Passing on a quick tip to help cat guardians diagnose a uti, constipation, or other litterbox issues that a tech at my vet's office suggested: get a wifi motion activated security camera to monitor the litter box.
Prices can very but $30-$50 can get you a camera and SD-Card. Features I would recommend: sd-card storage, no requirement for a cloud subscription, night mode/vision, motion activation schedule, ability to rotate/pan the camera around, and record sound. Most will have these features. You'll also want an app to control it and not all apps are easy to use.
In my situation, my cat was showing borderline symptoms of a UTI -- she had a history of them -- and when I called the vet it was a bit borderline if it was worth the trip b/c I never saw her strain with my eyes, I just had some data suggesting she was going to the litter box more than normal and not producing but I didn't know what exactly she was doing. The camera showed very clearly that yeah we had a problem and that made the vet visit a lot easier on me, the cat, and the doc, because I had videos showing she was straining and we had caught the UTI before it became a large problem. She's all better now with the UTI.
I also learned that my cat likes to go down and "inspect" her litter boxes from time to time and those trips she's not attempting to go potty and that she really doesn't like it when I do the monthly deep cleaning of the litterbox b/c, I'm assuming, "her smells that she worked so hard to put in the box" are gone. Cat gonna be a cat
Prices can very but $30-$50 can get you a camera and SD-Card. Features I would recommend: sd-card storage, no requirement for a cloud subscription, night mode/vision, motion activation schedule, ability to rotate/pan the camera around, and record sound. Most will have these features. You'll also want an app to control it and not all apps are easy to use.
In my situation, my cat was showing borderline symptoms of a UTI -- she had a history of them -- and when I called the vet it was a bit borderline if it was worth the trip b/c I never saw her strain with my eyes, I just had some data suggesting she was going to the litter box more than normal and not producing but I didn't know what exactly she was doing. The camera showed very clearly that yeah we had a problem and that made the vet visit a lot easier on me, the cat, and the doc, because I had videos showing she was straining and we had caught the UTI before it became a large problem. She's all better now with the UTI.
I also learned that my cat likes to go down and "inspect" her litter boxes from time to time and those trips she's not attempting to go potty and that she really doesn't like it when I do the monthly deep cleaning of the litterbox b/c, I'm assuming, "her smells that she worked so hard to put in the box" are gone. Cat gonna be a cat