Our older cat goes to the bathroom all over the house - Pet forum for dogs cats and humans

davmar77 · #1 August 25th, 2010, 09:16 AM

this is my first post here so let me say hello to everyone here.

we have two cats. the older one is about 17 and the younger about 7. at the end of 2008 we sold our house on long island for a move to the albany,ny area as the result of a promotion for my wife. during a period of about 5 weeks, we had to board both cats on long island during an unexpectedly long closing period. a friend of ours in the new area volunteered to take them until we got settled in after finally closing on the new house. that added another week or so and yet another move for them. we finally got them into our new home shortly after in the end of january 2009. all in all, they were in our old house, the vet's facility, our friend's place and then our new house all in a 6-7 week period. i know this is not good for cats but we had no choice. the younger one took to the new place right away and was glad to be with us again. the older one didn't seem so adaptable. we even had trouble getting him out of the carrier. after a couple of months he started to poop and pee in various parts of the house. we made sure the one litter box we had was clean and have even added a second one on the main floor of the house. the first is in a second floor bathroom. aside from leaving us 'gifts' around the house, he had started to wait for us to come home from work and poop right in front of us. obviously he is not happy about something. we still haven't gotten to a vet up here although he seems fine. he eats and drinks fine and stays in the room where we are. he isn't as friendly as the younger cat to visitors but that has always been. we are so close to doing something we don't want to do but we are at a total loss.

has anyone here had this problem? any help is greatly appreciated.
thanks,
dave

Winston · #2 August 25th, 2010, 09:45 AM

Welcome to the site! A couple of things...A vet visit will be the first order of business because they are usually doing these things as a way to let you know there is something wrong.

The other thing you could try because I think you indicated the one having the issue is a 17 yr old? A friend if mine had an older kitty doing the same and he change the litterbox to a long rectangular storage box that is only about 5 -6 inches high but very long in length. His kitty stopped the inappropriate urination right away and what we beleive is that the hight of the litter box or mobility issues resulted in some form of pain and the cat associates that with the litter box.

Once he replaced it everything stopped!

Good Luck!

catlover2 · #3 August 25th, 2010, 10:10 AM

Welcome to the forum. Well your very senior kitty has gone through a lot of changes and this no doubt has upset him, and "inappropriate elimination" is often a common problem. But it has been over a year now since you moved in Jan. 2009 First thing is to have him checked by a vet to see if there is a urinary problem . It's most likely behavioural, but better to have it checked. I think he should be confined to one room while you are out working, with his litter box, food, etc. If the younger one and your old cat have a cuddle buddy or generally friendly close relationship, it would be better to have the two of them together in one room. That way he won't feel so "lost". Most cats 17 y.o. tend to sleep a lot during the day. When he's more settled in the one room, do give him exploration time when you're home to surpervise. Hopefully with lots of attention when you're home he will be assured and comfortable that this is now his new home. Cats like a routine and hopefully this will give him some stability. Let us know how things work out.

davmar77 · #4 August 25th, 2010, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catlover2

Welcome to the forum. Well your very senior kitty has gone through a lot of changes and this no doubt has upset him, and "inappropriate elimination" is often a common problem. But it has been over a year now since you moved in Jan. 2009 First thing is to have him checked by a vet to see if there is a urinary problem . It's most likely behavioural, but better to have it checked. I think he should be confined to one room while you are out working, with his litter box, food, etc. If the younger one and your old cat have a cuddle buddy or generally friendly close relationship, it would be better to have the two of them together in one room. That way he won't feel so "lost". Most cats 17 y.o. tend to sleep a lot during the day. When he's more settled in the one room, do give him exploration time when you're home to surpervise. Hopefully with lots of attention when you're home he will be assured and comfortable that this is now his new home. Cats like a routine and hopefully this will give him some stability. Let us know how things work out.

i guess it's past time for a vet visit. for the first couple of weeks in the new house we did keep them together when we left for work in the room with the box, food and water and let them out when we came home. it was ok at first but after a while this started to happen. the second box is smaller and shorter so we thought that would help but it really hasn't.

14+kitties · #5 August 25th, 2010, 11:37 AM

I am going to also suggest a vet visit with a thorough examination. Not just bladder seeing as he is also defecating. A blood work up would be called for in this situation.
Because of the timeline I would not think it's the move that did this. You say he was fine for the first couple of months and started urinating and defecating after that so it just does not fit that he was upset with the move. If that was the case he would have started his behaviour within days of moving to the new house.
Are the litter boxes near the washing machine or dryer or any other appliance that could have started up noisily while he was in the box and scared him? That is sometimes enough to throw him off using the box. Does your other cat ambush him while he is trying to use the box? That also would make him stop using it. Did you or your wife perhaps unknowingly scare him while he was using the box? All of these things can be enough to make him stop using the box and choose other spots.
I agree with Winston in getting a longer, squatter box to use for litter. Also, you could try Dr Elsey's Cat Attract litter. http://home.ivillage.com/pets/cats/0,,q5pt,00.html That may be a start to help solve your problems. First stop though - the vets.

sugarcatmom · #6 August 25th, 2010, 11:46 AM

I agree that a vet visit with full senior blood panel and urinalysis would be a good idea at this point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davmar77

the second box is smaller and shorter so we thought that would help but it really hasn't.

Winston's idea of trying a different litter box is good. Find a very large, flat, under-the-bed style storage box, perhaps even trimming down one of the sides if necessary. It's pretty much a guarrantee that your kitty has some degree of arthritis (80-90% of cats over the age of 12 do) and it's quite possibly painful for him to get in and out of the box. The smaller the box, the harder it is for arthritic cats to turn around in, and the ones with high sides are tough to get in and out of.

Not sure what type of litter you use (any changes in that department?) but you could try some Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract, which has some added herbs that cat's find irresistable to pee on.

davmar77 · #7 October 8th, 2010, 09:38 AM

well, after various things we tried and some passed time, we finally got him to the vet. nothing really to report. just the usual things related to age but no more. at this point we've had to close him in a bathroom with his own food ,water and litter when we are not home. it's not a great way to go but it's better than coming home to gifts all over the house. we are at a loss after this.

BenMax · #8 October 8th, 2010, 09:54 AM

We had an elderly cat (who recently passed) who did the same. After hundreds of dollars of tests etc...we found 2 things:

#1 - arthritis. The litter was not accessible enough for her to get too. It was located downstairs. We moved it upstairs and everything went well....for 1 year.

#2 - after the year - she went back to urinating everywhere. Again more tests which reveilled kidney failure (not sure why it was not originally diagnosed). This could not be cured and she died only 2 weeks later.

I say get a 2nd opinion. Had we done that in the first place, she still may be here.

Good luck.

sugarcatmom · #9 October 8th, 2010, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davmar77

well, after various things we tried

What various things did you try?

Love4himies · #10 October 8th, 2010, 12:12 PM

Thank you for coming back and updating us.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davmar77

we finally got him to the vet. nothing really to report. just the usual things related to age but no more.

What exactly did the vet test for?

There is a reason, either mentally something happened while he was using the litter box, or he has a medical condition that is associating pain with going to the bathroom in the litterbox. How does your younger cat react before when he was in the litter box? Have you had any renos going on in you new home that may have scared him while he was using the litterbox? Do you know if there were any pets previously in the new home that he may smell?

Does he use the litterbox while he is locked in the bathroom?

davmar77 · #11 October 18th, 2010, 10:00 AM

what we have now done is to close the older cat in one of the bathrooms when we are not home. he has water, food, a litter box and something to lay on. i know this is not the answer but for now, it will have to do. when we let him out we are keeping an eye to make sure he's not going back to the area he was using the most for 'gifting' us. interestingly, when we check the room after he goes out, we can see he has been using the litter box almost the whole time. a while after we feed both cats, he will head back towards that room and wait to get let in. he seems to have gotten used to having his own room now.

catlover2 · #12 October 18th, 2010, 12:53 PM

Glad to hear things have worked out, thanks for the update! Sounds like he's happy about his arrangement.

sugarcatmom · #13 October 18th, 2010, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davmar77

what we have now done is to close the older cat in one of the bathrooms when we are not home. he has water, food, a litter box and something to lay on. i know this is not the answer but for now, it will have to do. .

I'm still wondering what else you've tried and what exactly the vet visit involved. Do you have any lab results you could post?