Older kitty tries to use the litter box, but pees over the edge into a litter catcher tray in front

Hi!

   I hope someone can give me some solid advice.  I have a 16-year old male kitty  He is very sweet and I love him.  He's medium-sized and weighs about 9 pounds. .But for several months - nearly a year - he has been stepping inside his covered littler box, turning around a full 360 degrees with this rear facing the front opening, lifting his little tail up high, and peeing over the edge of the opening out into a little square littler-catcher tray that I have just outside of the box.  I wind up having to clean up after him two and sometimes three times a day. I don't know why he faces the back of the box or why he raises his tail so high that it goes outside of the box.  I've tried a box with a clear door, but he steps out of it with his paws covered with wet cat litter.  The boxes are the jumbo size, and certainly large enough, so that's not the problem.  But I can tell you that I have been driven to tears at having to wash out that litter catcher for the third time in one day.  I got to the point where I had to cover the floor of the hallway closet where the littler box is located with plastic runners so I don't have to clean the carpet underneath.  

So, I'm going to try removing the box hood, but i don't think it will do any good.  I thought about getting a boodah box (with the steps leading inside) but the hood doesn't really attach and they can knock it off or it can get loose and cause problems.  Plus, the interior is too small.  He's too old to use one of the boxes with the top opening, though maybe there is a version with steps he might be willing to try.  

Does anyone have any suggestions?  There is nothing medically wrong with him.  He's just getting older. 

Any advice would be appreciated.

This is so common with elderly cats.  Has he been checked for arthritis?  I know some people put puppy pads outside of the boxes to help catch the mess.  I've also heard of using plastic storage containers as litter boxes.  You can get one with very tall sides if you don't think he will have any trouble getting in and out of it.  

I feel for you; we recently switched to traditional boxes when our LittlerMaid died.  Someone likes to pee right on the very edge at the lower side (I got the deepest ones they had) and 3-4 times in the last 3 weeks they've managed to pee on the edge so some goes in and some goes on the floor and under the box.  Clean up is not fun!  I am considering finding storage containers myself.  

I have an 18-1/2 year old who was driving me to distraction with his peeing habits.  I bought him a boodah box which he just would not use.  We ended up putting a litter box inside of a washing machine drain pad:  
which has a lip about 2-1/2" high.  I put a puppy pad over the drain pad.  He manages to pee on the puppy pad even if he misses the box and it's all contained in the washing machine drain pad.  A bit complicated but it keeps everything contained!  I'll take a photo in the morning and post so you can see how it looks.  For $18, the washing machine pad has been SO worth it!

Thanks for the suggestion about the puppy pad.  I'll look into that.  This is so frustrating.

  I may look into some kind of supplement for arthritis at the pet store.  I hadn't thought of that.  

One small update. . .  Taking the hood off of the box didn't help.   I'll try the puppy pads today.  They're pretty big and I don't have a lot of room, so I don't know how they work if they're cut in half, but I'll check on that.

I too have a 16 yr old that does the same thing. He does have arthritis (I use Adequan and Buprenex to manage his pain.) I do put puppy pads outside the box and this works well for us. I place 2 pads under the litter box and 2 about 1/3 underneath the front just so that there isn't a chance of leakage into the floor.

I just bought some sterilite containers to try. They are longer and slightly taller than the current litter boxes and I think Lucky should be able to get in and out ok.

Here's our set up.  We have one cat who likes the covered box and she goes in it with no problems, so the second plastic tray under the covered litter box probably isn't necessary.  But Travis, the old guy, uses the litter box on the left and misses frequently!  So we figured we'd just cover the whole corner.  It was awful to clean up when the pee got under the pads or boxes and into the grout.  

We have tried bigger litter boxes with higher sides, booda domes, cat attract litter and sprinkles, all sorts of things.  They worked to some extent, for awhile.  Poor old Travis is just---old.  He does try--at least he makes it to the corner and knows where he's SUPPOSED to be going, so at least the clean up is contained in one area.

Since we put the plastic trays down, it's been great.  I just change out the pads when he goes on them.  

Thank you so much for the picture!  Terrific!  I think the puppy pads are going to work well!  The only difference will be that I put plastic carpet liners under the pad just in case.

Great advise Betsy G. I will remember that as my boy ages! I had thought of putting one box inside the other, but your idea is stellar!

Okay,

I THINK I may have found a solution that works for him, but I'm not sure yet.  The litter  box I have is this size:  I've taken the door off because he can't handle that well.  it really is larger than it appears here

25.9" L X 18.1" W X 19.6" H    Flap Opening: 10" W X 8.5" H    Rise: 8" Height  
 


I figured out all I have to do is scoot my little guy further into the box and away from the door.  So, I'm going to buy a Glad container like this:


I'll turn it upside down, and cut a couple of slits in the sides so that it fits over the doorway entrance with most of the container inside the box.  He'll step over it easily, and it should kind of force him a little further into the box, but he won't be able to pee over it.  If that doesn't quite work, I'll just cut this a bit to fit the slope of t he lower part of the box just inside entrance, and just set the entire container inside the box flush against the front edge of the bottom of  the lower part of the box.  Trust me, this box is more than large enough for both him and the container. 

I'm on my way to Walmart to buy a pair of sheers that will cut into the plastic, and a set of containers.  I'll let you know how that works out.

Karen

I love how we all become engineers when the need arises. :-)

That seems like a good idea.

Instead of slits I would put sturdy clips attaching it to the hole instead, so it cannot be moved around in the litter box. Clip it 3 times to the hole.

I put his regular litter box inside a much bigger Lower sided one, he went to the old one in the middle and some pee went over into the bigger one, both have litter in them. I keep them in garage. Kind of like a moat!

I use the new triangle shaped liter boxes that have oversized height all around them. No matter how high they put their butts the pee always hits the side of the boxes. We have 6 cats with 6 boxes which are cleaned each morning after poo time. These new boxes have stopped the peeing over the sides as well as liter all over from my diggers. Good luck.

blackcat416 said:

I use the new triangle shaped liter boxes that have oversized height all around them. No matter how high they put their butts the pee always hits the side of the boxes. We have 6 cats with 6 boxes which are cleaned each morning after poo time. These new boxes have stopped the peeing over the sides as well as liter all over from my diggers. Good luck.

Click to expand...

Do older cats need stairs to climb in?

Can you share the model name and manufacturer or a photo?

So far so good!  I think it actually may have worked!   It will be kind of a pain to clean, though, so I like the idea of looking for a better solution.  I had to work to cut the slits properly, but finally got it to fit under the lip of the hood and lie flush against the wall.  I'll keep an eye on it over the next several hours and day, and report back.