This is a new one for me. I've had cats with litter box issues before, but I've been able to figure out what the problem has been. Some have had UTIs, another one was really stressed and getting bullied out of the litter box. And now I have my little Angelina. She's just over 1 year old, and has had litter box issues from day one. I initially figured out that she insists on a perfectly clean box at all times. With 11 cats, thats hard to do. I scoop twice a day anyway, but it was hard to guarantee that at least one box was always completely clean. Then I found a litter that 10 of my cats refuse to use, but Angelina will use it. So I've made sure to keep "her" box clean at all times (unless of course I'm just not home and can't see that she has used it).
Just in the past few weeks it has gotten worse. She will occasionally pee in the litter box, but now she's not only peeing outside of it, but also pooping (though thats only happened a few times). I took her to the vet, and they did one of the most thorough examinations on her that I've ever seen, because they were also convinced that something had to be wrong to her do this several times a day now. Instead, every single test came back negative for anything. They checked her urine and kidneys. They ran blood work. They checked a stool sample for parasites. They checked to see if she was showing signs of arthritis. They checked her teeth. Basically, they checked anything and everything that might be causing her pain, or be infected, and it came back that she is 100% perfectly healthy. I love my vet, and know they were as thorough as they could possibly be, and they were completely stumped and set me home with an apology of "I'm so sorry we couldn't find anything wrong with her" and some new type of enzyme cleaner made by the same company that makes Feliway. Its called Urine Away and so far it is by far the best cleaner I've ever tried.
However, back at home, Angelina has her own litter box. I have Feliway plugged into every room in the house (they were there long before these problems started so I don't think its an issue of the Feliway just not working yet). I have cleaned every single spot with enzyme cleaner, and have probably gone a little overboard in the amount of cleaner and the size of the space I have cleaned. But all she does is just sniff where the cleaned spot is, and then pee 10 inches away from that. I'm at a point right now where almost my entire bedroom floor is covered with drying enzyme cleaner because she just keeps moving over from her last spot.
I've also tried the Cat Attract litter which didn't help at all, because all of the cats used it, and therefore, the boxes with Cat Attract in them weren't 100% clean, so she refused to use them. I did see her using the Cat Attract box once when I had just cleaned the entire thing and put brand new litter in.
Nothing has changed in the house at all, and she never acts stressed (other than the peeing). If anything, she acts like she's trying to become the top cat in the house, which seems to have happened as she went from a kitten to adult. So my only thought is that she's marking and claiming the house as her own - which is really not going to be ok if it continues! However, isn't marking usually just that - marking? This is like full blown emptying her bladder, and I don't know if that is the same as marking.
So I'm at a complete loss. As much as I don't want a sick cat, I wish that there was something wrong with her that could be fixed. Instead, this seems purely behavioral. The vet said to give it a few weeks, put out a few more litter boxes with her special litter in it and see how that goes. Its only been 3 days since then, but the extra litter boxes have gone ignored. So apparently our last option is kitty prozac. I'm not opposed to using medicine to make this stop, but I'm just curious if anyone else has any idea what could possibly be causing this. Is medicating her really my only option left at this point?
Just in the past few weeks it has gotten worse. She will occasionally pee in the litter box, but now she's not only peeing outside of it, but also pooping (though thats only happened a few times). I took her to the vet, and they did one of the most thorough examinations on her that I've ever seen, because they were also convinced that something had to be wrong to her do this several times a day now. Instead, every single test came back negative for anything. They checked her urine and kidneys. They ran blood work. They checked a stool sample for parasites. They checked to see if she was showing signs of arthritis. They checked her teeth. Basically, they checked anything and everything that might be causing her pain, or be infected, and it came back that she is 100% perfectly healthy. I love my vet, and know they were as thorough as they could possibly be, and they were completely stumped and set me home with an apology of "I'm so sorry we couldn't find anything wrong with her" and some new type of enzyme cleaner made by the same company that makes Feliway. Its called Urine Away and so far it is by far the best cleaner I've ever tried.
However, back at home, Angelina has her own litter box. I have Feliway plugged into every room in the house (they were there long before these problems started so I don't think its an issue of the Feliway just not working yet). I have cleaned every single spot with enzyme cleaner, and have probably gone a little overboard in the amount of cleaner and the size of the space I have cleaned. But all she does is just sniff where the cleaned spot is, and then pee 10 inches away from that. I'm at a point right now where almost my entire bedroom floor is covered with drying enzyme cleaner because she just keeps moving over from her last spot.
I've also tried the Cat Attract litter which didn't help at all, because all of the cats used it, and therefore, the boxes with Cat Attract in them weren't 100% clean, so she refused to use them. I did see her using the Cat Attract box once when I had just cleaned the entire thing and put brand new litter in.
Nothing has changed in the house at all, and she never acts stressed (other than the peeing). If anything, she acts like she's trying to become the top cat in the house, which seems to have happened as she went from a kitten to adult. So my only thought is that she's marking and claiming the house as her own - which is really not going to be ok if it continues! However, isn't marking usually just that - marking? This is like full blown emptying her bladder, and I don't know if that is the same as marking.
So I'm at a complete loss. As much as I don't want a sick cat, I wish that there was something wrong with her that could be fixed. Instead, this seems purely behavioral. The vet said to give it a few weeks, put out a few more litter boxes with her special litter in it and see how that goes. Its only been 3 days since then, but the extra litter boxes have gone ignored. So apparently our last option is kitty prozac. I'm not opposed to using medicine to make this stop, but I'm just curious if anyone else has any idea what could possibly be causing this. Is medicating her really my only option left at this point?
