He uses his litter box for pooping, but twice now I have caught him in the tub, peeing.
He’s de-clawed (not by me - we got him that way - I always feel like I need to explain this) and neutered and has heretofore been healthy and I don’t suspect a UTI.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Q
I bet I know what will make him stop that. Turn the shower on.
My cats in the past have always had a facination with the shower. They all used to fight to see who could drink up the soapy water. :dubious:
We had one that did this. We had recently gotten another cat, a female and she had started using his litter box (I think) and he had decided that the shower was now his and ours. I got another litter box and my wife started freaking out everytime she caught him doing it in the shower. Between those two things, it stopped. It could have even been something else. I don’t know.
Unless I keep the shower going, that doesn’t work. I’ve even stopped it up and left a little water in the tub bottom. Problem with that is that it does eventually go down the drain.
His litter box is within 3 feet, and because we’re so crowded in at the moment there really isn’t another place for his Litter Robot.
Tried scaring the hell out of him when I catch him at it, but he doesn’t have much of an attention span, and my wife won’t let me talk to him in low, threatening tones whenever I see him near the tub.
That was a joke of course. I’ve had enough experience with pets to know that does not work.
He just never has done this before, and I’m at a loss for what to do.
Q
Seriously, everytime we caught him in the shower, we put him in the litter box. I’m not sure whether he got the idea or just got tired of being put in the litter box. You might really try a new litter box. I don’t know, it might work. I’m not familiar with Litter Robot. But there have been times that the males that have adopted us have decided to just change their toilet method. The comforting part is that they do change again. The bad part is it isn’t always for the good.
Of all the places in the house a cat could decide to pee, it seems to me that a shower is the only one that isn’t really a problem. In your shoes, I’d just count my blessings.
Mmmmkay. Went ahead and added litter and we’ll just sponge bathe from now on. :D:D:D:D
Kidding, Chronos! Only kidding!
But we’ll continue to try to find a solution, because that stuff is really pungent, and the tub-shower is located between mine and my wife’s bathrooms (like this: main bedroom> wife’s bathroom > tub-shower > my bathroom > my bedroom.
We keep his food/water in my room so we have to keep the sliding doors open.
Our son recommended black pepper and another source white vinegar, so we’ll see.
Thanks for the tips!
Quasi
Peeing on cool surfaces is a symptom of UTI or bladder infection. Perhaps you should start suspecting it.
My cats do this if the litter box needs cleaning or they’re mad at us for not being home much. I don’t do anything about it, just spray some cleaner on the drain area and rinse it off.
You could put a glass shower door up to block him but then he might start peeing under the dining room table or in the kitchen sink.
I wonder if the drain has a smell that we can’t detect that encourages this. Our previous cat did it also.
I’m not a cat person at all, but my SO is. If she ever managed to talk me into getting a cat, and the cat learned to pee in a drain, forgoing the “cat piss” smell throughout the house/apartment, I’d definitely put that in the plus category.
However, if that really is a sign of UTI infection in cats as another poster said, I’d consider it enough of a reason to get him/her checked out. If you didn’t train it to do that, it might be something to look at.
Quite right. I don’t see the problem here. After all, you pee in the shower, don’t you (many/most guys do).
No, I don’t.
I pee in the pool, and MY GOD isn’t that the most pleasant pee a man could have???
You just backstroke away while you just AHHHHH!
Q
I was going to say that. Before anything, see a vet to rule it out.
Echoing above: I would suspect a UTI as a result of peeing outside the box. This is one of the most obvious symptoms of FUS and one of the early indicators.
I would say Chronos is very tolerant if he’s counting the blessing of a cat who pees in his shoes.
If you catch him starting to pee in the tub, quickly stick him on the toilet and praise him for peeing in there. Then you might be able to train him to whizz in the toilet! No mess to clean up!
This was my daughters suggestion, I think a really good one!!!
(To add to all the others mentioning the UTI possibility) Is he an older guy? By coincidence, we just found our oldest cat (age unknown because he was a stray until well into adulthood, but probably at least 10 years) peeing in oddball spots like empty boxes and newspapers. We were very happy he had the foresight to do this, as he was able to demonstrate it was bloody pee*, and that would not be easily visible in the litter box. The verdict from the vet is that he has a UTI, which in older males can be a sign of/precursor to kidney stones. So the infection is being treated with antibiotics and the possible kidney stones with a dietary change.
*This is not the first time he has found it necessary to give a demonstration on his health concerns. You do not want to know what he did, at my feet, the time he had worms.
*Not to mention the time he had colitis.
I had a darling cat who peed on lots of things. He had urinary tract infections several times, including pretty severe ones, and also just peed around the house for no apparent medical reason. In the 10 years I had that little guy I learned a lot about cats peeing outside the litter box, so I’m just overjoyed to be able to share it now.
You definitely want to get a UTI ruled out first, but peeing around the house (including in the shower, I’d say) can certainly have other causes. As other posters have mentioned, it could be that his litter box is dirty. He could be feeling ignored, for example if there has been a recent change in his lifestyle like a new cat or a move to a new house. He could be marking his territory, unusual with a neutered cat but not unheard of. If you have other cats they might need more litter boxes because cats aren’t always good at sharing.
One of the worst problems is that once a cat decides it’s nice to pee outside the litter box, he may keep doing it just because. Even if you get the underlying cause treated, the habit may continue. The cat might also be peeing there repeatedly because it still smells like urine. The area can be stink-free to us and still smell like piss to a cat, so make sure you use the right kinds of cleaner … no ammonia for example.
Good luck!!!
p.s. By the way, if you want to know why I no longer have the aforementioned cat, it’s because he peed on my bed one too many times. 
<slight hijack> Once a cat is cured of a UTI, do they go back to peeing in their litter box, or do they continue to have negative assocations with it? I’m not sure why they would risk peeing in it again if it was painful for a while before they were cured. </slight hijack>
Feed him in the shower for a couple weeks. He’ll stop immediately but you should keep it up for two weeks so it sinks into that retarded cat brain of his.
This method worked for me on two seprate cats.