Why does my cat pee directly in front of her box?

[msrisotto]

I'm absolutely puzzled by it.

I have had her checked out by the vet, they analysed a urine sample and apart from being a bit concentrated (so she was a bit dehydrated), it was fine and she in general checks out fine. She doesn't appear lethargic or anything unusual. She's an indoor cat by the way.

She has two boxes in the downstairs loo. She uses both - one for wee, one for poo, just sometimes (averaging about once a week at the moment) she wees in front of her poo box as well. I clean the spot thoroughly. I move the box forward and she wees behind it. I put tin foil down and she appears to use her wee box as usual. The cleaner moved the box on top of the tin foil today and she peed in front of the box again.

She has form for weeing on the door mat so I bought a deterrent and she doesn't go there anymore. The downstairs loo is next to the front door so I wonder if territorial insecurity has something to do with it but the tiny window is difficult to see through (a kind of ripple effect glass made that way for privacy). I am thinking about buying some opaque film to cover it just in case - does anyone know where you can get that stuff from?

Any other ideas? The vet's only other thought is about anti anxiety meds which i'm not a fan of seeing as the behaviour is quite infrequent.

I think a tin of tuna and mine would let you steal him, and he's a rough tough bengal.

What's the local area like? Do you think she wants to go out? Do you think she could learn cars are bad?.

The local area is mixed. 3 schools on the road but my house is off that road in a small close. She'd be oblivious to cars though, I'd be bricking it if she headed that way. There's more than enough gardens either side of the house.

She doesn't generally show interest in going out although if I leave the door open long enough she'll trot out and have a look. She never tries to get out as we're entering or leaving the house.

She sounds happy enough with the status quo then, we had one like that.

Well those are disappointments. Did you take the lid off the new box?

Yeah I took the lid off on Saturday or Sunday.

She's unhappy about something but I'm not clear what. My instinctive guess is that it's something to do with the people she's living with (because it usually is.) What are your working and living hours usually? And how often does the cleaner come in? Oh - and where does she sleep? (Sorry if you've already said.)

Ouch! What do you mean? Do you think she doesn't have enough attention/stimulation?

Erm, I'm home one day a week usually although at the moment it's two days a week, same with DH. When I'm at work I'm out of the house from 8am to between 4 and 5.30. DH is out of the house overnight usually at least once a week. When he is she is more likely to sit on me. The cleaner comes in once a week. The cat sleeps on a radiator mounted bed next to our bed in the main bedroom.

Just to clarify, I'm home Mondays and Fridays, DH is home on Fridays and sometimes Thursdays, cleaner comes Thursdays. We both feed her (although me more than DH), play with her and groom her. She has a tendency to follow us around the house but she buggers off upstairs when she needs her own space too.

No need for an Ouch - it wasn't a criticism. Just that they're funny creatures and sometimes something we do doesn't 'suit'. It does sound awfully like protest peeing though.

As I said way above, it's probably either another cat or something in her environment. I'm assuming you've already checked out the cleaning materials the cleaner is using to ensure that none of them are liable to smell like something she doesn't like/another cat?

I'm off to the supermarket now so I'll mull it over on the walk.

Thank you, I provide the cleaning products, nothing with bleach in, I'm not aware of anything else which might be problematic?

Sorry I didn't get back here sooner - the decorating was calling.

Do you have anything which has ammonia in it? That can smell like cat pee to their sensitive noses. What products do you provide? (Other posters may be abe to help on this one as well.)

I think they can get into and out of routines pretty quickly.

Our oldest girl took a dislike to the kind of litter so we experimented until finding one she eventually liked.

Also found the deep litter works better and if your cat changed her toilet habits when you made the litter shallower, I would take that as a sign.

One other thing we bought some plastic with little bumps on. Not only for protection of the floor but also because it was uncomfortable for her to stand on and then pee on.

I'll double check the products for ammonia. Flash lemon scented floor cleaner, cig cream cleaner, again lemon scented and Mr.Sheen polish.

I'm about to take her to the vet actually. A couple of days ago I noticed that she had scratched herself, between her eye and her ear. Yesterday it was worse, bleeding and was on the other side as well. Today it is the same as yesterday but there is another scratch just in front of it too. It makes me wonder if she is stressed.

Here. I swear the vet is going to wonder what is going on with us both!

I think that that's a good idea. Maybe, having tried all the environmental things, you need to try to break her of the habit as a final stroke - it's possible that it's become a 'thing' for her if she's mildly T'd off with something.

I know you said that you're not a fan of anti-anxiety meds but perhaps discuss using something like Zylkene or Calmex with your vet? I seem to recall that other posters have have experience with those and may have some comments.

Put a puppy training pad where she pees.

At least it's less cleaning up.

I forgot to ask her today, I don't think you need a prescription for those so I might ask her over the phone about it.

The vet said that she might be allergic to something but not sure what as she doesn't have fleas or mites or anything. We were given antibiotics and a spot on thing for any pests it could possibly be. She won't take the antibiotic tablet though for love nor money.

Vets should really give owners tetanus jabs when they prescribe tablets. I'm sure they had a right laugh when I left.

Have done a bit of research on Zylkene and feel happy about trying it. Seeing as I can't give her tablets, I'll be sprinkling it in her food. She usually free feeds dry food and has one Sheba as a treat on weekends. Can anyone recommend a good quality wet food that is reasonably priced?

Or gin.

"Just pop the tablet at the back of its throat"

Cats don't make good patients.

Seniorboy has a pill phobia so extreme that the vet wouldn't even consider giving him anything in pill form. (ABs come as an injection for him - anything else has to be liquid.)

But I think you deserve some gin on general principle - you're being a real trooper about this.

Oh please don't give your cat anti anxiety meds. She's protest peeling. They are sensitive creatures and can be put out by the simplest thing. She might not like the litter or it's positioned wrong. You just have to persevere and through a process of elimination she should stop. One of our old boys will only use the litter once. We have to remove the offending pee or poo and give a sprinkle of bicarb before he'll use it again. Don't project human emotions onto animals. She doesn't need meds.

Thank you so much for your support and encouragement. It really helps me feel calm and rational!

Inanimate, I'm just running out of ideas. I don't think she is fussed about the litter as firstly, she still uses her trays most of the time and secondly, I have given an alternative but she wasn't interested. This whole episode started after I made the litter deeper, however I have made it shallower then deeper again since and she doesn't seem to mind.

Well we've mostly all been there and while we sometimes joke on the board about 'accidents', I don't think anyone is really completely laid back about it. (Nothing like going to the loo in the dark middle of the night and stepping into a pile of soft poo or sick with your bare feet - or trailing it over half the floors if you're wearing slippers and until you realize what's happened from the smell.)

So people here are pretty sympathetic about your position. I suspect it will be a long haul and you'll eventually find out what the problem is but until then, you'll have to soldier on, weeding out the obvious issues.

(I'd still lay a modest wager on another cat spraying somewhere even though I have to bow to your household knowledge in your own place.)

If it is another cat, I've bought two sonic solar powered motion activated cat deterrents! For the front and back of the house. This officially makes me a crazy cat lady I think. Anyway, those have been there for a couple of weeks now. I'm not sure how else I could deter other cats.

If you have never seen hide nor hair of one, not sure if there is any other way. Bit like foxes - we never see one in the daytime or evening but if you happen to be up in the early hours and look out of the window, there they are, strutting down the street. (You can hear them of course during mating season. And we're in the middle of a city.)