Crystals and peeing outside the box

kirk

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jul 23, 2013
Messages
41
Purraise
4
Location
Ontario, Canada
One of our cats was diagnosed with crystals 2 weeks ago. For a month he has been peeing outside of the litter box. We took him in right away but the vet didn't find anything wrong the first visit. The second visit (2 weeks ago) he was diagnosed with crystals (no infections) and given Urinary SO food. He doesn't have blood in his urine anymore, but is still peeing often and in small amounts. He doesn't like the food, so that doesn't help.

I thought the peeing on the floor would get better, but it's just getting worse. Before he was peeing on things, garbage bags, clothes, blankets. Now he is peeing EVERYWHERE. Just on the floor when there is nothing there, in the sink, in the shower, in the bathtub, on the toilet seat, in the babies crib, in empty baskets, on garbage cans. I'm losing my mind at this point. Right now he is in the bathroom, has been for a few hours, and even though there is a litter box in there and it's a small space he is still peeing outside of the box. But he DOES go in the box too. 

I don't know what to do at this point. It's out of hand. We've tried different litters, right now we have 2 boxes with crystals and 2 boxes with cat attract. He's on urinary so food, vet said he's fine now. We can't have him peeing around our whole house on everything. The house reeks and it's impossible to find every spot he's gone. And we have a baby who is just starting to get mobile. We don't want him chewing his hands after he's touched cat pee and can't use strong cleaning products either. 
 

Columbine

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 27, 2015
Messages
12,921
Purraise
6,226
Location
The kitty playground
Peeing outside the box is common with uti issues. Basically, it hurts to pee when the cat uses the box, so the cat connects the box with the pain. They pee elsewhere in the hopes that it won't hurt if they go somewhere else. Sometimes the negative association sticks, and a degree of retraining is needed. Changing the style of box, type of litter and location (any or all of these options) can help in breaking the cycle. The other thing that's essential is to clean any accidents with an enzymatic cleaner - if you don't them there are 'markers' left behind that the cat can still smell, making it seem like it's a good/acceptable place to go.

It sounds like there's an element of stress behaviour involved too. Feliway diffusers throughout the house may help with this aspect of the problem.

Upping the cat's water intake will help with the healing and with preventing a recurrence of the uti. Adding extra water to the food is an easy way to achieve this. FortiFlora may also make the urinary food more enticing.

It's a difficult situation to be in, and I'm sure it's making you all miserable. These links may help
http://www.catinfo.org
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/litterbox-problems-in-cats-the-ultimate-guide
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/tabbytudes-cat-behavior-column-june-2003
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/tips-to-increase-your-cat-s-water-intake
 
Last edited:
Top