Hey, gang …

My wife and I have a problem with our cat. For some reason, she’s lost interest in peeing in her litter box. She’ll crap in the box, but not pee in it, and instead pees on the carpet in front of the box. What makes this worse is that we’re trying to sell our house right now, and having an incontinent cat is going to make it even harder to unload the place, especially if she decides to start peeing elsewhere in the house besides the upstairs "cat room." Has anyone else had a similar problem and can pass along some friendly advice? We don’t want to get rid of the cat or send her off to kitty Dachau, but we need to do something about the piss problem and soon. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

is the litterbox clean?

ironyengine wrote:is the litterbox clean?

Should be. I've been emptying it regularly and changed the litter altogether the other day.

Mark Lansing wrote:

ironyengine wrote:is the litterbox clean?

Should be. I've been emptying it regularly and changed the litter altogether the other day.

how old is the litterbox itself? It's been a while since I had a proper litterbox as my girlfriend and I use the disposable ones (she claims it's more sanitary and refuses to relent on the issue, and I am a powerless male) but it may be that the plastic itself is just so used that she's expressing disapproval of her toilet space by refusing to use it despite the fresh sand. It could be that a new box will be so novel to her that she'll start using it again. If not, you're only out 5-10 bucks right?

Seriously, it is strange that she's only urinating right outside that spot. Maybe you could also move the litterbox TO the spot where she's going? Perhaps those exact coordinates upset her.

When we were adopting our two cats, both times the people said that if the cat doesn't piss in the litter box, you should probably take it to the vet.

Always take a cat to the vet when they start pissing outside the box. This is a general rule of thumb i have. My ex and i had a pretty fat cat who at one point got so big that his anal glands became impacted, causing pain every time he'd shit. As a result, he associated the litter box with pain, so he's piss outside the box.

That's just an example, but it could be a sign of something else too. It never hurts to get the little guy checked out. Has he/she been to the vet recently?

tbone wrote:When we were adopting our two cats, both times the people said that if the cat doesn't piss in the litter box, you should probably take it to the vet.

This would be my last piece of advice, if changing the box and maybe moving it as well fails. I just try not to go to the vet for every little thing, since the last time we took F11 to the vet to investigate an open sore on her belly that she'd been licking nonstop, they basically said "it will heal in a week or so." then charged us $100.

Had a cat do this when we changed the brand of litter. It was really strange. Was getting ready to take her to the vet when I decided to try her old litter again. (went from some sandy Arm and Hammer like scoopable stuff, to Feline Pine, thinking it was better for the environment) She was using her litter box properly again within an hour.

Moral? Have you made any other changes to the cat's environment there?

My cat likes to chew on houseplants. I don't think she actually swallows the leaves, just bites and chews on them. Is there something I can get for her to chew on, that doesn't involve houseplants? By the way, she used to dig up the soil of the plants, but someone recommended putting aluminum foil over the dirt, and that did the trick.

I caught my cat doing coke the other night, he played it off like it was just a one time thing and someone just happened to give it to him for free and whatever. You know that's bullshit.