Weird Urinating Habits

[sunny578]

Hello!

I'm in desperate need of help/feedback. That said, Tiny the cat is basically like my first born daughter, and I would never re-home her/drop her off at a shelter.

She's always been weird about the litter box. I fostered her along with her litter from day 1 or 2 of her life, so she has never had a feline mom to show her the ropes. She has never enjoyed the whole litter box experience. No scratching around in there, no covering her business.

She got constipated 5 years ago when I switched her over to raw food and hasn't used the litter box for #2 since then. Weird, but NBD since it's easy to clean.

Then, last May, my 18 year old cat who Tiny grew up with but was not particularly bonded to, died. Then, in June, my husband and I took a month long trip overseas. We had our usual pet sitter for most of the time, but then for one weekend he was busy, so we had someone new who brought over a dog. I have no idea what happened that weekend, but Tiny started running away at that point, and continued running away for months after we got back. She would hide under our neighbor's shed and get emotionally stuck there. I'd call her, she'd make eye contact with me, and then run deeper under the shed. I'd have to wait a few days until she was hungry enough to come out for some canned food, and then lure her out that way. Tiny is super bonded with me, so that was extra strange behavior!

Ever since then, she's been urinating outside of the box. I've gotten every kind of litter box in existence, and paired them with every litter. We've tried cat attract. We have pheromones all over the house. I have probably 10 different litter boxes in various rooms in the house. Some with litter, some with nothing, some with dirt. She does sometimes go on pee pads, so I have those set up too. She has 24/7 access to the outdoors, and sometimes she'll go out there. She never goes in a litter box.

The strangest thing is that she urinates on me/my husband fairly regularly. She has claimed the guest bed, and I was just sitting back there with her for some quality time. She was lying down, got a funny look on her face, and sure enough she was urinating. While lying down in the same spot where she sleeps!!

She's been to the vet and her urine checks out. She's nine years old and spayed.

We have two dogs who she's lived with for four years, and who she's comfortable around. She is an anxious cat by nature though, and we do live in a tiny house and don't have enough space to gate off a specific dog-free area for her. We are expecting a baby and are looking for a larger house where we will hopefully be able to give Tiny her own space with lots of entry points, etc.

I know consulting a behaviorist is an option, but our animals are not used to visitors. Tiny would just hide the whole time, so it seems kind of like a waste. That's why I'm hoping to get some insight from experienced cat owners on here!

I've read a bunch of books and know that litter boxes need to be in safe spots with multiple exits. She has that, yet when she urinates often chooses to urinate right by me or on the floor, in the middle of all the action. I've spent most of my life volunteering at shelters and advising people on this very topic, yet with Tiny I'm at a loss.

Thank you so much for reading and for any feedback you may have.

 

[moorspede]

It's very interesting that she is peeing on herself. Has she peed on the bed before? Did you use an enzymatic cleaner to remove the smell? I know you've read a lot about this, I'm just asking in case you missed that point.

She's an older cat, it really does make me think that she may have a touch of arthritis and may feel pain lifting herself up and over the edge of the litter tray or perhaps squatting down?

It's difficult to get cats who are used to going outside to use the litter tray at the best of times.

Could you tell us what the vet checked her out for? Did he or she check for a UTI only? Or kidney disease? Diabetes?, Hyperthyroidism? Bladder Stones?

Other than medical problems, cats can pee on you simply because you belong to them and they want you to smell like them.

 

[sunny578]

Thanks so much for your response!

The vet didn't do any blood work, so just the urine. She's a ridiculously healthy cat. It's so funny to think of her as an older cat, but I guess she is! She's still so much like a kitten.

Thanks for the input re: hyperthyroid/diabetes/kidney stones. She doesn't exhibit any other symptoms, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

Good point re: her wanting me to smell like her. My dogs are big and affectionate, and I'm also a dog walker, so I probably smell ridiculously offensive to her. Of course I shower and mop a lot etc., but I'm sure to a cat the house/couch/bed/my body still smells like dogs. You know, my cat who died had kidney disease, and was generally a smellier cat who was always on the couch/bed with the dogs. I wonder if her death has more to do with this than I realized simply because her scent is gone and the dog scent has won over the house!

I wonder what I could do about that. I've been avoiding the spray pheromones bc they smell extra chemically and I'm pregnant, but I guess I could get another bottle of those, and spray the furniture, my clothes, the bed directly as the diffused hormones don't seem to be doing anything at this point. There are a few blankets that she lies on and doesn't urinate on, so I could maybe move those around the house and replace them with new blankets to increase her smell quotient. I wonder what else I could do to make the house smell more like her. Maybe I just need to adopt an old smelly cat!! I wonder if I could fashion the cat pheromone collars to fit my dogs.

Thanks so much for your input. It's so helpful to bounce these ideas off of someone, and most people don't want to hear about cat urine problems. Thank you!