Need help with litterbox problems

[barbarag42]

I have a senior cat and I brought in 2 kittens about a year and a half ago. My senior cat has lived fairly peacefully with the younger cats but recently she (I think it's the 14 year old senior) has started peeing on the floor in front of my dresser.  Because of her increased demand for water I'm thinking it may be a health issue and I'm taking her to the vet today but I would appreciate any thoughts from the rest of you. If worse comes to worse I will put a small box in front of my dresser but I hope I won't have to.

 

[webmiss]

I'm sure your vet will check for urinary issues, stones, infection etc.

If it is not that it is most likely behavioral.

Do you have enough boxes for the cats? ( rule is one for every cat plus one)

Is there something the cat could be stressed about? New litter, changes in the household?

Once you figure out the issue you will need to clean up the spot she was peeing in. If it's carpet it can be difficult you'd be best to find an enzymatic cleaner. There's tons of articles about how to clean up urine.

You will want to clean it as best as you can because if she can still smell the pee she'll keep going there.

If it's behavioral you can also try a feliway diffuser. It releases happy pheromones which relieves stress.



I have battled both urinary issues which cause going outside the box and then behavioral issues in the same cat. Hopefully you can resolve this quickly. I believe my cat simply learned it was ok to go outside the box after so many urinary infections and I could never break the habit. I ended up using super absorbent dog pee pads.

Good luck!

 

[calicosrspecial]

So glad you are taking your cat to the vet. I always like to rule out medical issues as they tend to be easiest. Cats typically stop using the litter box because of medical issues (pain, infection) or behavioral reasons (territory, bullying, etc).

Please let me know how the vet visit goes and if it isn't medical I will help you drill down on the underlying behavioral issue.

I hope your cat gets a healthy report from the vet. Wishing her the best.

Please feel free to ask anything. Good luck.