Weird toilet behaviour

[Smarl]

So this is something I've been wondering a while, since I've never seen a cat behave like that.

My 9m old kitten Onni is such a sweatheart, very clean and well behaving kitty. He doesn't spray on beds etc, but if I clean his litter box and let it dry for a while, I can be sure there's a wee in the_empty_ litter box. He's also weed on my empty plastic rubbish bin, plastic water bowl for take water in sauna and an empty plastic laundry bin. I'm so confused why does he do that, is that spraying or something else? Does he think that all plastic boxes are his toilets or what. He's neutered at 5 months age, we have 5 litter boxes for 5 cats, boxes are cleaned daily and I've tried several different clumping litters. He's not sick, and seems to me quite happy, playful kitty who gets along nicely with our other cats. So please, can someobe explain this behaviour to me - I'm a bit frustrated, this morning I noticed a wee on my children's Ikea bathroom stool I left upside down on saunas bench when I was cleaning the bathroom.

 

[neely]

It could be that he doesn't like the location of the litter box or it could even be a medical problem. Here are a few TCS Articles about cats having litter box problems. Also the rule of thumb is to have one more litter box than the number of cats in your house. Since you mentioned you have 5 litter boxes for 5 cats this rule means you should have 6 boxes.
Litter Box Location Secrets – TheCatSite Articles
The Litterbox: What Every Cat Owner Needs To Know – TheCatSite Articles
16 Experts Reveal The Most Common Litterbox Mistakes (and How To Avoid Them) – TheCatSite Articles
The 10 Most Common Litterbox Mistakes Cat Owners Make – TheCatSite Articles

 

[di and bob]

He is just a well trained cat that thinks every plastic receptacle is a litter box. He is curious when he sees it empty, goes to check it out, and then thinks "while I'm here, I might as well go!" He also might like a very clean litter box and doesn't get that chance often with all those cats, so he goes while it is clean. He most likely will outgrow this behavior, in the meantime make sure you don't have plastic receptacles laying around, and have plenty of Natures Miracle on hand.

 

[Arya Underfoot]

You're not alone, my cat Stimpy has done this since she was a kitten, she would pee in empty litter boxes, laundry baskets, the bath tub, plastic bags, cardboard boxes and more recently the couch. No health issues, so it may be anxiety (she's a bit skittish) or a territorial thing (we have 3 cats), she only does this occasionally.
We limit her access to her preferred peeing items, keep the bathroom door closed and to stop her peeing on the couch we have a blanket on there that she likes to sleep on and a cat tree. We have a blue torch and some quality cat pee remover and haven't had any accidents the last few months.
Regular cleaning of the litter trays may help and also extra play may boost his confidence so he doesn't feel the need to pee outside the litter tray. More litter trays can help, although when I added an extra one it never got used, still worth a try.

 

[Smarl]

Thanks for answers! It might be that he prefer his box clean, but I've noticed that he might do that when all the boxes are clean and there should not be anything that bothers him. He's not shy at all, more like confident and calm type of cat. I'll try to add one more box, but at the moment out cats like to use max 3 of the boxes - last one is used occasionally.

I'm happy he doesn't pee anywhere else, at least hasn't done it yet. One of our cats is soon moving to my colleague, hope that will help too. One time I was cleaning the boxes, and left one to dry and started to clean the next one, and in front of my eyes he just jumped to empty box, made himself comfortable and peed. Somehow it was quite funny too, he looked so proud of himself after that.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Maybe it has already been mentioned (didn't see it if it was, sorry), but why not have a spare box so that when one is being cleaned and dried, another is already in its place with litter? Put the drying box out of reach and interchange it with each and every one when the next box needs to be emptied and cleaned.