My male cat (Deku) has very weird litter box habits. He will poop in his litter box, and sometimes he’ll even just to his litter box just to scratch around, but he will not pee in it. He will pee anywhere else though. His favorite spots are under beds and behind furniture. At first we thought he was just marking his territory, but we got him fixed this past Thursday and he’s still doing it. We do have four other cats (two 12 week males, a 12 week female, and a 1 year old female), but he hasn’t seen the older female since December and he is just now getting to interact with the kittens over the last few days before we give them away. We called the vet, and they don’t know for sure what it is since it’s been going on for so long. We haven’t had any luck correcting the behavior, but the vet’s best guess is that it’s a behavior issue. Any and all advice would be so helpful.
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Strange Litter Box Habit?
- Thread starter tia0524
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Hi. As a newer member, your status is "kitten" - I've included some information about statuses (called Promotions and Benefits) in the link at the end of this post.
It could still be related to marking as it can take several weeks for the hormones to be completely eradicated after neutering. However, he could continue doing it after that anyway because it is now an established habit. Try using either a litter box or a low sided cardboard box lid with puppy pee pads in it, instead of litter, and set it along side/nearby a regular litter box. He might use it with the pads instead of litter. If that should work, after a while you can start to add a tiny bit of litter on top of the pads to see what happens. If successful, continue to add more and more litter over time until you can finally use all litter and no pads.
You also need to ensure you are removing the urine smell from the places he goes, otherwise it is like an 'invitation' to go back to those places again and again. Enzymatic cleaners are your best bet for getting rid of the smell. If you haven't treated them before now, it will probably take numerous treatments to get rid of the smell. And, if it doesn't work, you might have to consider pulling up any carpeting to see if the urine has soaked down through the carpet pad and into the flooring beneath it. For carpet, you can try Vetoquinol "The Equalizer" which is nice because the area does not typically have to be saturated to work, hence less drying time. For hard surfaces, including wood, you can try Fizzion or SCOE10x. All three of these are available on-line.
I am sure other members will come along soon and have some other ideas for you to try!
Promotions and Benefits
It could still be related to marking as it can take several weeks for the hormones to be completely eradicated after neutering. However, he could continue doing it after that anyway because it is now an established habit. Try using either a litter box or a low sided cardboard box lid with puppy pee pads in it, instead of litter, and set it along side/nearby a regular litter box. He might use it with the pads instead of litter. If that should work, after a while you can start to add a tiny bit of litter on top of the pads to see what happens. If successful, continue to add more and more litter over time until you can finally use all litter and no pads.
You also need to ensure you are removing the urine smell from the places he goes, otherwise it is like an 'invitation' to go back to those places again and again. Enzymatic cleaners are your best bet for getting rid of the smell. If you haven't treated them before now, it will probably take numerous treatments to get rid of the smell. And, if it doesn't work, you might have to consider pulling up any carpeting to see if the urine has soaked down through the carpet pad and into the flooring beneath it. For carpet, you can try Vetoquinol "The Equalizer" which is nice because the area does not typically have to be saturated to work, hence less drying time. For hard surfaces, including wood, you can try Fizzion or SCOE10x. All three of these are available on-line.
I am sure other members will come along soon and have some other ideas for you to try!
Promotions and Benefits
The pee pads in the low sided box have worked for me with a recent addition to my house. She never used dirt outside as there was only concrete around and did not seem to like the idea of litter initially. Even if you have to use the pads for a while, it is surprisingly sanitary.
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How many litter boxes do you have? With 5 kitties you should have at least 4 uncovered litter boxes placed around the house even 5 or 6 litter boxes. He doesnt sound like he has lots of confidence so is hiding to pee, so thats where having uncovered litter boxes around the house is important so he feels more safe and less territorial.
Probably a good idea to rule out medical reasons as well. Just to be on the safe side. Bloodwork and urinalysis. How old is he?
I had similar problems, and since I didnt want to fix my tomcat, I (wrongly) assumed that the marking habits are inevitable.
Few months ago, he started to vomit. Long story short: gastritis - medication - change to high quality food + treat oculte bladder inflammation. Result: no more marking (very few cases) , pee almost all the time in the litter box.
Lesson learnt: don't assume, check carefully with the vet.
Carefully means carefully: I had ecography and feline doctor consultation; I adapted the treatment to cat's reactions (under vet continous supervision).
Few months ago, he started to vomit. Long story short: gastritis - medication - change to high quality food + treat oculte bladder inflammation. Result: no more marking (very few cases) , pee almost all the time in the litter box.
Lesson learnt: don't assume, check carefully with the vet.
Carefully means carefully: I had ecography and feline doctor consultation; I adapted the treatment to cat's reactions (under vet continous supervision).
