11/12/2024
Does your cat p*e on your bed out of spite? Do they get mad at you for leaving and p*e in your laundry? The answer is actually NO. Cat's don't have the capacity for spite, so if your cat isn't using the litterbox, something else is going on. But what could it be!?
🐱 Illness. A medical issue, pain, or discomfort can all cause a cat to urinate outside the box. Kidney disease, UTI's, bladder disease, and even GI disease are possible contributors.
🐱 Pain. Cat's are notoriously good at hiding their symptoms of pain, which means it often goes undiagnosed. Older cats with arthritis are especially at risk for chronic pain, and may struggle with getting in and out of a litterbox, causing them to go elsewhere. Finding a litter pan with lower sides can help with this!
🐱 Stress. Some cats are extremely sensitive to stress, and that can cause them to do things like, you guessed it - p*eing outside the box. We do sometimes see flare ups of urinary or GI disease with stress, which can also contribute, but chronic stress on its own can cause abnormal behavior.
🐱 Litter box preferences. Your cat may not like the litter they have, the litter box may be in too busy a space, it may not be clean enough, or there may be too many other cats using it. The general rule is one litter box per cat plus one (so if you have 3 cats, you need 4 litter boxes).
At the end of the day, urinary issues in cats can actually be an emergency, especially for male cats, who are sometimes prone to urinary obstructions, which can be fatal. If your cat is urinating outside the litter box, it's best to have them evaluated by a veterinarian to rule out any underlying medical conditions.
