Cat intermittently peeing outside litter box

In My Humble Opinion
1

We have an appointment with our vet, but it’s not soon enough so I hope the collective wisdom of CatOwningDopers will help in the meantime.

We’ve had Cat1 since October of 2011. She was a tiny little thing when we got her, two months tops, and was spoiled rotten as an only cat to the point where she’s not entirely sure she is a cat. She’s very laid back, allows you to do just about anything to her, and has personality in spades.

The day after Christmas in 2014 we got a slightly-less-than 4 month old kitten, Cat2. She has always been much more catlike than Cat1- enjoys playing, chasing, rolling around, and doing that kitten tumble-bumble bounce thing. I think she utterly confounded, terrified, and traumatized Cat1, and they’ve just never gotten along since. There’s sometimes a lot of growling and hissing from Cat1 when Cat2 gets too close, and yowling and claws-out swiping if Cat2 tries to play with her. Most of the time they ignore each other. They’re almost exactly the same size, and both are fixed.

The arguing got to the point where we got ultrasonic trainers to dissuade the behavior. That worked for a bit, but not really any more.

Now on to the newest wrinkle. Cat1 has taken to peeing on things. The last time was yesterday, before that it was last Thursday. It’s always a flat surface, higher up- never clothing, or the floor, or furniture like beds or couches or chairs. Twice on the kitchen counter, once on the top of the fridge, once on my desk, and four times in various spots on the kitchen table. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. She’s still faithfully using the litterbox. It’s not every day, or more than once a day when she does it. She doesn’t cry when using the litterbox. Here is what we’ve tried so far (not all at once, obviously…):

  • Changed her food. She’d been getting Wellness Grain-free as her dry food, and three days a week she got a Whiskas pouch for wet food. Now she’s on Acana Grain-Free Grasslands for dry, and Soulistic grain-free pouches for wet.

  • Invested in multiple Feliway diffusers and Feliway spray.

  • All the spots she’s peed on have been cleaned up with Nature’s Miracle; she’s never peed in the same spot twice.

  • Bought two new kitty condos (we already had two), both 72" tall, so she always has a place to escape to. Cat2 has a distinct preference for a spot on one condo, one dining room chair, and one couch, but doesn’t really get on furniture other than that, so Cat1 really has her choice of a wide range of options.

  • God help me, bought some of those herbal/flower essence drops to put in both cats’ food and rub on their ears.
    A few other pieces of information:

  • We have three litterboxes, one on each floor. The one on the main floor is the one they use primarily, and the two others are used intermittently.

  • Cat1 got into a scrape with Cat2 outside the primary litterbox; Cat2 was coming out and apparently Cat1 was lying in wait for her. They swatted at each other, yowled a bit, but scampered away when I yelled at them. I turned the box around so that it’s facing the door (previously it had been facing the wall). They’re both still using the box without problems.

  • The primary box is cleaned daily. The other boxes are checked every day, but it’s rare that they need to be cleaned more than every third day or so.

  • We did change the type of litter in the primary box (same brand, just a different formulation because they were out of their normal kind), and not long after that we saw the first pee spot. I changed the litter back last weekend. They use the walnut type.

  • The spots are reasonable small, and don’t really have an overwhelming odor. The first time it happened- the one on top of the fridge- we couldn’t even tell what it was. I don’t know if there wasn’t much of an odor because they were small, or because she keeps well hydrated (she’s like her two-legged dad in that respect).

  • Based on when we’ve found the spots, she’s done it regardless of the time of day or whether we’re home.

I think that’s everything, but if something else comes to mind I’ll add it. Obviously the vet will rule out any UTIs or kidney issues, but if it’s behavioral I’ve already done everything I can think of. I’m concerned that she’s not showing any other signs at all of a medical issue, and if we can’t break her of it that we’ll have to rehome either her or Cat2… something I absolutely do not want to have to resort to.

Any thoughts?

2

I should add… she’s still very active, no decrease in appetite (in fact, she’s positively in love with the new food), no issues with her hair or breath or anything else, and she’s definitely pooping Just fine. She lost about two pounds in between the 2014 and 2015 annual checkup, but the vet feels that was because of increased activity due to the presence of Cat2, and she was just a bit overweight anyway. She’s at a good healthy weight now, and has held steady for the past six months. She’s drinking more water, but she really needed to; at the vet’s suggestion we got her a fountain and it’s really made a difference.

3

It could just be emotional issues, not health ones. I brought home a two year old shelter cat and she started doing this. I just covered the bed & couch with plastic shower curtains and sprayed them with citrus air freshener to discourage her (cats hate citrus). It took a few months but she steadily did it less and less, till finally not at all. This was five years ago and she hasn’t relapsed since. Introducing a new cat to the mix could certainly cause this.

4

Oh, bugger- the arrival of Cat2 was 2013. They’re almost exactly two years apart in age. Do you think that Cat1 could have just reached her breaking point after all this time? All the growling/yowling/hissing is from her, not Cat2 (who genuinely does just seem to want to play).

5

Territorial issues I think. First floor is the battlefield.

Put one of the other litter boxes near the primary on the first floor, they might duke it out at first but hopefully will come to a truce “you crap in that box, and I’ll crap in this one”

What also may help when you feed them, do it separately so they each have their own area and can’t see each other.

6

I have had this same problem with two cats in our multi cat household. After trying everything else, we put both cats on fluoxatine (prozac). It worked for one cat - she stopped peeing outside the box. We had to rehome our other peeing cat to an only cat home. It broke our hearts but that cat hasn’t peed once out of the box at the new place. Some cats just won’t tolerate others. I hope you have gotten a black light to find all the pee spots. We tbought we had found them all but I just found spray spots on one of our walls. Check especially near windows and doors, even if you can’t smell anything.

7

bobkitty, since you said this, I tend to think it’s the litter:

Have you seen pee since changing the litter back?

8

I too would put a second litter box on the first floor, but I would place it away from the first one.

I would put food, water, and litter box in one room, and food, water, and litter box in another room. So they each have their own territory.

This is only if the test results come back negetive, of course.

9

Yes, once since then. I replaced the litter on Saturday, and Thursday there was a pee spot on the kitchen table. :frowning: I’d really hope the litter was the answer.

We do feed them separately (plus have two free-feed dishes out with a little food all day long, because otherwise Cat2 SCARFS food down and then immediately vomits it back up, which is a whole 'nother issue), and do the ‘eat, play, love’ thing. Cat1 loves to lick hands, and I’ve even resorted to letting her get my hand all slobbery, then rubbing the heck out of Cat2’s head. :smiley:

I’ll have to start scoping out a place to put another box on the first floor- right now we’re keeping most of it sectioned off because Cat1 can’t be trusted.

I’m pro-kitty-psych-drugs, but my boyfriend is hesitant. He’ll definitely do whatever the vet recommends, though.

Thanks for the feedback so far!!

10

We got a new cat and our oldest started doing this. After trying all the other fixes (changing litter, more boxes, Feliway etc…) we finally tried kitty prozac - problem disappeared within 2 days. Been on it for a year without any problems.

Try it, its dirt cheap as well.

11

I apologize for the slight hijack, but would those of you with experience giving your cats Prozac please advise the dosage?

Thank you.

12

2 to 5mg per day. 5 is really really high, I would hope if we went that route she’d only need 2 or 3.

13

Cat 2 was a kitten when she arrived. Eighteen months later, Cat 2 is now a fully grown adult. At this point, each Cat is now trying to establish their own territory and pecking order. This could go on for a couple years before the two of them reach detente. Getting the cat trees should help.

I would probably make it a point to keep Cat1 off the high, flat surfaces. Blanket all your tables and desks with pillows while you’re not around. Make it so if she wants an escape, the cat tree is her best option.

You might also try to speed things along by brushing each cat and placing some of the loose hair on their respective trees. Use a unique brush for each of them. This will help each tree acquire the scent of a specific Cat.

Also, hand out treats to each Cat only on their own tree. If you can find a cat treat they like, only give it as a special treat in their own tree at the same time each day. They’ll soon be going to their trees on their own when that time comes.