How can I tell which one?

jeamy · May 28, 2005

One of my four cats is peeing outside the litterbox. The problem is, I don't know which one it is. It's been about two weeks now, and I keep hoping to catch the culprit in the act, but no such luck. In the mean time, they've all now been bared from half the house to keep them off the beds and the good furniture, which also means I'm seperated from them most of the time. They're getting sick of it, I'm getting sick of it, and nothing is getting resolved. Any ideas on how I can figure out who it is? I'd like to get whoever it is to the vet.

I've replaced the old litter boxes, added two more litter boxes, in different rooms, and started scooping each box 3 times a day, none of which helped.

luvmy4cats · May 28, 2005

I work at a Veterinary Clinic. When people with multiple cats are noticing either diarrhea either inside (or outside) the litterbox or urine accidents outside the litterbox we tell them to take turns isolating each cat in a room for 24 with a clean litterbox. We also have "plastic" litter that we send home with people when they suspect a urinary tract infection. It's a special litter that you put in the litterbox that doesn't absorb the urine (which makes it possible to collect it & put it in a clean jar until we can test it). I know it sounds like a huge hassle, but really it's the only way to tell. I myself have 4 cats and I can totally sympathize with you.

jeamy · May 28, 2005

Thanks!

You are right, it does sound like a huge hassle.

But it also sounds like it might work, so, I'll give it a try. Just hope we all survive it, as they don't like being locked up.

luvmy4cats · May 28, 2005

You're welcome!
I've only worked at the clinic for a little over a year, but I have learned so many things that I never knew before working there (even though I have 4 cats & 3 dogs of my own at home). You should have seen the puzzled look on my face the first time one of the technicians told me that to tell a client that they should bring in a urine sample from their cat. I remember thinking how in the world are they going to get their cat to pee in a little cup (like we have to when we're at the Dr.'s office and have to give a urine sample)? I honestly did not have a clue how it was done until then!

elizwithcat · May 28, 2005

Originally Posted by luvmy4cats

Your welcome!
I've only worked at the clinic for a little over a year, but I have learned so many things that I never knew (even though I have 4 cats & 3 dogs of my own at home). You should have seen the puzzled look on my face the first time one of the technicians told me that to tell a client that they should bring in a urine sample from their cat. I remember thinking how in the world are they going to get the cat to pee in a little cup (like when we're at the Dr.'s office and have to give a urine sample)! I honestly did not have a clue how it was done until then!

Well, my vets didn't know about a thing like that, apparently. The vet wanted to get urine from a needle and I said not to do it, because I didn't want a needle to be used on a cat. But then we went home and cat peed in a sink so I was able to collect urine from a sink and bring it in for the test-of course they didn't find nothing in there that they could treat the cat for, but that's another story. But they never told me about a plastic litter I could have used to collect the urine, I was just lucky I caught him peeing into the sink. But if cat is peeing on some hard surface, it can be collected with a syringe and stored in a refrigerator until you can bring it to the vet for testing.

luvmy4cats · May 28, 2005

I'm just a receptionist at the Veterinary Clinic where I work, so I don't know a whole lot about the actual medical procedures they perform (other than the basics). I do know that sometimes (not often) where I work they do have to get a urine sample with a needle. It's because in some cases the sample needs to be "sterile". I don't know the reason why though. To check a sample for a urinary tract infection it wouldn't need to be sterile though. I have no idea why your vet would have suggested that, unless you told him you didn't want to try and collect a sample at home. Where I work if people do not want to collect the sample at home we give them the option of bringing their cat in for the day and we collect the sample for them (we charge for this though).

elizwithcat · May 28, 2005

Originally Posted by luvmy4cats

I'm just a receptionist at the Veterinary Clinic where I work, so I don't know a whole lot about the actual medical procedures they perform (other than the basics). I do know that sometimes (not often) where I work they do have to get a urine sample with a needle. It's because in some cases the sample needs to be "sterile". I don't know the reason why though. To check a sample for a urinary tract infection it wouldn't need to be sterile though. I have no idea why your vet would have suggested that, unless you told him you didn't want to try and collect a sample at home. Where I work if people do not want to collect the sample at home we give them the option of bringing their cat in for the day and we collect the sample for them (we charge for this though).

No, I never told my vet I didn't want to collect the sample at home. In fact, I collected a sample at home (my cat peed in the sink) and brought it to them because I didn't let them to use a needle on my cat to collect urine.
But they never said there was a special litter I could use. Thankfully, my cat pees in the sink now so I can collect all the urine.

How can I tell which one?

jeamy

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luvmy4cats

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jeamy

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luvmy4cats

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elizwithcat

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luvmy4cats

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