HELP! My cat wont stop peeing outside the little box!!

I really need help! I have had Buffy since she was just a kitten and since she was about a year old she has been peeing right outside the litterbox... she is now 3 years old!!! I really dont know what to do... I have tried everything from a new litterbox to putting down pads where she likes to pee and NOTHING WORKS!!! Is there anything I can do????????

Have you had her checked by your vet? Maybe she associates the litter box with pain since she is going right beside the litter box and not everywhere else in your home. I have one cat who drove me crazy until I found the the right type of box and the litter that he liked-it was trial and error,now he is fine. He is very particular and likes only a very clean box. Are you scooping the box every day? I scoop all of mine every morning and every evening, that seems to have everyone happy with the litterbox situation. Good luck!

Welcome to TheCatSite.

Below is a sticky link in this forum for you to read...
If you have not done so already....
"please take Buffy to the vet and tell the vet what she is doing. You need to specify that she is urinating outside the box so that the vet knows what to look for. Peeing outside the litter box is the #1 symptom of urinary tract problems!"

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9563

Please keep us updated.
Buffy

When you say she pees "right outside the litterbox", what do you mean exactly? Like within a few inches of the box? Can you explain more what you mean?

Is your kitty declawed?

What type of litter do you use?

Do you have any other cats?

How many litterboxes do you use?

Has kitty ever been checked by a vet, to see if the peeing issues are related to a urinary traft infection (UTI), crystals in the urine or some other underlying medical issue?

When kitty DOES pee outside the box, what are you using to clean the urine? Is it an enzymatic cleaner?

Buffy has been doing this for almost two years. When she first started this behavior I took her to the vet and they said everything is okay. Since then we have added two more cats to the mix but we have 3 little boxes - one for each cat. I have tried ever litter made and I clean the litter boxes in the morning and at night. We have the boxes in the dining room and thats the only room she has peed in... so far. We have little spots of pee all over in the dining room. More often than not she pees next to the litter box. I have cleaned the carpets with every product out there... I am beginning to think there is nothing else I can do. We thought getting her fixed and declawed would help... no such luck. Thank you all for the information... it has been very helpful!

Originally Posted by aims2614

Buffy has been doing this for almost two years. When she first started this behavior I took her to the vet and they said everything is okay. Since then we have added two more cats to the mix but we have 3 little boxes - one for each cat. I have tried ever litter made and I clean the litter boxes in the morning and at night. We have the boxes in the dining room and thats the only room she has peed in... so far. We have little spots of pee all over in the dining room. More often than not she pees next to the litter box. I have cleaned the carpets with every product out there... I am beginning to think there is nothing else I can do. We thought getting her fixed and declawed would help... no such luck. Thank you all for the information... it has been very helpful!

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So she IS declawed?

Was she doing this prior to being declawed? I ask because very often, depending on how the declaw was done, declawed cats can end up with discomfort when standing/walking on cat litter and will therefore avoid it.

So the last time she was taken to the Vet for this was about 2 years ago? You were told then that she was "okay" - what was that based on? Did the Vet analyze a urine sample to test for infection, crystals, etc?

Does she get along with the other cats?

Is it possible she pees outside of the box because, unknowingly, she's standing IN the box but her back end is hanging out of it? (I have one cat that sometimes did this, until I switched to larger litterboxes).....or is it a case of her actually just squatting down completely outside of the litterbox and peeing there?

Have you tried a larger litterbox? I have 5 older cats, one with a bit of arthritis, and he's very big and long.....so I switched from regular litterboxes to the large clear rectangular Rubbermaid storage containers.........very inexpensive, can get them at Walmart and stores like that. They look a lot nice, too LOL. This has drastically cut down on big kitties who don't properly estimate where their butt is :-)

Does she use the litterbox to poop in, I take it she does as you've not mentioned a problem in this regard?

You mentioned having pee spots all over the carpet in your dining room......I assume you know this maybe because you bought or rented a black light and were able to spot them that way? As you may know, unless you use an enzymatic cleaner that's effective in totally breaking down the bacteria and scent in cat urine, even though humans may not smell it, a cat's sense of smell is highly acute and if they can smell it, they'll continue to pee there. So could part of the problem be that the areas she's been peeing in, around the box, still smell like urine to her? If you have carpet, when you use a product such as Simple Solution or Nature's Miracle, you need to totally soak right down through the underlay and sometimes if the problem has gone on long enough, the urine soaked through to the wood (usually plywood) sub-floor..........and that needs to be completely changed, the subfloor totally replaced along with the underlay and carpet. Have you ever considered doing this in this room? It's interesting that she only pees on the carpet in that room.............and nowhere else.

Is there a way to block off your dining room and move the boxes somewhere else..............at least that would hopefully help rule out the issue of it just being the fact that despite your cleaning attempts, she continues to smell the urine in these areas and therefore continues to use them?

Sending prayers and vibes for a good solution for Buffy's problem
Two things to check for, right off:
1. Is the litter unscented? Her nose may be too sensitive for the powerful perfumes put into most litters. I get asthma from it, myself.
2. Is the litter hurting her declawed paws? She may very well be associating the litter with pain, esp. if when her paws were still sore, she tried scratching in the box You might try using a drip tray (the kind to protect your driveway from oil spills) and put a small pile of alternative litter, such as chicken feed mash, as a different litter box and once she learns the alternative litter doesn't cause pain, you could use gradually switch her to using the alternative litter in the box.
It sounds like she wants to keep her pee in the appropriate area - it's just for some reason, she associates being in the box with a negative experience (perhaps another cat ambushed her there )
Hang it there - it's one of the tougher situations, we know, most of us have been there, too, and yes, it can get better

If indeed it is her paws that hurt from the litter, maybe you could try Yesterday's News litter. Usually if it is behaviorial, they will pee anywhere they can!

Why does a nearly 13-yr old female cat pee outside the litter box...? She is not declawed, an inside cat, and will pee in the box if I hear her going down the stairs to use the litter box.

It's having a bad influence on one of my kittens. The 6-month old now has also started peeing outside the box, but he goes far away from the box...the female goes on the paper under the litter box.

She poops in the box all the time, that has never changed.

I bought her a lower sided box, when I clean the box, I wash it and use the spray to clean it (a cat litter box product). I use World's Best Litter.....it is getting very stinky..we have cement floors...and I don't like how the little one is copying her.

Has anyone had success in changing a cat's mind about where s/he pees??

Thanks for any help!!!

Originally Posted by laureen227

well, if you're sure it's not medical - you might try either the CatAttract litter or the additive - works well for me... my local Petsmart carries both of these.

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It's not medical....and I've tried the Cat Attract litter, and the additive....doesn't do a thing. She only goes in the box when she knows I'm around to 'remind' her. Perhaps her sense of smell isn't the greatest....but then, she sure can smell her treats!!! I praise her when she pees in the litter box and give her lots of positive reinforcement, and treats.
Because she's a big drinker, and always has been, her pees are puddle sized...not just little dribbles. She's had a full blood panel and work up, so there's no underlying problems.

I'm at my wits end with this problem...and especially now that the younger one is starting to do it....I'm sure he's just copying her. They all poop in the litter, every time...that's what makes me puzzled..I keep the boxes scooped, I change the wet papers and spray with the neutralizing agent....

Thank you for your suggestions, just the same!

You say you have three little boxes. Some cats don't like small litterboxes. Get a big one and see what happens.

That's right, I presumed that the person just missed the 'r' in the thread heading.

My older cat A BIG drinker, went in the box for along time, and then started peeing EVERYWERE......I finally took har to the vet....and she was having a problem, her kidneys were shutting down. She was 14 when we found this out, I had not though anything about the amounts of water she was drinking it was summer and hot. The water drinking started about 8 months before the shut down of the kidneys. Take her in for a full old cat work up....before you loose your temper. Also its not that the kittens are going to copy her because she is not peeing in the box, the kittens pee where pee smell is. So if one pees in the wrong place everyone will just becuase it smells right.
You will have to get her in an area on her own that she can't ruin.

My cat must be reading this thread. I did the usual clean-up of the boxes on Thursday....had to move 'her' litter box over to let the wet area get dry....and lo and behold.....no wet papers since!!! I was gone part of the day yesterday, and a little bit today....she went in 'her' litter box. So did the others.....that's the longest the area has stayed dry since I don't know when.

She has always been a big drinker..right from kittenhood, I've had the Senior panel done as well as other tests....and she's really fine inside....a very healthy cat.

Perhaps my praising her as she went in the litter box, then giving her a treat when she came upstairs finally sunk in and she is doing this to reward me!!! ...and get a treat!!

I know she doesn't know what I'm saying but I told her how wonderful it is to go downstairs and see dry papers.....3 days in a row!!!!! I'll keep telling her....LOL

Thanks for everyone's input....it's nice to know I'm not the only one!

Originally Posted by MAXCAT08

That's right, I presumed that the person just missed the 'r' in the thread heading.

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Well, I presume that a person who posts will say what s/he means and mean what s/he says.

Originally Posted by Zane's Pal

Well, I presume that a person who posts will say what s/he means and mean what s/he says.

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I wasn't the one who said I had little boxes....why would one say 'little' boxes in one place, then call them litterboxes in the same posting.....??
Who knows what the opener meant..unless the opener chimes in to explain....
My litter boxes are the biggest that are made.....
I'm not going to lose sleep over a misspelled word/typo error. Don't sweat the small stuff....