Peeing out of the litter tray

[Pambie]

My Burmese cat is 17 years old. She has always been very clean and never failed to use the litter tray until recently…
She has started to only go into the litter tray until she can feel the litter under her paws, and the she starts to pee. This means most of the urine comes out of the litter tray onto the floor. This doesn’t happen when she poos as she is quite happy to go right into the litter tray.
I have had to put a large plastic tray under the litter tray but this is difficult to empty without spilling.
I have tried litter trays with doors but she doesn't like going through the door.
I have a small kitchen and apart from everything else it is unhygienic to have a tray of urine in the kitchen.
I am at my wit’s end. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

[Crewella]

Poor old girl, I'm wondering if she's getting a bit stiff with age and can only just manage to hold it in until she gets over the edge? It might be worth trying a bigger, shallower tray that she can step into more easily.

In the meantime, you could try putting puppy pads (or similar) in the shallow tray to soak up the urine and make it easier to empty.

[lilynmitz]

Firstly, changes in toileting habits should always be checked out with the vet. There may be a medical reason for this. My old girl Lily was a "high piddler", so it often used to go outside the tray. She mainly did this when she was stressed, or in later life, because she was so arthritic she couldn't squat easily. With pooping, they have to squat a bit to do this as part of the natural muscle action, but peeing they can do in any position, including standing up (eg spraying).

I used high sided trays (and eventually covered trays, but without the door), which contained the pee well, but it sounds like you've already tried this. If she's getting stiff, get her to the vet and see what your options are - metacam, an anti-inflammatory, worked for Lily ineasing her arthritis, but she had kidney problems as well, which can be exacerbated by metacam. In her case the severity of the arthritis made her quality of life so poor that it outweighed the risk of damage to her kidneys, but I did modify the dosage as much as possible so that she was getting the minimum necessary to make her life more comfortable. Other things like soft and heated beds also helped.

It might also be that the trays aren't clean enough for her, so she's avoiding going into the tray further than necessary. Make sure you always clean them out thoroughly as soon as poss after they've been used. If her eye-sight's going, she will rely more on smell, and will avoid stepping in anything that her nose tells her might be soiled. (My blind puss Mitz eventually only pooped on the floor outside the tray as he wanted to avoid standing in wet patches, even though I kept them as clean as poss.)

Meanwhile, putting puppy pads in the lower pee-catching tray will absorb the liquid, making it easier to clean out.

Hope this helps a bit.