Have you tried Feliway spray? We’ve had limited success - maybe 70%? - with a combination of the spray and the diffuser.
Have you checked the cat for any urinary tract problems? Bladder stones, for example. Sometimes, cats pee outside their litter box because they associate the box with pain.
Is this new behavior? Has she been checked by a vet for any medical issues?
Can you put the litter box there temporarily and see if that gets her to use it? Then move the box away by degrees and see if she keeps using it. The big problem we had with one cat peeing inappropriately was that once she marked an area it signaled her to keep coming back and re-marking it. We had the rug professionally cleaned and put an extra litter box nearby as an alternative and it seemed to work.
Thanks @BunsenBurner and @3girls3cats …I’ve spoken about it to the vet, and we loosely determined it was probably behavioural since it’s only that one spot. It’s been going on for many months. Maybe it is time to have her checked at the vet.
It’s a good plan to try a litter box near to the spot. We just don’t want to have a litterbox anywhere near this spot though! The trouble spot is a wood stair landing that is visible from our front door and living room, and a spot that we walk over multiple times a day. I’m sure it has a scent…soaked into the wood and even the subfloor underneath, since the floor is damaged. We’re afraid that if we go through the trouble and expense to replace the whole landing, she will just mark the new one, since it has leaked down and under.
@HarrietMWelsch I will look into Feliway, thanks!
Last night The Lion King came on TV. Our TV just happened to be on at that time, so I watched the opening scene with a little nostalgia, as I remember taking D1 to see it. I remember that at the conclusion of the opening number, the audience had broken into applause. As I watched the scene last night with a little tear in my eye, something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. DH was holding our 17 year old cat in his outstretched arms a la Rafiki, with the smile of a mischievous child, just pure delight in his eyes. Kitty hung limply, with her limbs dangling loosely, looking at me with disgust, the unspoken question in her eyes: “HOW could you have married this big fricking DUFUS???”
Love it, @Nrdsb4. And it reminds me of the day we came home from seeing the movie in theaters, and my then 2- or 3-year old picked up our very fat (and patient) cat in the same way, and sang that song the way she’d heard it: “PENNNNNSYLVANIAAAAAA!”
s16 graduated, and is getting an apartment soon. the first thing on his list: a kitty!!! we are all so excited ! kittens are just a treasure.
I can’t wait to see how our fat cat and frisky kitty respond to the kitten before he moves out. we got frisky kitty 2 yrs ago after i read the book " The Grannyman" == i highly recommend this to all. it brought tears to my eyes. it’s about an old cat ready to give up who has to teach new things to a new kitten; and it livens up the old cat. I almost see it as a metaphor.
@bgbg4us I have to find that book. It sounds enchanting.
My latest issue with my almost 20-year old sweetheart Ragdoll (who is in slow kidney failure) is that he started peeing partly outside the litter box, partly in. I thought maybe he just lost track of where his back end was–he’s quite deaf, has cataracts, and who knows what other cognitive deficits he may be experiencing. To save the carpet, I placed puppy pee pads around the box, and now he’s pretty much peeing solely on those. I guess they’re soft and pleasant and it’s easier than climbing into the box? On the upside, the kidney failure means he drinks a lot and his urine is very dilute, so the odor is almost imperceptible. On the downside, I’d rather be scooping than changing pee pads every day. It’s downright weird. He’s not the first cat I’ve seen into advanced age, but this is a new experience. The vet is convinced it’s not a UTI issue, which would have him peeing in lots of places, not just on the pads, as happened with his brother who we euthanized a few months ago. Just “old age” is the official diagnosis.
Between the one we lost recently and this one, I feel like I’ve been running a feline hospice for the last year. Word to the wise:. Don’t get two cats the same age. Losing both in rapid succession is not a happy circumstance, and having one around that’s still young and healthy would be a comfort as I help escort the other from this world.
I’m sorry @MommaJ. That sounds very hard. I guess it’s good that he’s peeing on the puppy pads and not directly on the carpet but it’s sad to watch our pets struggle and I, too, would rather scoop than replace pads.
I have two ten year old cats that I adopted together and I can’t imagine being without either one of them. It was very hard when we lost our 19 year old cat and yes, it was a great comfort to have the younger ones around.
So sorry, @MommaJ. It’s really tough to run feline hospice. At least it sounds as if he’s not too troubled by it all. He’s lucky to have your loving care as his systems fail. I hear you about the pads, though.
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/04/729778649/new-york-is-one-step-closer-to-becoming-first-state-to-ban-cat-declawing
Although I had my first two cats declawed in the 80’s, I would never do so again. I hope other states follow suit.
so S15 is getting his kitty next week! he knows a kid who’s from a farm, has a litter of kittens, and they got a grant to get the kitty spayed, microchipped, and shots; and it will cost $25. He’s been looking at the pictures every day; and the kitten will be with us for almost a month before he moves to his apartment.
hoping that our two cats don’t freak with this new kitten! we are all so excited as kittens are so fun! 2 years ago our family seriously would all sit in the living room every night watching our new kitten run around, jump, and spazz out. Can’t wait!
@MommaJ - I’m so sorry to hear about your kitty. That was how our almost 20 year old cat was during the last year of her life. We have 2 sister kitties now that are almost 3. I know H and I will both be heartbroken when we lose these ones as they have very distinct personalities that are so much fun. It is always so sad when our fur kids start having issues.
I cat sit for a neighbor’s cat who pees just outside the box. She warned me about it and put down pads. Well, I watched the cat go to the litter box, get in, then pee. The stream of urine shot outside the box. My theory is this old man cat can’t control his penis anymore.
^Agree. My neighbor has a 17 year old Persian who I occasionally cat sit. I’ve watched him go to his litter box, step in, start peeing before he is fully inside, then turn around and exit the box without covering up his urine and walking through both the wet litter and the pee outside of the box. Without pee pads, he will consistently leave a trail of pawprints from the box to his food dish and anywhere else in the house. We’ve taken to calling it “Old man/cat syndrome”…
Update on my Ragdoll: The vet gave him an antibiotic shot in case he had a UTI, but the peeing on the puppy pads continues (except the day before yesterday, when he peed only in the box all day–I think he’s toying with me). He’s also passed blood in his urine a couple of times, which the vet thinks may be from a kidney stone knocking around. In any case, we won’t be taking any extraordinary measures at this point, just trying to keep him comfortable. He’s lost half his body weight over the past two years as the result of the kidney failure and has ceased grooming himself and will hardly let me do it, so I wasn’t surprised to see that the vet’s written report said he was “unkempt”. A little insulted on his behalf, but not surprised. We’ve had workers in the house this week, and I feel like I should put on sign on his unkempt self: “I’m old and sick, but loved and cared for. Please don’t call the ASPCA on my owner!”
@MommaJ, I may have told this story before, but your comment made me remember:
Our cat had this unkempt area on his back. My husband was worried about him, so he took him to the vet. The diagnosis…
He’s too fat to clean himself there.
They shaved the area, and he was fixed. Now our guy is getting older (14 this year) and thinning too.
Aww @MommaJ, poor old guy. He’s entitled to all his unkempt glory. I hope he’s happy still even with all the health issues.
My old lady cat at 19 was most unkempt before she died. I used to brush her when she let me and stroke her when she wouldn’t. No matter what I did, she’d get these nasty mats all over her fur that the vet would shave. I suspect I will be just as unkempt if I am privileged enough to live to the human equivalent of a cat’s 19 years.