Cat advice please! Possibly urine infection or stress?

[Disappointed88]

Hi, I have a vet appointment booked for this afternoon already so will obviously ask them, but wondering if anyone has had similar experiences.

Our cat is a rescue cat who has been with us for 2.5 weeks, she seems to have settled really well but obviously it's early days. She has been litter trained with no accidents since she arrived, until last night when she has done small wees on a random selection of soft surfaces- chair, bed, folded jumper. She's also been using the litter tray more often and digging more in the litter, spreading it around. She doesn't otherwise seem anxious or upset, is eating fine, sleeping, coming for cuddles, not meowing more than usual. The wees on other things have been when she is in a room without a litter tray because she likes to be in the same room as one of us when we are home.

I was wondering if anyone had similar experiences and what you did/what happened, if this is more likely to be due to a physical issue like an infection or psychological like anxiety. Or maybe just part of settling in process for her?

She's also been using the litter tray more often and digging more in the litter, spreading it around

This makes me suspect an infection, and so do the small wees in different places, so glad you're taking her to the vet.

I would have thought that willful weeing would have come on more gradually and been bigger puddles.

Have you changed her food since you got her? Dry food can sometimes irritate and cause urine infections. Wet food is better for cats prone to them.

Thanks for the reply, I was thinking the same. We are feeding her the same food which is a mixture of wet and dry, but she prefers the dry. Is there anything else I can give to encourage her to drink more, or maybe I should just try some other wet foods to see if she eats more of them?

When my cat was old and poorly over the hot weather this summer I used to blitz cooked chicken or fish in a few spoons of water water to make a kind of thick soup.
But take her to the vet is the first thing you must do.

Some people swear by water fountains.
Leave water bowls in corners around the home and away from their food / eating place.

It does sound like a UTI so you're doing the right thing seeing the vet. I've recently got a 'water cooler' style dish for my cats, so the bowl refills itself from the reservoir - no electrics to worry about, works on gravity, and they seem to like it.

Sounds like a urine infection with the frequent weeing especially as up until now she has happily used her litter tray. You can get special granules to put in the tray to soak it up which can then be tested (or do what I did and follow them with a spoon and catch a tiny bit of wee each time and put in a jar!!).

Sometimes there are no other obvious symptoms (no meowing etc).

Water fountains can be good and provide water bowls away from food.

My cat had stress issues which caused frequent urination when I used to travel away a lot and painkillers resolved this without needing antibiotics. But obviously get antibiotics if an infection as it's miserable for them.

My cat was exactly like this and vet said it was stress cystitis. Got prescribed a couple of different pills, think a painkiller and a bladder calming one but it's not a true bacterial infection so no antibiotics.. Ordered a feliway. Been ok since. Vet said it was the new kitten causing the older cat stress.