Cat weeing next to litter tray

[Sunshine49]

Hi everyone!

I've had my two extremely timid rescue cats for just over two months now. They've made a lot of progress during that time - moving from cowering in a crate in the dining room when they first arrived (aw!) to roaming the house like they own the place, chasing their toys around and napping in the bedrooms upstairs. The more confident of the two (the ginger boy) has even been jumping onto our bed in the mornings to say hello - and I've managed to stroke the shyer girl quite a lot too, although she's still wary.

Anyway, when the cats first arrived they were sharing one big litter tray in the dining room filled with Oko cat's best. I then added a second tray in the conservatory after reading that two trays would be better for two cats.

They've both been using the trays perfectly happily since they arrived, with no issues at all. However, in the past month, I've come downstairs in the mornings to find one of them has done a wee on the floor, very near the litter tray in the conservatory. The first two times it was about a foot away from the tray; and then last night there was a wee right next to the litter tray on both sides (almost as if they'd walked across the tray mid-wee!)

The first two times this happened coincided with the only two times we've let the cats roam the house at night. We now confine them to three open-plan rooms downstairs (dining room, kitchen and conservatory) as they were racing up and down playing in the night and waking us up! Once we shut them back in the three rooms, there were no more wees on the floor for a couple of weeks, until last night's accident.

Both cats seem to be happy and content and in good health - really enjoying their food and playing a lot with their toys around the house. Does anyone have any thoughts on what could have caused this? Should I just chalk it up to an occasional accident or could it be something more serious?

I should add that both cats will be given the option to go outside into the garden eventually, but I want to make sure they're a bit more confident indoors (and with DH and I) before letting them out. The rescue centre suggested keeping them inside for at least three months to get them used to their new surroundings.

By way of background, both cats spent the first six months of their lives living in a big group of feral cats before they were rescued by the shelter. They were at the shelter for the next five months and have been with us for the last two.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

[Sunshine49]

Just giving this one a gentle bump