My cat, Chloe (7yrs), has been peeing outside of her box for the past few months. She began doing this around late December, when we had our Christmas tree up, and she decided that while I and a few of my family members who generally live with her were away, that peeing under the tree was the only good place. Since then, she's been peeing fairly consistently in the area the tree used to be. We've tried blocking off the room that she prefers to pee in, but as soon as it is available again, she goes right back to peeing on the carpet or on the stones in front of my fireplace (see photos). When the room has been blocked off, she would also sometimes pee on the tile near her litter box, or on the doormat (fabric or rubber, we've tried both) that lies in front of the door her litter box is near. It seems like this might have been just sensitivity to her environment, as of course it began after the tree was introduced, and often when she pees just outside of her litter box, it's when her main caretaker besides me is away for a night or two. However, I have no idea whether that is the true cause, or, if it is, how to fix this behavior. She sees the vet every one or two months because she's currently on a weight loss plan, but they haven't noticed anything amiss. She's a long-haired kitty, and when she was at her heaviest, she got an infection on her behind from an inability to clean herself properly, but she's lost a lot of weight since then. Throughout this, she has been pooping in the litterbox consistently, so I don't think it's because of the box or litter, but we did recently switch from Fresh4Life clay litter to the multi-cat arm & hammer litter pictured below. Any ideas as to why she's doing this or how to prevent it? Thank you!
her preferred pee location
New litter
Litter box situation
What we've been using to clean up her pees
What we used to use to deep clean her box (although we've mostly stopped doing that so it's familiar)
Another litter box photo
her preferred pee location
New litter
Litter box situation
What we've been using to clean up her pees
What we used to use to deep clean her box (although we've mostly stopped doing that so it's familiar)
Another litter box photo