Cat is abandoning her litterbox. Thoughts?

Factual Questions
1

Not my cat. My cat is crazy to get out of the house every morning, but on those occasions when he gets past me, I know he’ll be back because the litterbox is indoors, and he just won’t do anything outside. It’s kind of weird, actually.

But I digress. My next-door neighbors got a kitten about eight months ago. They had her trained to the box, and everything was going just swimmingly. Then, about a week ago, she started ignoring her litterbox, and doing her business in the potted plants that they keep in the living room. She’s also been quite temperamental lately, and scratches anyone who tries to pick her up and snuggle her.

My neighbor thinks she might be pregnant (based on the anti-social behavior, not because she looks stuffed with baby kitties). I’m just wondering if she’s in heat, and this is causing her to behave crazily. No, she hasn’t been spayed, but I gave the family the information for the local discount pet clinic, and they promise they’ll use it just as soon as they know she’s not preggers (I know the discount place will abort the litter, but not now much extra it would cost, or the family’s attitude toward cat abortions).

So, does anyone have any idea what might be going on with little Jasmine? If she has the operation is she likely to return to the litterbox (they keep it admirably clean, btw. In fact, it occurs to me to wonder if the guy actually washes it out with some cleaning agent before refilling it with sand. Is there a cleaning agent that would tend to turn a kitty off the box if any traces remain)?

Thanks in advance for any insights.

2

Combined with getting pissed when picked up, it sounds medical ( the only time one of my cats has ever hissed at me was when I picked him up when he had a painful urinary blockage ). I’d take her to the vet ASAP. In fact that should probably always be the first step with sudden inappropriate avoidance of the litterbox. Things like urinary infections can cause cats to associate the pain with the litterbox and lead to them trying different spots to relieve themselves.

3

Thanks, Tamerlane. I’ll go next door right now and pass that along.

4

Generally nothing extra. It’s basically the same operation. Sometimes the Vet will recommend extending the post-surgery antibiotics a bit longer, which might add $5-$10 to the cost. But nothing very significant.