Urinating in the drains?

[allroundthesun]

I have two kittens, Oliver and Ichabod. Well, Oliver will be a year old in a few days, so one kitten really, but I'm used to thinking of them as "the kittens".

Ichabod is seven months old. They're not related, obviously; Ichabod was adopted when Oliver was six and a half months old, but they're best buddies and spend most of their time together (I also have 5 adult cats!).

So, to the point (sorry, thought I should give a bit of backround), they've both developed a habit of urinating in the drains in the bathtub and bathroom sink (never the kitchen sink, yet, eek) in the past couple of months. The litter boxes are clean and they both use them to poop and sometimes still to urinate (maybe 30% of the time?), so they don't have any apparent major aversion to them; they seem fine with the location, texture of the litter, etc. in general, seem comfortable using the boxes, and behave "normally" when using them as far as I know. Nothing at all has changed with the litter boxes since this has started, nor has anything else changed, for that matter, so I'm puzzled.

Neither of them seem to think they're doing anything wrong; they'll openly do it in front of us and don't seem to be concerned (as opposed to the way they behave when they're trying to pull off/are caught doing something they know they're not supposed to do

, which is totally different). TMI, but they are very careful to aim for the drain perfectly, and have never used the tub or sink itself, they definitely intend to use the drains specifically.

So my question, I guess: why the heck are they doing this?! And what's the best approach(es) to get them to stop? When we see them doing it we say, "No!" firmly, remove the cat from the tub/sink, and put them firmly on the floor. We've even resorted to, "No!" + a squirt of water simultaneously and neither of these have worked. They don't even seem to remember that we reacted negatively the next time they do it - as I said, they're bold about it (whereas they learned very quickly that we didn't want them playing in the garbage can, jumping on the counters, scratching the furniture, etc. so it seems odd to me that they're not phased at all).

Oliver is neutered, Ichabod is not (he had some health issues as a younger kitten and the vet wanted to wait a few extra months), though he has an appt. to be neutered in two weeks. Neither of them are showing any signs of illness or behaving abnormally otherwise. Help!

TIA!

 

[white cat lover]

Welcome to TCS!

One question I have - which came first, the chicken or the egg? Who peed in the tub first, Ichabod or Oliver?

I guess my first thought it it will help once Ichabod is neutered, however neutering once they have "out of the box" moments won't be an automatic fix. IMO, it will be a huge help, though.

You can try things like shutting them out of the bathroom, which may just lead to them going elsewhere. You can try putting a litterbox IN the bath tub, but that means kitty litter down the drain (which can be a problem).

Cat attract litter may also help.

 

[turks rule!]

My "kitten" also a year old next month, started to do this a couple of months ago. He too was happy to pee down the bath drain openly. I could not work out why, as nothing had changed with his litter tray. We kept the door closed but he seemed to be "holding on" until someone forgot and left the door open!
We walk him in the woods most days and he is happy to dig a hole and do his stuff outside. It was while he was outside that i noticed how tall he likes to "sit" to pee and poop. He has briches and a very full tail that he keeps very high to stop them from becoming soiled. Then came the "lightbulb" moment.... He had a covered tray and he had outgrown it!!!! Off came the lid and we have had no more problems

I faithfully cleaned his covered tray everyday but since the lid came off i find that i scoop around three times a day. It only takes two mins and i think that Gilbert preferes it extra clean.
Maybe your kittens have outgrown their trays too? At least we have clean cats, going down the bath drain seems to be a very intelligent way to tell us that something is wrong

 

[mnjulz]

I have one that does that also. She pees in the sink and the litter box is below the sink. Maybe they like the texture? I wouldn't put litter in there though, that will really confuse them. I cover my sink with a board and haven't had any problems since. You could also put a small paper plate of food on top of the drain. A cat won't pee or poop on their own food.