| Paw Colors | Points |
|---|---|
| Grey | 0-49 |
| Red | 50-149 |
| Orange | 150-299 |
| Green | 300-599 |
| Magenta | 600-1499 |
| Purple | 1500-4999 |
| Blue | 5000-9999 |
| Brown | 10000-24999 |
| Black | 25000+ |
My cat, Chiana, has recently formed the habit of randomly peeing on things that on the floor (the floor itself does not seem to be the target). At least, it appears to be at random. The only discernible pattern is that she is peeing on things that could be considered “out of place” - shoes left at the door instead of put in the closet, mail when it comes through the mail slot, a throw pillow that was on the floor. All things that have been “out of place” on and off for the past 6 years, so I’m not talking about sudden changes in the environment.
The behavior began about 2 months ago. Chiana had always been a well behaved, cat-box user up until then. And she does continue to use her cat box at what appears to be her normal rate. She doesn’t show any of the other classic signs of having a urinary tract infection (lethargy, peeing on the bed {which she did the one time she did have an infection}, pain when I rub her lower back). There have also been no changes in our living circumstances at all.
I have cleaned all of the areas thoroughly. And like I said, she appears to only do it when something is where it “shouldn’t” be.
Any ideas? I am going to take her to the vet to have her checked out, but this really strikes me as a behavioral issue.
Oh, and another odd thing to note - she has as of yet NOT peed anywhere upstairs in the halls or bedrooms, and things are “out of place” on the floor there all of the time. She just does it in the lower rooms, mainly near the front door, though a few times in areas/on objects nowhere near the front door. She is an indoor cat.
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7 Answers
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If your vet has ruled out a urinary tract infection and any other health concern, she may be engaging in territory-marking behavior (spraying).
You haven’t said if she’s been spayed or not. If not, get her spayed. This reduces territorial behaviors and may stop the spraying.
Spayed/neutered cats sometimes spray too though it is rare. It almost sounds like something from outside is what is bothering her (hence targeting mail and shoes) such as other cats outdoors. You might want to try fox urine or some other means of deterring ferals/free-roaming cats from coming into your yard. A calming pheremone product like Feliway might help as well.
It might also be a result of some kind of stress - have you changed your schedule (new job, etc), gotten a new boyfriend/girlfriend, had a baby, gotten a new pet, etc? Any change can trigger stress in a cat, especially if it has had a very stable environment for most of its life and is not used to changes and it can take such a cat a long time to adapt to any change. Again, something like Feliway might work. You might also need to spend more time with her to get her to calm down some.
You haven’t mentioned your cat’s age either. Aged cats can develop a type of senility similar to alzheimers in human beings. Has she been engaging in any other unusual behaviors such as meowing repeatedly at nothing, signs of confusion, staring at the water dish, etc?
If you catch your cat in the act, don’t tap, slap or hit the cat, or yell at it and definitely don’t rub its nose in it, those things don’t work. Just distract the cat by clapping or shaking a can of dry beans, then pick her up and move her to her litterbox and praise her or give her a treat for going there.
I get the feeling this isn’t just a lapsed litterbox user but there are some common causes for litterbox avoidance you may try to address:
-The box is not being cleaned often enough. Some cats are picky and won’t use a dirty box.
-The type of cat litter. Scented litters especially. Try a non-scented clumping clay litter.
-The box is located in a noisy or high-traffic area or something is disturbing the cat when it is trying to go. Move the box somewhere quiet and out of the way.
-In a multi-cat household, sometimes one cat will bully or disrupt the other and put it off using the litterbox. Try getting an extra litter box and putting it in a different place
-The box is too small for the cat, it should be big enough that the cat can stand normally in the box and both its backside and its head should fit within the edges of it easily
-The box is covered and the cat doesn’t like the cover, or the box is uncovered and the cat likes covered boxes.
Comments to Answer
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We've had issues with several of our cats that were behavioral. Telegramsam has some great ideas. Litter can be a huge reason for a cat to avoid the litter pan. Non scoopable litter needs to dumped more often because urine soaks to the bottom of the pan. You may be scooping out the feces but the urine smell remains. Even with scoop able litter, the pan should be cleansed on a weekly basis. An old litter pan is another trigger. Sometimes replacing the old pan will solve the problem. Make sure you don't use anything other than bleach and water to clean the litter pan. Soak the pan, rinse and dry well. If you're using scented cleaners, some cats will avoid the pan. We have spare boxes so we can cleanse them frequently with bleach and water. Be careful when you soak the pan, though, to have it in the bathroom with the door closed so the cat won’t get into it. We have 3 cats that love bleach and will play in it!
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She said in the post below that she bought a new litter pan and the behavior continued *points down* I agree about replacing pans from time to time though, plastic absorbs all kinds of smells.
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She is spayed…My young son even asked if the spaying had come undone 
Our first thought was that we kept tracking something in from the outside and triggered the problem. Unfortunately, that doesn’t explain the throw pillow incident… But it’s good to see that at least we’re thinking along the same lines as other cat people.
I like the idea of Fellway; Chiana has always been a bit of a stressed-out cat. Oddly enough however, she became much more relaxed and friendlier with extended friends and family right before she started the peeing behavior (and continues to be).
Age - Chiana just turned 7.
When she first started the behavior, I actually swapped out her box for a new one thinking it might be too old and too small. And she’s using the same litter she’s been using for years.
This is most vexing!
Thanks for your input!
Comments to Answer
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Actually it could explain the pillow. Cats take out their frustrations in all sorts of ways, and the presence of a bothersome smell outside may be triggering it. I know of a friend whose cat when through a period where she would go ballistic if she saw another cat out the window. She didn't spray but she would get visibly upset and sometimes attack the nearest ankle in a fit of mis-directed aggression. Luckily Lola grew out of this behavior (she started doing this when she turned two years old but it only lasted about a year before she stopped doing it). You might want to try the fox urine anyway, stray cats in your yard could bring in fleas and all kinds of other trouble. Your regular vet may have some ideas as well but most general-practice vets don't specialize in this sort of thing and a cat-specific veterinarian or an animal behaviorist may give you better advice.
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Also her becoming calmer with strangers and starting to pee may be connected somehow, I would be a bit too much of a coincidence otherwise. She may have just developed this new "coping mechanism" to deal with her stress. Feliway may or may not help, I don't know. Like I said, an animal behaviorist is probably your best bet. In the meantime, try not to leave targets laying around for her! :P
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“new coping mechanism” — Wow, I think you really hit it on the head! Her personality changed, so much so towards the non-nervous side that even my teenage son noticed (and we know they don’t notice anything…). This could be her new stress outlet. I just made a vet appointment, though oddly enough, just from the phone conversation the assistant there felt it was more likely behavioral. But at this point, I figure let’s get the medical side looked at too, just to do our due diligence.
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It never hurts to have the cat looked at. In the FWIW department, sudden personality changes can have underlying physical causes, both in animals and human beings. I've known people who developed thyroid problems and basically went completely bat-guano insane as a result, then returned to their normal selves after getting treatment. Same goes for hormonal imbalances, and while your cat is spayed there are other hormones besides the sex hormones that can get out-of-whack. Good luck though, I hope you can solve this mystery!
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I was looking at Feliway’s website and they actually have some pretty good info about cats and stress.
http://www.feliway.com/gb/Stress-and-Cats/Stressful-situations-for-cats
This may or may not be of any use to you, but food for thought maybe?
Source Link: Stressful situations for cats
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One of my 172 cats had this same problem. What I did was I tied a walmart bag to it’s wang and at the end of the day I emptied it. Works well.
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