Cat litter issues/potential health issue?

[Ragdollcat1]

I have a 1 year old ragdoll male. A few months ago we moved from a smaller condo to a house and shortly after he started pooping on the tile next to the litter box. He does often still poo in the litter box but majority outside. From speaking to pet stores and my vet I was told it could be because of the move or because the litter box was located in the basement. Also I hadn’t had the chance to throughly clean it for a while when we first moved so that could have been a factor. I took him to the vet and was advised to start with getting a calming spray which did seem to work as he stayed at a family members house for a couple of weeks with us and never once went outside the litter box. It’s been about 5 months and we recently got a self cleaning litter box with crystal litter. The litter is supposed to absorb his urine however it is causing it to turn yellow instead. I spoke with the company who makes the box and litter and they said this is something new they haven’t seen before and asked if I had gotten him checked up. Wondering now if there is a health issue and if anyone has experienced anything similar. I have attached a pic of what’s happening to the crystal litter.

 

[game misconduct]

yikes thats alot of moving around for him best of luck to you guys

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I am not sure exactly what the problem is - the litter, yes I understand that part. But, all of the other details you included makes me think I must be missing part of your concern(s). If that is true, can you be more specific with the timing/sequence of incidents/events?

Otherwise, the first thing I would do is buy another bag/box of the crystal litter and see if it happens again. After that, if the same thing happens with the new litter, I would probably get a urinalysis/urine culture done his urine to see if something shows up from that aspect.

 

[Ragdollcat1]

Thanks for the reply.

2 concerns - 1 is pooping outside the litter box. Been happening since December (shortly after we moved) and only stopped consistently for a 3 week period in Jan/Feb when he stayed with us at families house he was already familiar with.

Concern #2 - the recent change (about a month ago) to an automatic self cleaning litter box with crystals. The crystals turning yellow which supposedly shouldn’t be happening could mean there is a potential health issue related to just his urine or possibly both issues with the urine and pooping outside the litter box.

I will look into having a urinalysis done and also I have already switched out the litter for a fresh pack.

I did speak to the vet clinic and the receptionist recommended switching his food to royal canin urinary care.

 

[FeebysOwner]

There is a possibility that the two things correlate. The changes he has gone through could have started to cause either pooping issues and/or urinary issues. Issues with the urinary tract can cause inappropriate pooping too. So, yes start with the urinalysis. Are his stools normal? Does he always pee in the litter boxes? Is there one litter box he tends to use more appropriately than any of the others? If that were true, he may for some reason not like the one he goes outside of most often - or the location.

But, tbh, until you have a better idea of what is going on, it seems silly to automatically put him on the urinary care food. For, right now, see if you can increase his water intake. If he eats dry food only, try some canned foods, or try adding a bit of water to his dry to see if he will eat it that way. Add more water bowls around the house to encourage more drinking - even a bit of 'juice' from canned tuna in water might help.

Making sure you thoroughly clean the areas where he has pooped outside the litter box is important too, as he can consider his scent being there as an invitation to go there again and again.

 

[Ragdollcat1]

Thanks.
Stools are normal. He always pees in litter box. We currently only have one litter box. We did have 2 while we were transitioning but have now removed the old one with used clumping litter. We moved the new litter box location out of the basement and is now on the main floor where we spend most of our time.
I beleive He drinks a lot of water as he’s had a cat fountain since he was like 10-12 weeks old and never seemed to have a problem drinking water. His diet is dry food as he stopped eating the variety of wet food for quite some time now. Our vet said it wasn’t an issue as he drank plenty of water.

 

[GoldyCat]

I've used three different brands of crystal litter and they all turn yellow as they absorb the urine. That's one way I can tell when it's time to change the litter, just comparing the color of new litter still in the bag to the color of the used litter in the litter box.

 

[Ragdollcat1]

Does the litter look just like the pic I had attached even after one day? I understand cats like peeing in the same area of the box but wasn’t sure if it should be that yellow after one day

 

[GoldyCat]

Does the litter look just like the pic I had attached even after one day? I understand cats like peeing in the same area of the box but wasn’t sure if it should be that yellow after one day

Yes, that's it exactly. It's the equivalent of a clump in the clumping clay litter. The instructions say to stir the used litter into the rest, but I've found the litter lasts longer if I scoop out the yellow part separately. Since it doesn't clump you'll need a large spoon without slots.

 

[Ragdollcat1]

Good to know. Maybe that means he potentially doesn’t have a urine issue as he does drink a lot of water and urines a good amount.