detoilet trained...(?)

we had a cat dumped on us (i say dumped as i own alot of fish and didnt really want one) but he is great company and has become the str of the house. he was handed down through a few people and we know he wasnt always treated well. he has become a great cat and we have almost managed to train him not to scratch us and he sleeps in bed with us and he comes for walks around the block every night (i hope that is normal as this is my first visit to a cat post!). now the problem is he was always toilet trained, then he started using the bath as a toilet. we kept the door shut and he started using a sofa instaed of the tray, (number ones and twos), today he used a table... we want to nip the problem in the butt before it gets worse and seek advice...

one parameter that maybe of help is that he always uses the colour blue up untill the table which he has used twice in a room with no blue. (err my missus just pointed ut this is probably a coincidence since everything in the basthroom is blue and most of the back "petroom" is also blue. although he likes to pee on my blue dressing gown every once in a while.


oh yeah and hes 4 or 5 months old, neuted, very curious and we live near a road so we keep him during most of the day (he comes out if we go out- but stays within sight of us- and at night we take him for a walk then let him wander until he wants to come back in).

any ideas?

Do you have a litter box in the house at all?

sorry- yeah we have a litter tray and he mostly uses it, but increasingly he finds new spots. sometimes he goes in the litter tray and squats as if to use it then changes his mind and goes to find a new spot. we clean it every day.

If this is a new problem, he may have a UTI or some other medical problem. You might want to take him to the vet to rule that out.

I would have him checked for UTI - avoidance of the litter box or peeing in other places sometimes means a urinary track infection - which can be fatal in males if they cannot pee!

Have you taken him to a vet to rule out any internal problems? Lots of times when kitties use places other than the litter box to pee/poo they are actually ill and need to see a vet.

It could also be that your kitty doesn't like the litter you are using, have you tried changing brands, or adding a second litter box? Some kits will pee in one and poo in the other.

There are lots of reasons for inappropriate "toilet" habits.

Sounds as if he could be feeling some discomfort or pain when he urinates and he's associating it with using the box. Unfortunately cats are quite susceptible to urinary tract infections and crystals forming in their urine which makes it painful to urinate.

You should most certainly take him to the vet so that they can do the appropriate tests on his urine and if necessary get him some treatment, as with males especially an untreated urinary problem can cause the urethra to block - which is extremely dangerous.

hi, cheers for all the advice, i have tried to heed what you have been saying and act accordingly. firstly- we have only one litter tray and have recently changed the cat litter brand- so we now have a new box (blue by the way!) and have returned to the old litter. on the day following my last post we discovered he had started to use a window sill instead of the tray- however changing the litter brand and adding a new tray has resolved the problem and so far he has used the trays everytime.

however we still think he may have an infection- he has had the runs for a couple of days now- we have changed his food, but this was after he had the runs. we are taking hi8m to the vets 2moro just to be sure. i think a couple of factors which might have influenced his toilet etiquette is that we keep him in more due to his diminishing fear of the roads- which made him safer but less happy. overall we are hopefully resolving his problems and thanks for your help. any other advice? and what type of food do you use? we have just started using one of the @nutritionally balanced@ special ones sold only at vet and pet stores- however as of yet he prefers chicken or tinned food and leaves the new food till his really hungry!

i will let you know what happens at the vets...