Why is my female cat peeing outside the tray ? Help me fathom the unfathomable-the mind of the Fur Overlord

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Our cats are 3yo . Bro/Sis neutered .
They have a microchip door so only they come into the house .
We've had them 2 years , always used Cats Best and they like the tray not the garden.

She has started peeing outside the tray . She'll pooh in th yray we hear her scrape the walls (its a covered one )
Used to put a honeycomb rubber mat on the floor but it got peed on.
Then DH bought a clear plastic mat . Same
A shallow tray for the liter box to sit in. Same
I've started now giving her a puppy pad which I've noticed is being peed on. I feel if the plastic/tray is wet they won't use the tray at all .

No blood . Good amount of pee so she's drinking ( the litter clumps and they pee at the front , soil at the back) so I'm not thinking cystitis or similar . She doesn't hunch or strain.
We sometimes see her do it but I don;t think she'd appreciate being pushed into the tray

Nothing has upset them but I don;t know why she's started perching her bum outside the tray ?

I'm wondering if I should go back to a plain tray not hooded ?

Help - they are such lovely little clean animals normally ,

Mine won't share a tray. They won't do anything in a dirty tray either. And there is one tray neither will use. It just sits there silently offending them.

How may trays do you have and how often are they cleaned properly?

You should have 3 trays - try that first

We've started with 2 , then 3 but they only ever used one ..
They share happily .

At one point they had the cupbord under the stairs ( with a catflap) and three massive trays but they managed to miss and get on the floor ( don't know if it was him or her ) so we moved them out of there to the hall which is quiet .

So the past 18 months they've had the big lidded one in the hall and been fine .

It is cleaned asap they use it (they make a lot f noise and saunter back ) they will come in out of the garden to soil /pee .

We empty and clean about every 7-10 days , pick out several times a day and refill when needed .

And she is the bossy one - she would take over and make him go in the garden (which he does do very occasionally )
I'm quite happpy for them to use the tray so I know they aren't shitting in my neighbours gardens

Well she's either changed her mind and wants a lean tray, dislikes the litter or something else.

The only way to find out is to give her some choices - more trays, different litter etc and see what she chooses

icatcare.org/advice/soiling-indoors/

icatcare.org/advice/making-your-home-cat-friendly/

My cat started doing this, transpired that she is diabetic.
Once on insulin the missing the tray stopped.

I did consider diabetes Broad I know with humans the peeing more is a sign. But she's not drinking more and she's not peeing more , just not getting it in the right place !

I'm going to try the lidded tray by the back door for her and a big flat tray in the hall .

I don;t think the litter is the problems she's happy to pooh on it .

If it's not behaviour then its a vet visit .

I would;

Go to pets at home today for Cystease capsules to mix in with her wet food. It soothes sores bladders & it’s something you can start her on before the vets open.

Collect a sample of urine in an oral syringe and give it to the vets in a sample bottle for testing incase she has cystitis. It needs to be fresh for testing.

Go back to an open tray.

Put an extra tray nearby in case she has decided she wants the option of an extra tray. Try ultraclumping sanicat gold in the extra tray, it’s eyewateringly expensive but soft on delicate paw pads.

Would she use a top hole box tray which she can’t hang out of?

Sounds like a trip to the vet is in order.
If clean bill of health you could try a bigger tray

You need three trays for two cats, ideally all in separate, quiet places.

What litter are you using? Mine prefer clumping litter to anything clay or wood chip based - I think as it's smaller and nicer on the paws.

Many cats don't like to pee and poo in the same tray - they prefer a choice (hence the need for extra trays) - if she doesn't use it it's no big deal to just keep it there just in case

Ok phase one in operation:

Moved the lidded tray along the hall a bit away from the original.

Put a big tray ( over 30" x 18" - its an underbed storage tray , took the wheels off it ) in the original space

Smaller tray under the table in the back room.

Already the big tray has been used , I noticed the litter was ruffled up and there was a buried pooh and a pee clump.
Might've been him though.

I'll get a pee sample from the plastic tray the lidded one sits on then contact her vet .

They've always used Cats Best since we had them , lovely and soft on the old toe beans and no smell from it .
If ..... if they bury , then no smell from the pooh either ( put them on grain free when we got them , huge fifference )

The only time it smells is if they've gone "out for lunch" ( scavanged , snails are a favourite )

We had a cat who did this, would get in the tray but angle herself in such a way that the pee went outside the tray, all poos in tray no problem, and no problem being on the litter if you see what I mean. We did pretty much everything you have done to no avail, turned out the cat had kidney problems and had done so since birth.