Kitten now starting not to use litter box

gordow

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i hope that this is being posted in the right place ,, but i have a question and hope that there are some suggestions out there as to a problem we're having with our 7 month old kitten.

first a little background , our family rescued this kitten about a month and a half ago from a women who really didn't want anything to do with her. my daughter's boyfriend lived in the basement of this house and they had a lot of contact with the kitten ,, the woman was leaving her to fend for herself outside and yelling and screaming at it when it was in the house.

she agreed to give my daughter the kitten and from day one she's been using her litter box like a pro ,, for the first little while we kept her to my daughters room at night and when there was nobody there to supervise her , lately we've been giving her full run of the house with no problems ,, that is up until now , we've noticed her using a couple of spots on the living room rug for a quick pee instead of running up to her box , though she still uses her box most of the time and she hasn't pooped anywhere but her box , but we've caught her squatting and pawing at the carpet like she's in her box ,, the pee isn't a lot , but we've noticed it starting to smell and that's what led us to her second spot.

what could be causing her to not take that quick run upstairs to use her box like she would normally do?? and what can we do to stop this before it really becomes a bigger problem.

she's strictly an indoor cat now where the other woman was allowing her to be a indoor/outdoor cat , so i'm not sure if maybe that is what's causing this , but like i said , it's just begun in the last few weeks that she's doing this.

Sorry about the ramble ,, i hope someone can shed some light on this problem we're having.

Gord
 

dawnofsierra

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Hi, Gord, welcome! Thank you for coming to us with this very important concern. The very first thing we should do in a situation such as this is to get your kitty to the vet as soon as possible for an exam. This sudden change in behavior of a cat urinating outside her box can be a sign of a urinary track infection which is not only very painful, but can become lethal if not promptly tended to.

Once a health issue is ruled out, we very much recommend that a cat have a minimum of one litter box on each level of a home, so I would strongly suggest that you get her an another litter box to place downstairs so that she doesn't have to run upstairs to go potty.

Thank you for caring so much for your kitty!
 
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gordow

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Originally Posted by DawnofSierra

Hi, Gord, welcome! Thank you for coming to us with this very important concern. The very first thing we should do in a situation such as this is to get your kitty to the vet as soon as possible for an exam. This sudden change in behavior of a cat urinating outside her box can be a sign of a urinary track infection which is not only very painful, but can become lethal if not promptly tended to.

Once a health issue is ruled out, we very much recommend that a cat have a minimum of one litter box on each level of a home, so I would strongly suggest that you get her an another litter box to place downstairs so that she doesn't have to run upstairs to go potty.

Thank you for caring so much for your kitty!
she'd just been in for a booster and a check up about a week ago , this had started just before that , but we at the time thought it to be a one time occurrance , she came away with a clean bill of health ,, i thought of the other litter box , but there's really no place to put it that a: would be out of the way and b: somewhere where the dog can't get at it ,

i don't think the dog would be the problem with her either as they've become the best of pals with him following her around everywhere and her jumping and rubbing against him

i guess trying to find a spot for a box is the route to go right now , just have to figure out the logistics
 

dawnofsierra

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That's a relief that her urinalysis was normal at her recent Vet visit. Yes, it will be terrific for you to find a place for her second box down stairs where it is convenient for her and at the same time, a place out of the way where the dog isn't able to get into it!
 

worriedmommy

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Originally Posted by gordow

she'd just been in for a booster and a check up about a week ago , this had started just before that , but we at the time thought it to be a one time occurrance , she came away with a clean bill of health ,, i thought of the other litter box , but there's really no place to put it that a: would be out of the way and b: somewhere where the dog can't get at it ,

i don't think the dog would be the problem with her either as they've become the best of pals with him following her around everywhere and her jumping and rubbing against him

i guess trying to find a spot for a box is the route to go right now , just have to figure out the logistics
Just thought I would ask if when she went in for her check-up did they check her urine? A normal check-up does not include a urinalysis unless requested. If they did not check her urine then I would suggest to take her back in and have them do so. A cat can seem just fine in all ways even with a urinary tract infection. Hope you can get this figured out.
 
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