Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Flip

Original poster

Older cats and just missing the litter tray

23 replies

WhirlwindHugs · 30/01/2017 07:11

Any exoerience with this? Our cats are elderly (18ish now) and have multiple health issues dx for at least a year. It's not been unusual for one or both of them to occasionally get in the litter tray but leave their bum hanging out and end up with wee on the floor. However it's gone from a every couple of days thing to multiple times a day. Trying to work out if it's one cat doing it or both.

The prine suspect has also been eating slightly more dry food, but the slightly less suspicious one has been more aggressive.

Given that they're not incontinent, they just seem to be missing the tray a lot I wonder whether this is just an inevitable 'they're old' thing or whether it's a sign their conditions have stepped up? Any experience?

OP posts:

LittleCandle · 30/01/2017 07:14

My old cat did this and with her it was a sign of kidney problems. Best to have a chat with your vet.

picklemepopcorn · 30/01/2017 07:19

One of those hooded igloo trays, so they can't hang out? Stand it on a thick sheet of cardboard.

Original poster

WhirlwindHugs · 30/01/2017 07:27

We can't use the hoods anymore unfortunately as they don't like it (both would struggle to get in for different reasons!)

That's a shame candle one of them already has kidney issues, I guess this may mean they are worse. will call the vet, thank you

OP posts:

YesItsMeIDontCare · 30/01/2017 07:31

Sorry for being a bit obvious but can you get a bigger tray? Or d'you think they'd still miss?

Original poster

WhirlwindHugs · 30/01/2017 07:37

One of our trays is bigger than the other and it doesn't seem to make a difference - interesting point though.

OP posts:

HowardMoonsJazzTrumpet · 30/01/2017 07:44

My elderly boy did the same thing (sadly we had to pts last year at 21). The vet thought he had dementia so we assumed it was part of that as he had no other physical problems (beyond being a bit creaky). We just used to put puppy training mats under his tray to catch the misfires.

Hunbunscarybitch · 30/01/2017 07:55

I bought puppy pads and put the litter tray on it. Puppy pads soak up any misses

Wallywobbles · 30/01/2017 08:00

Sadly this is common my old girl used to pee in her sleep (mostly on the sofa) and in the dogs baskets when awake. Or just anywhere pretty much by the end. And because one did the other did too.

If you smelled cat piss you just had to find it because it'd be somewhere.

picklemepopcorn · 30/01/2017 08:04

When I was a kid, we had a cat that would occasionally mess while she was asleep. (We gave her milk, with hindsight that was a bad move!).

I spent one Christmas Day sick with fear because I could smell it and was waiting for my mother to notice and go ballistic. Turned out to be a wheel of Stilton sat on the sideboard!

Weedsnseeds1 · 30/01/2017 08:13

My old girl did this towards the end. She had dementia ( kidneys fine in her case).

dodgydonkeysdoodah · 30/01/2017 08:13

You can get hooded trays, or if they won't use that, there are high sided ones which are about 8inches high which they would have trouble hanging their bum over. It sounds to me as if they are trying but not quite getting it right, rather than making a deliberate protest.
I thought I knew a lot about cat litter until my cats got old. We're now onto three trays and a litter bill which must be around £350/year, but if it keeps the inappropriate soiling off my carpet, it is worth it!

AvengingGerbil · 30/01/2017 08:43

Bed mats for toddler training under the tray to catch the wee. My old girl did this because the arthritis on her back legs meant she couldn't fully support her weight, so she rested on the edge of the box, with inevitable overspill. I'm afraid the end was in sight.

Original poster

WhirlwindHugs · 30/01/2017 10:10

Avenging arthritis struck me as a definite possible. I don't think she's moving around the house as much as she used to. She keeps refusing to come down to eat too.

If there is another dx to add to her long list I think we'll have to have the quality of life conversation. I'm not sure how happy she is anymore.

OP posts:

twojues · 30/01/2017 13:35

I'm having building work done at the moment and my two girl cats won't go outside because the builders are really scary!!

I have put a litter tray upstairs for them and had to put it in one of these as they kept missing. It works really well. I put puppy pads in the bigger tray so it soaks up the wee.

www.lakeland.co.uk/20228/Oven-Rack-Soaking-Tray

GRW · 30/01/2017 13:44

I have been buying the larger size puppy pads to go under the large litter tray for my 19 year old girl, who keeps missing the tray too.

LivingInMidnight · 30/01/2017 17:45

I'm sure I've seen one somewhere with higher sides than normal... I'll see if I can find it. We put newspaper around ours when this happened with my last cat.

LivingInMidnight · 30/01/2017 17:54

I'm sure I saw it in wilko, but it was some time ago and I can't see it on their website. It was higher on 3 sides so would still have been accessible. I nearly bought it. There's some high sided ones on Amazon and zooplus though.

Original poster

WhirlwindHugs · 30/01/2017 19:03

Yes we use newspaper underneath, I'm reluctant to get anything with high sides as their mobility is not great.

So she's been to the vet and it looks like UTI is the main cause, so treating that and hopefully she will recover well. Thanks for the advice everyone!

OP posts:

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 31/01/2017 07:16

We've had this with Harry a couple of times but I genuinely don't think there's anything wrong with his legs, in his case it's because he wees up the side of the tray and sometimes misses. This is the cat that digs a hole in the garden, stands in the hole and does what he has to do on the edge!

Puppy pads are an excellent idea as we no longer get a free paper.

ryderandthepups · 31/01/2017 07:20

Not so much missing the tray but my oldest girl keeps weeing on the sofa which is horrible to clear up. She's a bit creaky these days and I think she just doesn't get there in time.

UrethaFranklin · 31/01/2017 11:03

MIne does this since he had an operation on his leg last year and now can't stoop properly. I use puppy pads but he misses these just lately and leaves a puddle on the floor. My house is starting to stink and all my mopheads are getting soaked in cat wee faster than I can wash them!

I was googling yesterday and saw some trays used for gardening that I am thinking of putting under his litter tray, maybe with newpaper or puppy pads in, and then at least any wee will be contained within the larger tray and not all over the floor. Thats the theory anyway. Something like this.

Leax · 28/02/2018 21:07

Had a similar issue with my 15 year old cat who died earlier this month. For the last year she was either hanging her bum over the edge or just peeing in the general area of the litter. Like others I used puppy pads, they were great. In addition to that I bought the base for a large dog crate in the pet shop and had the litter sitting on that also, as it was easy to clean with the hose and helped save the floor from accidents

Paige2223 · 10/09/2019 11:54

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Flip