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Change in Litter Box Habit

post #1 of 12
5/2/10 at 8:00am
Thread Starter 
Hi! The 2 year old neutered cat we adopted early this year has had problems since day one. As I stated in a thread early this year, he was extremely lovable for the first few days in our home and then all of the sudden he hid for almost a week. He did get somewhat better but by his actions of being scared for really no visible reason, it is obvious a previous owner had abused and/or scared him. We knew from the first week that he has some serious mental problems. Now all of the sudden in the past week he has decided to not urinate in the litter box. He has pooped out of the litter box a couple times, but definitely the urinating. There have been no changes in the household. He is the only cat. We have 2 litter boxes, one on each floor, and I set up a third one w/a different kind of litter. The areas he has urinated in have been cleaned up with an aversion cleaner. Even got the Feliway plugin but he peed right underneath it. It may be too early as from understanding it can take weeks for it to take affect. Also got the "Rescue" drops from a natural food store to see if that would help. Between my husband and I, we have had a total of 8 cats that were part of our family during our lives and have never had an experience such as this. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated as we are really struggling with this. Thanks!
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post #2 of 12
5/2/10 at 8:57am
A change in litterbox habits usually indicates a urinary tract infection, it is a very simple test for a vet to tell if he does have one

In the mean time, CatAttract litter can help some if it not health based and is behavioural, but they learn to associate the litterbox with pain if they have a UTI so doesn't help in those cases
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post #3 of 12
5/2/10 at 9:16am
I agree - you want to rule out a physical cause. For cats, stress can definitely trigger a UTI - and cats tend to blame the box if it hurts when they use it.

What do you mean by aversion cleaner? An enzyme cleaner?

And, and I do know it's hard - try to remain calm and don't let the cat know how upset you are with the accidents (and it's human to be unhappy about this) - cats are very sensitive, as you already know, and if they think they're being bad for peeing and pooing, they'll try to find spots to hide and pee, which makes the situation even worse, I think.

BTW, have you changed the litter or anything else with respect to the box itself? My girl couldn't care less what sort of litter I use, but my boy is very picky regarding texture and even depth of litter in the pan. And, i'm thinking, of course you keep the pans very clean, but, twice a day cleaning was absolutely essential in my case.
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post #4 of 12
5/2/10 at 6:47pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you for the advice. We we adopted him he had gingivitis so I have been keep an eye on this. A couple of weeks ago he seemed a little lethargic and depressed so I took him to the vet for a complete checkup and blood work. He had an infection from the gingivitis which was quickly remedied with an antibiotic. I also had a complete set of blood work done to make sure he had nothing else wrong. Luckily all the tests came back ok. Now I am wondering if the stress of the infection and going to the vet may have triggered a UTI. To clean up the urine I used "Get Serious" extractor. It helps take out the pheromones which attract him. I have used it in two spots so far and he has not gone back to these areas to pee. I did set up a third box w/a different kind of litter to see how he would react and he has used the old box and the new for pooping. All boxes are checked twice a day and the presents are removed, if any, at that time. I am going to call the vet in the morning to have him tested for a UTI.
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post #5 of 12
5/2/10 at 6:52pm
Do let us know how it goes at the vets tomorrow
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post #6 of 12
5/3/10 at 9:37pm
Hopefully it is something treatably...but, just be prepared--there are cats whose litterbox habits will never be all that great. No matter what you do. Particularly males, though I had such an experience with a female. It tends to be particularly true with cats who have an alpha personality. But careful and persistent training can usually lessen the problem. It may never totally eliminate it.
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post #7 of 12
5/7/10 at 8:41pm
Thread Starter 
Good news - he did not have a UTI and is healthy with the exception of some gingivitis. He used the litterbox for a few days and then peed twice on our bed. We are really trying to understand how his litterbox habits could be good for 4 months and then all of the sudden change. There is nothing that has changed in the household. We thought our next step would be to put him in a room with his food on one end and litterbox on the other end and shut the door. Have it like this for a couple days and regularly visit him. Personally, I don't like this idea because I think it will just piss him off. Any other thoughts or suggestions?
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post #8 of 12
5/7/10 at 8:45pm
He may need to be confined to be "re-trained" to use the litterbox.

It doesn't necessarily have to be something in the household to stress him out. Have you seen any stray dogs/cats outside? Has there been any construction nearby? Anything changed in the household at all - from changing dryer sheets to any changes in the people's schedule?
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post #9 of 12
5/7/10 at 8:53pm
Thread Starter 
There is a group of feral cats that roam the neighborhood but they have always been here. No other new animals that we have seen. No construction either. For 3 days he used the litterbox to poop and pee. Then yesterday, it started with him peeing on our bed. Overnight he peed and pooped in the litterbox, then peed on the bed again this evening. Totally stumped with this one!
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post #10 of 12
5/8/10 at 4:14am
I would be asking the vet to do a culture of a urine sample. This is a lab process, rather expensive and takes a few days, but much more thorough to detect any bacteria or crystals in the urine.

it sure does sound to me like he's trying to tell you something. Cats pee on their human's bed usually because something is wrong in their world and this is their way of telling you.

I'd be bringing him back to the vet and asking for that culture.
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post #11 of 12
5/8/10 at 6:04am
Definately a culture for crystals. That is a very common thing in male cats of this age and very painful. Also can be lethal.

I have had 2 cats with crystals. If so, food will have to be changed to a perscription food. It is controlable...but please get tests done.
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post #12 of 12
5/9/10 at 11:16pm
It could be a food allergy. My youngest cat (and one other but she's been on as separate food for awhile) has one to the Costco cat food. She was eliminating in inappropriate places before she got spayed and I had thought that her not being spayed was the main reason for her elimination problems. I had changed brands back to a lesser quality around the time she was spayed and between that cat food change and the spay she seemed to be back to normal.

I wasn't 100% sure about the food allergy until I recently switched them back to the Costco cat food and the problem has come back.

Good luck in finding the problem and solution.

Oh and she was raised on the Costco formula since she was small...I think they changed something in their formula...so don't necessarily rule out a food he's been on for awhile.
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