Needing help for a high pee-er

[tpapictures]

Just a quick note that, yes, this cat has been to two vets for other things and nothing urinary related was thought to be a problem. Full clean bill of health.

Things are ok behaviourally in our home with this cat we just adopted. He's 11, he's front paw declawed, he is slightly overweight. My wife and I have had him just under a month and he's already perfectly fine with our resident and eating well. But one thing we noticed since arriving that the shelter didn't tell us about is that he has a thing about being a very high vertical pee-er. Why do I know this didn't start here?

A little backstory...
When we went to visit at the shelter, we went into the special room that he lived in (they keep certain cats in their own rooms) and we sat on the floor as we always do. I was sitting near his litter and when I put my hand on the floor I felt a combination of wet and older more slimy urine. I immediately said to the person showing us the cat, "oh, oops, looks like someone has peed outside the litter here. Has nobody noticed?" The woman seeming very confused said, "...hmm....that's strange... never noticed that before." which was unacceptable to me, how the hell do you not notice in a shelter, when you should be hyper aware of all the cats' behaviours that one cat is eliminating outside the box and how does it get so bad that urine is a bit slimy from basically drying out on the floor rather than being cleaned. And then, what does that say about how often you clean. But we weren't going to not help the guy because the shelter was irresponsible and with even more reason we were eager to get him out of there. Really high end, boutique-y shelter too. Very discouraging.

Anyway, to the matter at hand... we don't quite know what to do. Our litter pans we were using before were 10" high. So we went to get storage buckets that are 19" high and he has still figured out a way to pee over the edge. Today we saw him on the tips of his toes literally peeing over this 19" wall. We have no idea what to do.
Ideas?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. First off, I want to thank you for taking in an older kitty - so many people will not bother. So, again, thank you!!!!

I am not sure I understand how any cat can pee over the side of a 19" high box. Can you explain more about what he is doing - maybe even 'catch' him in the act and take a pic to share? He could be spraying over the top, but you mention him being on his tip toes, so I suspect that is not what is going on.

Most folks will buy a very large storage container, cut an entryway hole in the long side of the box, and place a litter box inside that he has to move into from the long side of the outer box to the entry way of the actual litter box that is on one of short sides of the outer box. Depending on what he is doing, at least the outer box would 'collect' the urine, making for easier clean up. You could also line the outer box with pee pads for even better clean up.

 

[tpapictures]

I am not sure I understand how any cat can pee over the side of a 19" high box.

We have to interrupt the regularly scheduled programming, as it were, to bring you this news break...

When you were so appalled at his ability to pee that high, I also asked myself, "how the hell is that possible?". So, I went to measure the storage bins we bought (that we've already cut into by the way to create entrances). We were entirely fixating on the brand having a label that says 19"H x 19"W x 23"L. Well, guess what... turns out they're actually only 13" high. Still a feat of angled urinary launching but nowhere near the 19" we thought we were at. So that's a whole other side story with dealing with the store for false advertising and somehow getting our money back despite having already cut into the 3 bins.

So, like a problem from some bizarre elementary school math textbook... since we now know the box to be only 13" , we still have him standing on about 1.5"- 2" litter and peeing across the rim and over the edge which means the effective height he's 'just' peeing over is probably more like 11 - 11.5". Therefore it would stand to reason, would it not, that we need something that's at least 11" plus 2" of litter plus 2 or 3" inches of buffer so roughly 15 - 16" walls.

But back to the issue at hand it technically doesn't change the problem. We still need help with figuring out what's causing this.
Hope that wasn't all too annoying.

 

[FeebysOwner]

But back to the issue at hand it technically doesn't change the problem. We still need help with figuring out what's causing this.

I don't know if there is anything specific necessarily causing it, at least not from what you have shared so far. If it is not spraying, which is a whole other issue, there may not be a particular reason, other than habit.

The only other thing that comes to mind is arthritis, which can make a cat alter their position when peeing and/or pooping. They have afflicted joints that can cause enough aggravation that it precludes them from getting into what is considered normal positions in the litter box.

At your cat's age, a joint supplement would be a plus even if it doesn't resolve the problem. Cosequin or Dasuquin are the main ones people use, but there are many others on the market. Any of them that you try can take a few weeks to begin to reap results. There are other more 'hefty' arthritic treatments, but perhaps those are better pursued should you decide to have x-rays taken to confirm or deny the existence of arthritis.

People will come along and tell you that him being front paw declawed is the issue but based on my 3 cats who are/were front pawed declawed, they never demonstrated litter box issues from that. The only thing about this, is the description of him being on his tippy toes which I still cannot get a mental picture in my head of that, Still wouldn't mind seeing a pic, if you can get one.

 

[tpapictures]

People will come along and tell you that him being front paw declawed is the issue but based on my 3 cats who are/were front pawed declawed

Agreed, I think that's become a knee jerk diagnosis that isn't always appropriate.

the description of him being on his tippy toes which I still cannot get a mental picture in my head of

Getting you a photo is gonna be tough. If and when I see this live, the last thing I'm thinking about is where my phone is. The position is standing regularly and not squatted. The front paws flat on the ball of his paws, the back paws in a 'standing' position, with his tail elevated. The stream rises up the side of the box as he pees.

 

[danteshuman]

I would try top entrance litter boxes are large storage tubs. Don’t ask about the wall of lids; my cat is an idiot.

 

[arr]

I have an occasional elevator butt cat, she starts in a squatting position and slowly ends up standing, with the pee going over the side. I place puppy pee pads under the box and tape them onto any walls or other surfaces near the box. It makes clean up easy and is something you can do permanently or until you figure out another box situation.