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!

Hello everyone, good news - I had to go away unexpectedly the weekend before last and get a cat sitter. I've been back a week now, and am pleased to say there have been no accidents since I got home. I have no idea why as nothing in the cats' set-up has changed, but long may it continue!

I had the same problem. My cat seemed to squat near the edge of the tray and a small amount went into it but a lot went outside it. I solved it by putting a smaller tray inside a larger one. I put a bit of cat litter in the larger one then put the smaller tray with cat litter on top. Problem solved because if she peed over the side of the tray it was caught in the larger one

That's a good tip - thanks Dodie. Will keep it in mind in case we have any more accidents!

So tonight I have finally caught the culprit! I was sitting in the conservatory when boy cat came in, went on to the tray and only semi crouched, sending his wee straight up the wall and trickling all down the floor!

I’m at a loss what to do - he is using the tray and isn’t just sitting and peeing on the floor, which is very positive. I’ve also seen him sit down “properly” to wee in the litter numerous times, so I know that he is capable.

Any thoughts?

Could you try a covered tray, that way it's all contained?

Get hooded trays. It will mean you need to wash the lid bit but at least it will be contained.

We have six cats and four litter trays. One of ours has a habit of perching on the edge of the tray, all four paws balanced along the side, to have a wee. Unfortunately she prefers doing it on the tray that has no top and has tipped the whole thing over a few times! She uses the other trays too but it's absolutely hilarious the way she just walks through the entire tray and then carefully climbs on to have a wee.

Another of ours has a wee in one tray and then goes to 'cover it up' in another tray.

I've just come to the conclusion that all cats are slightly bonkers.

Thanks all - I will look into hooded trays! They've never actually used one before - hope they take to it!

Hi everyone,

Quick update on this for anyone else who might be having problems. I finally let my cats outdoors for the first time at the start of June (they had to be kept in for four to five months when they arrived, as they were super timid rescue cats).

Since then I'm pleased to report that ginger male cat has had no further accidents with the litter tray! I wonder if it could be connected? Hope I'm not tempting fate by posting this...