So, it’s ben established that Emmy, one of my girlfriend’s cats, has some issues, or at least manifests those issues in a less than savory light. For example, she’ll still pee on things, but it’s not so much of a “hey, I’m going to cut loose over here” stream. It’s almost literally a few drops. She’s also very nocturnal, so a lot of these things get done when we’re sleeping.
I know it’s a pretty general thing, but what is the point she’s trying to get across? Litterbox? That’s been solved. Toys? Playing? Petting (she’s VERY skittish and borderline antisocial and she likes to be social at weird times)?
Any change in urinary behavior calls for a trip to the vet. With just the information you’ve given in the OP, my differential list would be: Infection and mass, neither of which would get better on their own.
How old is she? How frequent are the accidents (that you know of, since it’s a small amount and done when you aren’t looking)? How long has this been going on? How has she been as a kitty otherwise (Eating, drinking, vomiting, etc)? What is her history like?
I wouldn’t say that it’s so much a change in recent behavior. There are a couple of spots on the carpet that are ruined because she’s peed there so many times. The reason for that is because she decided she didn’t like her covered litterbox because she liked to put her paws up on the edge when took a crap (I’ve never seen her do this before). She also lifts her butt up and shakes as she pees, so she pees outside the box sometimes. I got a higher litterbox, but she’s taken up the challenge and still sometimes gets a trickle out.
She’s been vetted relatively recently and got a completely clean bill of health. She’s also not old at all, so it’s not an age thing, I don’t think.
Lifting the butt up and shaking is marking behavior (is she spayed?). Just as some dogs lift their legs (even females) to pee, some cats pee *out * instead of down. We used a Rubbermaid tote for a litter box because one of our cats did this.
As for peeing little drops around the house – that sounds like a urinary tract infection to me. I’d definitely get the vet to check it out. A UTI makes the cat feel like they need to go all the time so they’ll try to force something out even when they don’t have anything left in them. And because it hurts, they start associating their litter boxes with pain and look for a place where it doesn’t hurt.
Third the UTI.
My beloved and brilliant cat, Fiona (RIP) was prone to them. When she got one, she’d wait for me to lay down in bed, climb up on me and let go. We’d take her to the vet, get her medicine, and after the first dose, the behaviour would stop. Then, 6mo to a year later, it would happen again, repeat ad nauseum.
Definitely look into an infection; a urinalysis and maybe a blood draw may be necessary. Our cat started showing similar symptoms and rapidly deteriorated (like, within 24 hours!) to the point where she had to be hospitalised for three days (on Thanksgiving weekend, too! $$$!!!) and spend the next 4 weeks on antibiotics, twice a day (that was fun!)
1500$ later she’s doing fine, but had we not been home that weekend we wouldn’t have seen her get sick and she very likely would have died. A urinalysis is now going to be part of her yearly checkup, and maybe a blood test as well. In her case, it was a urinary tract infection that then invaded her kidneys, and it was the kidney infection that made symptoms bad enough for her to show them; cats will try and hide their symptoms when they are feeling sick. She has some permanent kidney damage, though not enough that it needs additional treatment/special diet. I hope it stays that way!
She now hates the vet, to the point of biting and needing to be muzzled and pinned down by a vet tech wearing arm-length leather gloves, but at least she’s healthy*!
If it isn’t litter box (and it still could be, some cats want their own, others need them scooped often) then it’s next most often the vet, followed by "you have pissed the cat off so she will piss on".
