a lot of things from their sense of smell, might call for the tabula rasa of brand new litter boxes.

The covered box was from Petco and no longer sold. Bummer, I really liked it...except for the current situation. But yes, I think it's time to break out the plastic...card and order some new boxes.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Hey, your post about sitting versus standing was very helpful and may be on the money! ...

I think I thought of this possibility not only because I've had two cats reach their elderly years and they developed arthritis, but also that my latest cat, Milly, had knee surgery last year and she often could not bend her back right leg when peeing.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

The covered box was from Petco and no longer sold. Bummer, I really liked it...except for the current situation. But yes, I think it's time to break out the plastic...card and order some new boxes.

Bummer! I know I've gotten used to favorite litter boxes too! No matter that we scoop them all the time, and deep clean them a lot, still the faint urine scents remain from years of use! Sigh

 

[arouetta]

My darling (grrr) Shadow does the same exact thing. What I did was put a rubber backed fabric mat under the box, it's big enough that there is half a foot in front of the walk-in area, and then I put a solid rubber mat on top of that. I rinse the solid one every time I change the box and the fabric one is a "just in case" backup protection.

 

[banana queen]

One of my cats is good at using the box most of the time, but will occasionally miss or even try using it sideways. I just put a puppy pee pad underneath the boxes for when accidents happen.