Cat peeing outside box

I have a 14 year old male cat that pees outside the litter box every few days. I have three boxes and I keep them cleaned often. I think he's having neurological issues, but perhaps it's something else.
Anyone else have an older cat that does this?

The first step would be ruling out a medical cause(which is a strong possibility in a cat this age).  I would bring him in for senior blood work/a urinalysis/exam with a good vet ASAP.  Once you've ruled out any medical causes, behavioral ones can be explored.  

@spiderplant

We have plans on taking him to the Vet on Friday. I thought I'd get some feedback from others here first before the visit. This way I can enter the Vet office armed with lots of questions.

Well, if he has arthritis, it could be that it hurts him to climb into the box.  Does he still poop in the box?  (I'm guessing yes or you would have said so )  Does he pee close to the box?   Since you said it only happens once in awhile, I'm thinking it could be arthritis, (IF it isn't a UTI), and it simply hurts too much sometimes to climb into the box)  

Why do you think it's neurological issues?  Are you thinking something like dementia?  That DOES happen sometimes in senior cats, just like in people . 

When he pees outside the box, are you cleaning it up really well with an enzymatic cleaner.  If not, he will continue to go there, simply because it will smell like urine, so he will be attracted to that area.

We haven't seen him do it in action, but it's clearly not a mistake of "hanging" over the box. He picks a perimeter wall and does his thing. He's hit about 4 or 5 different spots along the wall. We thought he might be seeing cats outside and he is marking his territory, so we closed ALL of the blinds so he can't see out. We've done this for about 4 days, but this morning we woke up to pee on the floor near one of the perimeter walls. I think he's just losing his marbles. He's been pooping outside the box for almost a year. The Vets never figured out why he is doing that. We've been living with it. But, cat pee is a different story.

Not sure what else to do. Looking into the pro/cons of euthanasia now.

What did the vet say? What tests were done? What does he eat?

The first time Grey (RIP) did this, turns out she had diabetes. Treated that. The next time she did it, CRF.

Test results were all negative.
Blood results were normal.
UTI results were normal.
Vet suggested we take him to a Neurologist. That route is too expensive.
Instead, we are going to try a few cheap alternatives.
The first thing we are going to do is change the litter to "Cat Attract".
The next step is to try a cat calming collar.  "Good Behavior Calming Collar for Cats" by Sentry seems like a logical choice since it's only $12 and

theoretically lasts for 30 days.
After this, we will try steroids (assuming he has brain issues). However the possible side effects of loose/runny stools doesn't appeal to us.
Wish us luck!
 

Not sure what to think. He goes in the box. Digs around for a second or two. Then leaves the box. He'll walk around a bit, then return to the box, goes in and digs around and then walks out again. Eventually the 3rd time or so, he'll go back to the box and pee.
Yesterday, he pee'd on his favorite cat toy. Suffice to say, that toy went straight to the dumpster.
His days are numbered.
 

Sounds like a pain issue to me.

cat182 said:

Test results were all negative.
Blood results were normal.
UTI results were normal.
Vet suggested we take him to a Neurologist. That route is too expensive.
Instead, we are going to try a few cheap alternatives.
The first thing we are going to do is change the litter to "Cat Attract".
The next step is to try a cat calming collar.  "Good Behavior Calming Collar for Cats" by Sentry seems like a logical choice since it's only $12 and

theoretically lasts for 30 days.
After this, we will try steroids (assuming he has brain issues). However the possible side effects of loose/runny stools doesn't appeal to us.
Wish us luck!
 

Click to expand...

And have you done ALL of the above items?  It sounds like he is trying to use the box...so I'm thinking you've at least added to Cat Attract, right?  Have you put on the calming Collar yet?  Is he pooping in the box yet?  If so, are you praising the heck out of him when he does?  I would praise the heck out of him any time he get in the box (only if it doesn't scare him ), even if he doesn't do his business, just to let him know it's a good thing to be in there.  And I'm not sure I would yell at him when he pees outside the box, because I'm not sure he can associate the WHERE vs PEEING as what is wrong . 

Oh, and how long ago was the last Vet visit? It really does sound like a UTI!