First Time Cat Owner

IMPORTANT: If your cat is in any distress or discomfort, please consult your own vet as your first priority.
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Sabby321
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First Time Cat Owner

Post by Sabby321 »

I have a male cat named Sebastian, he is one years old and lately he has started to pee outside of his litter box, I first thought his litter box was not clean enough so I scoop out whatever I can find daily and do a deeper clean two times a week but nothing has changed and I’m desperate for answers on how to make him stop this behavior, I just don’t know what to do.
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fjm
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Re: First Time Cat Owner

Post by fjm »

Assuming there is no more obvious explanation (change of litter, starting a new cleaning or other product close by, moving the tray, something startling or frightening him while he was on the tray, stress in the home, etc) I think the first thing to do would be to get him checked by your vet in case there is a health issue causing the problem. Crystals in the urine, for example, can make peeing uncomfortable and the cat associates the pain with the litter tray and avoids it. Crystals can also become a major emergency should they block the urethra, so are worth ruling out. I would try for a pee sample at the time of the visit - spreading a big sheet of plastic under the tray should do the trick if he is peeing just outside it. In the meantime putting down incontinence sheets or a washable bathmat may help you to relax. Many urination problems in cats are caused by stress, and they pick up on your feelings, so it can easily escalate into a vicious spiral!
Sabby321
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Re: First Time Cat Owner

Post by Sabby321 »

Thank you! I will go ahead and set up an appointment for him, and yeah I have changed his litter brand to something cheaper ( from family dollar) and he used to get stuff like,
“ pretty litter” or something along those lines. But I’ll get him an appointment with his vet first, and thank you again for your advice.
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fjm
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Re: First Time Cat Owner

Post by fjm »

Change of litter might well explain it - I'd try swapping back to the old one before the expense of a vet visit!
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Ruth B
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Re: First Time Cat Owner

Post by Ruth B »

Vet check is always the first thing to do with any change of behaviour if only to rule out any medical cause.

While no expert, from what I have heard, if a cat goes close to the litter tray but not in it it is a sign that there is something about the litter tray they don't like, but if they seem to be going anywhere it can mean a territorial issue, but as you only have the one cat Sebastian (or at least I'm assuming you do as no others were mentioned) this is less likely but can't be ruled out if they get upset about cats they can see outside.

As you have recently changed the litter then that is highly likely the cause of the problem. I can fully understand wanting to go onto a cheaper litter but if the cat doesn't like it then it is false economy. There may however still be cheaper options he would take to. Two main things to consider when choosing a new litter is grain size and scent. Most cats prefer a fine grained litter and can find ones like the wood pellet painful under paw, however cats are contrary and a cat used to wood pellet may not want to use anything else. Unscented litters are always the best and personally speaking a good deodourising litter is top of the list and in my mind worth paying for. Litters scented with lavender and the like, may smell nice to us, but can be far too over powering for a cats more highly developed senses. The other question is whether you changed the litter suddenly or spend time mixing the litters to get him used to the new one.

A few other things to consider are the size of the litter tray and whether it is covered or not. At a year old Sebastian is still growing so a litter tray that was plenty big enough 6 months ago might feel too small now, he may feel he hasn't got enough room to move around and dig properly. Covered litter trays also can be too low for a bigger cat making them feelthey can't sit comfortably to do their business. Covered trays also mean they can't see what is happening around them, particularly if the cover has a cat flap they have to use to get in and out of it. We may like privacy when using the toilet, but for a cat they tend to like to be able to see that nothing is going to jump them.

Hopefully it is nothing more than Sebastian not liking the new litter and he reverts to his original behaviour when you change back. I would suggest giving him a month or two on his old litter again if he is using it properly and then trying to find a cheaper alternative he will accept once his behaviour patterns have reestablished themselves.
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Re: First Time Cat Owner

Post by Sabby321 »

Sebastian is peeing far away from the litter box, the living room especially. And I forgot to mention I started putting a litter trash bag that goes on before you put in the litter ( I wanted to make changing out his litter box easier) could that me causing it? Well it could also be addition to I haven’t upgraded his litter box since he was a small kitten. I’m going to take out the trash bag and see if that will change anything, wish me luck!
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Mollycat
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Re: First Time Cat Owner

Post by Mollycat »

Bigger litter box might help too.
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fjm
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Re: First Time Cat Owner

Post by fjm »

You will also need to clean any areas he has used very thoroughly with a suitable enzyme cleaner - some people swear by white vinegar as an alternative, but detergent or bleach won't do the trick. If he can still smell traces of urine he will continue to use that spot. I would offer him his original tray and a bigger one, both with the original litter and no liner. If you can get him happily using both trays then you can try gradually changing one thing at a time in just one tray - mix in a little of the new litter with the original one, for example. It sounds as if adding the liner and changing the litter may have made the tray so different he no longer recognises it as his familiar toilet place.

I am assuming he has been neutered and there is no chance that this is marking behaviour? Is he squatting to make puddles, or spraying backwards against vertical surfaces?
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Re: First Time Cat Owner

Post by Sabby321 »

Yeah he has been neutered, and he has been squatting to pee on carpets and in one case a curtain.
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