I have a 6 year old female torti/tabby that I really need help with!
It all started when.... We moved into a new place November 1st. We have 3 cats, our female in question and 2 males. They took it rough. It's our first ever move and they were traumatized. I was worried but after about a week they started to improve and within 3 weeks they were all completely normal. During that period, they used the litter boxes no problem. Never had an accident.
In the beginning of December, Sam (the female) started urinating outside the box. Usually on or around the litter mats or directly in front of them. It hasn't stopped since. There was feces once, but I'm not sure what cat it was. So far the males have been very good and haven't reacted to her doing this. They use the boxes and seem to not like the fact she's doing this. I've actually seen one of my males come up after she peed and started scratching around the floor trying to "cover" up her mess. I've tried everything I can think of. I'm really at my wits end. She's such a good cat besides this.. She has a really great personality.
- I brought her to the vet and had a urinalysis done. Everything came back fine. No crytals, blood, etc etc in the urine. He did notice she had a little bit of white blood cells so he suggested she may have stress induced systitus (sp?) aka inflamation in her urinary tract. He gave her antimflamitorys and antibiotics. Besides that, he said she was perfectly healthy.
- Their food was stored in the bedroom at the time. I moved it into the kitchen because I read they don't like their food near their bathroom. (Understandable)
- Replaced the litter boxes completely because I read that they can break down over time and start to smell. I replaced them with the largest litter boxes I could find. They're covered, like they have always been but with the doors/flaps removed. I have 2. I know they recommend 1.5 per cat, but I've never had a problem with 2 so I've never added.
- My vet recommended giving her another option because there could be unknown stress's that she detects in that area that we are not aware of. (Dogs barking outside, kids upstairs - We live in a basement suit. etc.) We moved one litter box into the bathroom. It's a large bathroom. Sam and the 2 boys use the bathroom litter box no problem. She STILL goes into the bedroom and urinated infront of the other litterbox.
- Sam had a couple scratches and the vet said to treat her for parasites (Revolution) incase she was ictchy and irratated. I treated all 3 cats just in case. He said the previous tennants could have had pets with problems etc.)
Just to add, the 2 litter boxes are in my bedroom. It's a very large (25ft long) bedroom and very quiet. We have no kids. It's just myself and my fiance. Our landlords live upstairs with 2 kids and they can be noisy at times. We used to live in a very noisy apartment though so it's not very different.
I think I've remembered everything.. I'll try to add as I think of things. I really hope someone can offer some advice. I really have no idea what else to do. I've had her since she was a kitten.
Thank you so much,
Tracy
P.S. Sorry if this is a mess, I've written it in a hurry since I'm at work..
It all started when.... We moved into a new place November 1st. We have 3 cats, our female in question and 2 males. They took it rough. It's our first ever move and they were traumatized. I was worried but after about a week they started to improve and within 3 weeks they were all completely normal. During that period, they used the litter boxes no problem. Never had an accident.
In the beginning of December, Sam (the female) started urinating outside the box. Usually on or around the litter mats or directly in front of them. It hasn't stopped since. There was feces once, but I'm not sure what cat it was. So far the males have been very good and haven't reacted to her doing this. They use the boxes and seem to not like the fact she's doing this. I've actually seen one of my males come up after she peed and started scratching around the floor trying to "cover" up her mess. I've tried everything I can think of. I'm really at my wits end. She's such a good cat besides this.. She has a really great personality.
- I brought her to the vet and had a urinalysis done. Everything came back fine. No crytals, blood, etc etc in the urine. He did notice she had a little bit of white blood cells so he suggested she may have stress induced systitus (sp?) aka inflamation in her urinary tract. He gave her antimflamitorys and antibiotics. Besides that, he said she was perfectly healthy.
- Their food was stored in the bedroom at the time. I moved it into the kitchen because I read they don't like their food near their bathroom. (Understandable)
- Replaced the litter boxes completely because I read that they can break down over time and start to smell. I replaced them with the largest litter boxes I could find. They're covered, like they have always been but with the doors/flaps removed. I have 2. I know they recommend 1.5 per cat, but I've never had a problem with 2 so I've never added.
- My vet recommended giving her another option because there could be unknown stress's that she detects in that area that we are not aware of. (Dogs barking outside, kids upstairs - We live in a basement suit. etc.) We moved one litter box into the bathroom. It's a large bathroom. Sam and the 2 boys use the bathroom litter box no problem. She STILL goes into the bedroom and urinated infront of the other litterbox.
- Sam had a couple scratches and the vet said to treat her for parasites (Revolution) incase she was ictchy and irratated. I treated all 3 cats just in case. He said the previous tennants could have had pets with problems etc.)
Just to add, the 2 litter boxes are in my bedroom. It's a very large (25ft long) bedroom and very quiet. We have no kids. It's just myself and my fiance. Our landlords live upstairs with 2 kids and they can be noisy at times. We used to live in a very noisy apartment though so it's not very different.
I think I've remembered everything.. I'll try to add as I think of things. I really hope someone can offer some advice. I really have no idea what else to do. I've had her since she was a kitten.
Thank you so much,
Tracy
P.S. Sorry if this is a mess, I've written it in a hurry since I'm at work..
