"Out of the Box" elimination problems

[goddessbast]

Hi all,

This is about my 14-year-old cat Sophie. For the past year or more, she has had occasional--but lately more frequent--episodes where she either poos or pees outside the litter box. Sometimes, it happens in the middle of the night on the kitchen floor, and once on my friend's clothes that she left on the floor when she was staying over and sleeping on the couch!

I have two male cats, and I have seen at least one of them chase or follow her when she's in the box, so I gave Sophie her own box in my small bathroom (off my bedroom) and I encourage her to use it. Sometimes I even CARRY HER to the bathroom and show her the box! Then she usually does, but she still has a tendency to pee "over the side" rather than IN the box. It's like she's standing in the box, but her butt is hanging over the edge. I'm tempted to move her further in, but I'm afraid if I mess with her while she's peeing, she'll get freaked out and refuse to use the box.

The other thing she does that I find REALLY disturbing is pee in her own bed! She has ruined many little cat beds... she seems to love them, sleeps in them for a while, and then suddenly I'll notice she's avoiding them and, yep, the bed has become a litter box.

Yes, I have discussed this with my vet, several times, and yes, Sophie has been tested and her kidney function and general health are fine. We think she may have arthritis, because she definitely has trouble jumping up on things and needs a stepstool to get to the couch. I thought of trying a covered litter box, but all the ones I've seen have high sides, so I'm not sure she could get in and out with ease.

Any suggestions?

 

[motoko9]

I don't have much experience with this particular problem, but I believe this is a common issue with senior cats. Just tossing ideas out here, but did the vet suggest anything for the arthritis? Perhaps if her stiffness was eased a little, she'd have an easier time making it to the box.

 

[feralvr]

It sounds like she may be in pain. Some cats do stand up as they pee. I personally would not use a hooded box, too confining and most of them are way too small. Alot of people use the very tall rubbermaid storage boxes and cut a hole in the front of it and this solves the problem of the pee over the side prob. You were right in not disturbing her while she was peeing in the box

. You would frighten her and she wouldn't understand why you moved her forward and this will only lead to more fear of the box.

I would take her again to the vet and have a needle draw directly from the bladder to get a urine sample. Sounds like a UTI to me. Peeing on soft items is classic for a cat with bladder pain. The quicker you get the problem solved the better. Because some kitties will still want to pee on the soft items even after the infection is gone and until they realize that they are not in pain anymore. She may need her own room for a short time to get her back on track and using the litter box again as well.