not making it all the way in her box

[hspot]

I'm at my wits end. My 19 year old Tabby Calico will only go into her box as far as she can sniff her litter, then she will just pee where she is standing. She used to just walk her two paws over the edge, then pee on the floor outside her box....but I put borders around the edge so that she has to walk up the ramp to go in. But now she just walks up the ramp until she can put her nose in the litter, then pees right there all over the ramp. I know it is most likely due to diminished cognitive thinking because of her age, but I have tried everything I can think of to make her walk all the way in her litter to pee. I have to put puppy pee pads down the ramp and around the box just so it doesn't mess up the floor around it. She just saw her primary vet last month because of her detached retina issue(which thankfully reattached with BP meds), and they said she was doing as well as can be expected for a cat her age, healthwise. I just need some help on how to get her to go all the way into her box. Thankyou for any help you are able to give!

 

[Hellenww]

I just need some help on how to get her to go all the way into her box.

Sorry, I don't know. You can get a big plastic tray to go under the box for the pee pads. The ones that go in dog crates come in many sizes. With one of my seniors we just gave her a disposable cookie sheet with a pee pad. That was before cats were really treated for arthritis. The pee pads for humans are much cheaper than those for pets.

Even if she is showing no signs it seems likely a cat that age would have some arthritis. There are all kinds of supplements available. I like nodens because it's liquid and easy to mix in wet food but more expensive than others.

Since cats are so scent driven is it possible when she smells the box she can't hold it any longer?

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

 

[FeebysOwner]

Does she go all the way into the box to poop?

 

[Alldara]

hspot your cat is of a geriatric age. She likely needs a low box. A basic kind that you get.

She may need some extra boxes closer to her. We had to put one on each level of the house for our cats.

We also had to put less litter to limit sliding and an area rug down to encourage him to move more. Suppliments and pain management for arthritis go a long way.

I have also used the cardboard from the wet food cases covered in a bag to add a temporary box near their beds when needed.

 

[hspot]

Yes she goes all the way in to poop. She has never pooped outside her box, unless some was still stuck to her bum.

She does have two boxes, both with borders created for this problem.
Thanks

 

[FeebysOwner]

How long has this been going on? I know you said she was just at the vets, but did they do a urinalysis? The first issue that seems the most common when a cat will poop in a litter box but not pee in it is some sort of urinary tract infection. Sometimes, the only real outward sign of an infection is a cat inappropriately peeing, as it can cause discomfort - but can also create a sense of urgency as well. Both of these could result in her not really wanting to, or not being able to wait long enough to, get inside the box.

Also, how long ago was her high BP identified and is there any correlation between that and when she started peeing outside the box? There can also be neurological impacts from hypertension, and those often can resolve themselves over time once the BP is under control - similarly in the way detached retinas can be corrected. I just don't know the timeline that could be involved.

The thing about connecting this inappropriate peeing to diminished cognitive function is that there would more than likely be other behavioral changes, not just this one.

If any of her behavior is related to arthritis, you might want to get rid of these borders since they don't seem to be helping any. As I think was mentioned above, giving her a very low sided litter box in addition to the one(s) she has now is worth trying. Just leave the pee pads down so clean up is easier.

You might also consider lining a low sided box with pee pads and replacing them every time she pees. I would set this box alongside a regular one that she uses to poop in. The human pee pads, also mentioned above, are washable, so they can be removed and washed as needed.

 

[hspot]

I will try that, thankyou

 

[hspot]

Also....I'm curious as to how bad any arthritis may actually be? She is always jumping up onto my bed still, which is 3+ft off the ground, as well as jumping down. She actually crawls her way down before letting go, and claws herself onto my bed cover halfway up her jump. But you would think that if she had bad arthritis, that would really hurt her?

 

[FeebysOwner]

If I understand what you are saying, she doesn't really jump the entire distance, but rather crawls or claws her way up and down? If that is true, to me that is a sure-fire sign of arthritis, as doing that would be less impact on her joints. Cats don't just stop trying even if it hurts some, and/or they do what your cat seems to be doing and that is compensating in some manner to reduce the discomfort. An x-ray of her body/spine/legs would show arthritis/joint inflammation/damage if it exists.

I am not saying that arthritis isn't playing a role, but given she uses the litter box with no issues to poop, this just seems geared more toward a urinary tract issue. Nonetheless, at 19 it would be uniquely unusual for her to have no arthritis at all.

 

[Hellenww]

I'm curious as to how bad any arthritis may actually be?

Around 11yr our Yoshi occassionally walked carefully. After a few weeks on a suppliment he was running around like I hadn't seen in a few years. That told me he had been hide the arthritis for a while. It was another 3-4yrs before we had to add prescription pain meds. Cats are very good at hiding any weakness

 

[Alldara]

Nobel's arthritis was so bad that you could see the swelling on his back leg joints even with medication.

He still jumped on and off the bed, slowly went up the stairs....just less. He wouldn't use his cat stairs so I resorted to picking him up and putting him down or pillows on the floor for him to land on.


Litter....well that's a slidey substance you need to balance on to do your business. It takes a lot of coordination. Of course, they want to be tidy so that try.

But like I said above, Nobel needed a low side box. That high rim you have is causing more problems. If it's up like she needs a ramp, that's causing more problems than its fixing.

Low side box, close to where she frequently, on the ground with some pee pads for when she misses.

Think of your cat like the 80 year old lady she is. She needs some support

 

[hspot]

Thanks for the support all. I actually fixed the problem, arthritis or no arthritis. Her main problem wasn't getting in or out of the box...but once she got in, she turned around and hung her butt over the edge enough to stream down the ramp or over the edge. So I put something around the edge she hung her butt over, and she doesn't got there anymore. She goes in an area of the box where her butt can't hang over. I actually think her box is too small for her size, which is why I removed the dome cover in the first place. I'm working on finding another solution to fix that problem. A low sided box will only make her walk in half way and pee outside the box once she is sensing the litter. I say this from the experience of watching her do it in the past many times. Thanks again for all the support.