Raw Food And Urinary Problems?

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Our 6-month-old kitten (boy, neutered) suddenly started urinating on our beds about a week ago and since then he's done it almost every single day, twice on Sunday. He also did it right in front of us. Now we close all the bedroom doors, although they (he has a sister who is the same age) always slept with us. We haven't caught his sister in action yet but she was about to, or we thought, urinate on the same spot, so we lifted her to their litter box in time.

I took him to the vet yesterday and we are going to see the result of urinalysis. The vet said the weather (nonstop rain) affects cats but I think he's assuming that our cats go outside. He also said that anxious / stressed cats often do this, but our boy is faaaar from stressed out. He's got huge appetite, drinks water, and full of energy otherwise.

I was wondering this urinary problem might be attributable to raw food I make.
I use Cat Nutrition's as a base and substitute Morton Lite Salt with regular iodized salt and potassium citate capsules prescribed by Dr. Pearson. Regular iodized (sea)salt that I'm using is pure and contains approx. 2,300mg of sodium in 6 grams of salt (twice the amount of Morton Lite Salt). I just ordered Morton Lite Salt from the US. We live in Australia now.

Also we have noticed that their stool got really soft after about 1-2 weeks on raw food). They've been on raw food for about a month now. Has anyone gone through the same path before?
 

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Hi! Have you gotten the results back yet?
Can you change their food back to commercial wet for a little while and test your theory?
 

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potassium citate capsules prescribed by Dr. Pearson
What do you mean by this? Did Dr Pierson recomment you use the potassium citrate capsules if you are using regular table salt?

The higher sodium content of your food might make him urinate more but I don't see why it would make him go outside the box.
 
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Hi! Have you gotten the results back yet?
Can you change their food back to commercial wet for a little while and test your theory?
Yes! He didn't use the special litter tray, so it took a week for me to get his sample but finally perseverance paid off. The vet said everything was normal and suggested that this was purely behavioral... He suggested that I use Feliway diffuser (pheromone) in order to reduce signs of stress and anxiety, but like I said both kitties are not stressed or anxious at all....

And now, his sister also started micturating on our bed! Twice in one day at that. Right after we got in bed, she came up on the bed, scratched/dug the comforter a bit like she always does in the litter tray, and then just did it right in front of us.... I can't keep washing sheets every day.

I believe the higher amount of organs was to blame for their runny stools because they are now fed a new batch of food (carefully measured amount of organs) and their feces look normal. However, it is quite unlikely that the food was causing this annoying new habit of theirs.
 
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What do you mean by this? Did Dr Pierson recomment you use the potassium citrate capsules if you are using regular table salt?

The higher sodium content of your food might make him urinate more but I don't see why it would make him go outside the box.
On her website, she says, "
For people who cannot source Morton Lite Salt with iodine, use 3/4 tsp of regular salt (sodium chloride) with iodine + 14 tablets of potassium gluconate (99mg each) OR 14 capsules of potassium citrate (99 mg each)."
 

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Hopefully the feliway helps and also try some music that's for relaxing cats.
Something's going on that's bothering them, are you in an apartment where someone else has a new pet? Or a house where cats are wandering around outside?
You might also try a litter called cat attract.
In case you need it, there's an enzymatic cleaner called the Equalizer, that doesn't require soaking...
 

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What kind of litter do you use? Maybe using something very simple like non-clumping, no added fragrance, clay would appeal to them. Assuming that isn't what you are already using of course.

In my limited experience with this problem when a cat urinates outside the box it's either because they feel threatened by another animal (dog, cat, human) or there is something they don't like about the litter box (the litter, the location, it's cleanliness, etc). Edit: Oh, and illness, which you have already ruled out.
 
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Hopefully the feliway helps and also try some music that's for relaxing cats.
Something's going on that's bothering them, are you in an apartment where someone else has a new pet? Or a house where cats are wandering around outside?
You might also try a litter called cat attract.
In case you need it, there's an enzymatic cleaner called the Equalizer, that doesn't require soaking...
We live in a house with a garden but one of the kitties has learned to jump on the fence, so I don't let them out anymore. Peeing on bed started before I confined them inside, so I don't think that that was the trigger. Besides, they still get to go out under my strict supervision.
Thanks, I will have to use Equializer...
 

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That sounds like my boy - he gets to go out whenever I'm able to be there with him :)
You don't have any roaming kitties coming in to your garden? Your cats would know that even if you yourself haven't seen any outside cats.
 
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What kind of litter do you use? Maybe using something very simple like non-clumping, no added fragrance, clay would appeal to them. Assuming that isn't what you are already using of course.

In my limited experience with this problem when a cat urinates outside the box it's either because they feel threatened by another animal (dog, cat, human) or there is something they don't like about the litter box (the litter, the location, it's cleanliness, etc). Edit: Oh, and illness, which you have already ruled out.
I've been using this one Oz-Pet Animal Litter and Bedding since they were 3 months old. They have always used it and shared it without any fuss. In fact it looks so comical and cute that they sit in the same litter tray together. Maybe sharing the same litter suddenly started bothering them. It's generally clean, in the same spot (bathroom) but one thing that I can think of is that I drilled to make holes bigger on a sieve tray and maybe they didn't like that...
 
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That sounds like my boy - he gets to go out whenever I'm able to be there with him :)
You don't have any roaming kitties coming in to your garden? Your cats would know that even if you yourself haven't seen any outside cats.
I also got harnesses for them but they don't really go far when they are leashed!
As far as we know, there is no other cat invading our garden but you never know. Maybe other cats come in while we are sleeping... we have possums tho. Our kitties climbed a tree and up there I spotted a possum during the day. I was afraid they were going to capture the poor possum. And I assumed our kitties were stress free, but just realized that we don't really know that for sure.
 

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You could try the feliway - sometimes it and other calming products don't work but you could also try some music - classical harp music, there's an app called Relax my Cat, Musicforcats.com.
 
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You could try the feliway - sometimes it and other calming products don't work but you could also try some music - classical harp music, there's an app called Relax my Cat, Musicforcats.com.
Oh great, I will check that out!
 

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I've been using this one Oz-Pet Animal Litter and Bedding since they were 3 months old. They have always used it and shared it without any fuss.
Some cats don't like the pellet type of litter. Even though they have used it reliably in the past I would try setting up a pan of just plain clay litter. It would be an easy thing to try.
 

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In an earlier post, you said "their litter box." Do you have just the one box for the two of them, and have you noticed any guarding behavior? And do you have enough resources in general, like favorite perches, food bowls etc?

Feliway multicat is a good suggestion. I'd do that plus add another box. My two cats also shared one box for a couple of years, until recently when one of them started guarding both the box and the food bowls. Adding a second box has cut down greatly on that behavior.
 
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