Cat keeps weeing next to litter tray but not in it - help!

[Sunshine49]

Hi everyone!

I posted a while ago about the fact that one of my cats was doing the occasional wee on the floor next to the litter tray. I'm posting now as recently it's become an almost daily occurrence, and I'm getting a bit worried!

My two cats are a brother and sister (both just over one year old). They were living stray/feral from the age of 0-6 months and spent the next five months in a rescue centre before we adopted them just over three months ago.

They were confined to the open-plan kitchen/dining room/conservatory for the first two weeks and we've slowly introduced them to the rest of the house, to the point where they now have access to every single room. We had to do this very slowly as both cats are extremely timid (although they've become much bolder since arriving, to the point where they'll now sit on my knee for a minute or so when Dreamies are involved!)

I have two litter trays for them - one in the dining room and one in the conservatory. They're confined to these two rooms (plus the kitchen) every night. The litter trays are large and I use Oko Cat's Best litter.

All toilet behaviour was normal until about a month ago, when I came downstairs one morning to find that one of them had done a wee next to the litter tray in the conservatory. This happened about once every two weeks initially, but has been getting more and more frequent, to the point where it's practically every day.

At first the wees were happening overnight only, but there have been several accidents during the day this past week. I've been at home when it's happened, but unfortunately wasn't in the conservatory at the time so am none the wiser as to which cat it was!

With the latest wee this afternoon, there was a tiny bit in the litter tray itself and then a trail across the floor - so they either started weeing on the floor and walked towards the tray or vice versa.

I've been cleaning the floor with white vinegar each time to try and eliminate the odours - luckily it's a tiled floor so it's not too bad.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any insight into why this could be happening - and why it's always in the same place next to the same litter tray! Any advice you could give to try and stop it would also be much appreciated.

I should add that both cats are currently kept indoors but will go outside eventually (the rescue centre suggested that five months would be a good time to let them out, so they have another two months indoors to go).

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

How often do you clean the litter? Maybe your cat doesn't like sharing with your other cat as it's smells of their scent. I use worlds best litter for multiple cats, and find it works really well and both cats use it happily if they can't go outside. Alternatively you could introduce another litter tray. What style have you got? Does it have a cover? Maybe you can test with and without to see if he can refers privacy or more space to do his business.

How do they get along normally? Generally weeing outside the litter box (assuming it's relatively clean) isbout dominance, either they are spraying to mark their territory (the boy) or weeing in submission of the dominant cat (normally the female).

@Letstryagain, I scoop up wees and poos about twice daily from both trays, and replace the entire litter and clean the boxes with hot water and Fairy liquid once a month. The last time I did this was actually yesterday, and there was a new wee on the floor this afternoon, so having a clean tray with brand new litter doesn't seem to make a difference!

Both litter trays are quite large (36cm x 46cm) and are just basic, open trays. In terms of sharing - there are two trays down for them in adjoining, open-plan rooms, so they wouldn't have to share if they didn't want to I guess?

@TheHulks, they're brother and sister and were confined to a small cage at the rescue centre together for five months. The centre also specifically said they needed to be rehomed together as they're buddies! They do pretty much everything together - they'll sleep near to each other in the day for example. It's rare for them to be apart in separate rooms as well.

They do have some play fights and chase each other up and down the stairs; and sometimes the boy cat (who is very playful) will jump on the girl when she's relaxing on a chair for example. She does chase him around sometimes too, but I'd say he's probably the dominant cat overall.

The wees in the conservatory are proper wees rather than sprays (although I have noticed the odd spray on the walls right next to the other litter tray in the dining room, but had assumed this was just clumsiness/missing the target! Hmm!)

Could you take to the vets to check they haven't got an urine infection?

Hi Bananarama, I think I might have to - although I'm really reluctant to disrupt them with a car journey and trip to the vet, as they're so nervous and timid, and have only just recently been noticeably gaining in confidence and settling in! I'm concerned a trip to the vet could set them back

Could you ask if they will test the urine for you without bringing them in? We would do it but not so sure about other practices.

Mine will check urine without the cat being present.

Which litter are you using?.

I had this problem when I had to buy a different brand of litter one week. Even though I switched back immediately when it became clear the new stuff wasn’t deemed acceptable, he was peeing by the back door for months. The only way we stopped it was by keeping an eagle eye on him, catching him heading to the back door and then putting him into his litter tray- took a couple of weeks but he hasn’t done it for a while now. Urine test is a good idea, but I do think it can be a question of habit. Knowing cats, it might be as simple as one of them bothering the other mid-wee. If you’re using hooded trays could you take the hoods off, or vice versa? If you confined them to different rooms to identify the culprit would all hell break loose?

I think you'll have to do litter tray checks every few mins in the hope by find the culprit. Listen out for meowing from the litter tray rooms just in case one of them is in pain, also try and clean out the trays more often. It might help to buy some puppy training pads from somewhere cheap as that'll help cleaning up a bit

Bananarama - I didn't realise that was an option actually, thanks! I will ring the vet and ask. This is probably a ridiculously silly question, but would they be able to tell which cat it is (ie male or female) from the urine sample? Or is that not possible?

FluffyCloud - I'm using Oko Cat's Best, which is the same one I've used since they arrived. I did think about trying them on a new litter, but on the other hand, I figured they're obviously ok with it as they were using the trays perfectly well for the first two months. Maybe it is worth trying another one though just in case?

Forthelove - I could try confining them to different rooms, although I think they'd get quite upset as they seem to do everything together! I'm currently using open trays - I've never used a covered one. Perhaps it's worth a try?

Ifonly - I sit in the room next to the tray when I'm working and haven't heard any meowing. I think you're right - I'll have to keep going into the conservatory every couple of minutes to see if I can catch them!

I did see boy cat do a wee in the tray yesterday morning, which suggests that the girl is likely to be the culprit? Or could he be doing wees both in and out of the tray?

The plot thickens!

i'd try having two trays side by side. I suspect they do not want to share a tray, particularly as they are not the same sex.

The only time my cats have peed beside the tray is where they believe there is something wrong with it, for your cats that could be that the other cat has used it.

Thanks Trilogy! They do have two trays, but in different (adjoining open-plan) rooms. So they can use separate trays if they want to, although they both tend to use the conservatory one more I think. I will buy a third tray for the conservatory and see if that helps!

How high is the lip of the tray? Is it possible it's uncomfortable for one of them to try to get into the tray? Beside the tray suggests they know where they're supposed to be going

One of my boys doesn't squat enough when peeing and it squirts outside of the tray with a dribble in the litter as you describe, could this be what is happening? I'm planning to get a tray with deeper sides to see if it helps.

Just had a thought, if they're older cats, one of them may have arthritis and be finding it hard to squat.

Hi everyone, thanks so much for your replies.

Frolicking - the tray is 13cm tall, so quite deep - but I've seen them getting in and out with no problems. That's what I thought too - the wee is always next to the tray, not in some random area, so they have the right ballpark!

Rikalaily - I don't think so, as it's a huge puddle of wee outside the tray rather than a little bit?

Ifonly - they're both just over a year old and very active, so are fine on that front!

@Sunshine49

Mine has a big puddle outside the tray and only a little bit inside. I've seen him do it, he doesn't squat fully, he just bends a little so most of it flies over the top of the side of the tray. It's driving me mad!

@Rikalaily Hmm, interesting! I wonder if that's what my cat is doing too? The weird thing is that he (or she!) never used to miss the tray though - has your cat always done it or is it a recent thing? I'm sure you've already thought of this, but perhaps getting a deeper tray or one with a cover would help?

There haven't been any accidents today with my cats as I had a builder round, so both cats (who are very shy!) disappeared upstairs for most of the day and have only just come down. I have just bought a new sofa (a cheap one off Ebay) for the conservatory, which covers part of the floor where they wee by the tray. I wonder if that will help? Fingers crossed they don't just wee on the sofa!

@Sunshine49

He hasn't always done it, just the last couple of years and not every wee, happens about 2x a day, usually overnight too. I'm going to look into getting a deeper tray.

it's always in the same place next to the same litter tray

Move the litter tray a few inches to the favoured weeing spot? Probably the floor smells of wee in that place, and that’s why s/he keeps going there.

Hi Thatsalright - I've tried to get rid of the wee smell (and think I've been successful?) using white vinegar. If anyone has any tips for products that are more effective, I'd love to hear them - I know cats have very sensitive noses!

Pleased to report there were no accidents yesterday or overnight - we will see what happens!

Bio washing powder/liquid tabs are good for getting rid of urine smells. Or you can get proper pet urine removers

Surgical spirit is meant to be good - I used it when my girl had cystitis.

I don't think just taking a sample of urine is an option in this case. Unless you can be sure which one of your cats is doing the weeing outside of the box, how will you know which one has the infection? Are you eventually planning on letting them outside?

Thanks everyone! I might buy a bottle of pet urine remover.

Claire - yes, I am planning on letting them out, but not for another two months (because they're so timid, the rescue centre suggested keeping them indoors for five months so they can get fully accustomed to DH and I and the house!) Do you think letting them out will make a difference?

I'm pleased to report there have been no accidents for two days now, which is good - maybe partially blocking the spot they weed on with the new sofa has helped? Fingers crossed anyway!