We have a new question from Susan, and it is a good one.
"We have a calico named Mia, a very sweet kitty, about 6-7 years old. She was a stray as a kitten and we adopted her.
She has been suddenly not using her box. She once did this before and caused us to replace the carpet with hardwood, but that turned out to be an organic issue (urinary stones) and her pee was pink tinged. That was also about 4 years ago. Now she's doing it again, but it also includes shitting where ever she feels like it. She is seriously pissing me off.
Her stool appears normal - formed, soft, not diarrhea, doesn't appear to have any frank blood...why would she be doing this??? I'm on the verge of getting rid of her but I love her very much. What the hell is her prob? Thanks for any advice.... "
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This is an excellent question and a common concern.
It is very important not to assume that a cat who is urinating outside of the litter box is doing so for behavioral reasons. You have to rule out the major medical concerns first.
Any cat who has had bladder stones (cystoliths) in the past is at risk for recurrence of these stones. The very first thing you need to do is take her to your veterinarian and get a urine analysis. This test will give your veterinarian valuable information about what is going on in her bladder. Blood in the urine is not always obvious as a pink tinge. It can be microscopic. Other information will be gathered such as her urine pH (or how acidic or basic her urine is), if there are any white blood cells or bacteria, and if there are crystals of any type.
Lower Urinary Tract Disease (LUTD) in cats is very common unfortunately (I have 3 of these cats myself) and can be a life long issue with pH problems, cystitis (bladder inflammation), infection, etc. Many of these conditions can be controlled with a diet change. We are learning more and more about how dangerous dry food diets can be for cats. It’s especially problematic for LUTD cats. I can make a recommendation for a good food once we know some information from her urine test.
If she has ever experienced pain in the litter box, she may be associating the LB with discomfort and avoiding it because she has that memory or is currently experiencing painful urination.
Until we get the urine analysis results I would make a few basic changes:
First, I would get rid of the current LB. Make sure that she has 2 choices. Both LB’s should be UNCOVERED and in quiet locations. In households with dogs and kids, sometimes a cat will have been "sabotaged" in the box and start to associate the box with a frightening moment. Covered LB's are hell on cats this way. They feel trapped.
So you will have one LB with the current type of litter in the same location and a new one with a totally different type of litter in a new location. If you have clumping litter in the first box put a non-clumping option in the second box in a new location (Yesterdays News Original Texture UNSCENTED is a favorite). The addition of a second box may be an unpopular recommendation, but it is much better than having inappropriate urination / defecation happening! It is important to remember always to use unscented litter. A cat’s sense of smell is much more acute than ours is. They can avoid strong odors. Never clean the litter box with strong smelling soaps or ammonia. And don’t use litter pan liners. They’re nice for us, but unpopular with my patients.
Obvious recommendations with regard to litter boxes are to make sure the box is in a quiet location, cleaned daily, and that the litter is changed over completely at least once every week.
Remember, you are asking an animal who was designed to roam territory, mark that territory, hunt and exercise daily, and continually be on the alert to live in your house, urinate and defecate in one location, eat out of a bowl (abandoning the all powerful hunting instinct), and basically hang out with you and your family. It’s a lot to ask, but if we’re smart about it, we can foster very successful and non-stressful relationships for cats and their human companions!
Let me know if this helps and please update me with any new information from your veterinarian.
Jennifer
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