Pees *out* of box, while standing *in* box

Hi-

I've got a female DSH who's about 4 years old and she's always had this problem. She stands in the litter box, and hangs her backside out of the box and pees outside the box. It's always been a large litter box.

To deal with this, we bought a roof to the litter box, figuring that will help - and it definitely does to some extent - the problem now is that she pees high up on the back wall of the hood (almost to the ceiling of it is wet!) and in spite of the hood, urine seeps between the hood and the edge of the box and gets on the outside of the litter box.

The damage control measure has been to put a large plastic sheet with newspaper outside the box to absorb this drippage. But this is still a pretty undesirable behavior (albeit, not as bad, I'm sure, as a cat just peeing everywhere in the house!).

Is there any way that you can think of for dealing with this? She's a very quirky cat, I might add. FYI, we use Feline Pine style litter.

Another aside, for awhile she had an outside-the-box issue. Our litter box was in the laundry room, and there was a floor drain near the litter box. She started peeing down the drain instead of in the box. Covering the drain with large objects alleviated that matter. But she seems to have some issue with the box. I hesitate to change litter on her because that could lead to untold larger problems. But maybe that would be a solution?

Thanks for your suggestions!

Usually when a female cat is peeing like this, she has a low-grade infection in her bladder and she should be checked out by a vet. Ask him to do a needle draw from her bladder that is the best way to catch what type of infection she has. Sometimes just expressing the bladder isn't enough.

Originally Posted by hissy

Usually when a female cat is peeing like this, she has a low-grade infection in her bladder and she should be checked out by a vet. Ask him to do a needle draw from her bladder that is the best way to catch what type of infection she has. Sometimes just expressing the bladder isn't enough.

Click to expand...

Could this low-grade infection go on for years? She's been doing this for a very long time. We bring her to the vet regularly, but probably have never mentioned this behavior because we were under the impression that she's just a quirky cat. Thank you for your response.

Yes, if it is low-grade enough, it can go on for years. If not checked out and treated.

In addition to Hissy's suggestion, I would try a larger litterbox.

Personally, I love the HUGE plastic Rubbermaid-style storage containers. My "stands-up-to-pee" kitty is simply not tall enough to pee over the side of it!

You also might try adding a second litterbox with a different type of litter to see if she prefers it. Leave the Feline Pine but just give her another option. Dr . Elsey's Cat Attract litter is a good one to try.

As Hissy said it is essential that you have her checked throughly by your vet for an infection.
This is not normal behavior for any cat.

I know a lady who has a very old female kitty who sometimes pees over the box.
She buys pee pads and lays one down by the box to catch the misses.

I use the large 72 quart, clear Sterilite containers from Walmart. My Emily stands up to pee too, and this has curbed that behavior.