Help my cat pee in the litter box again!

July 28, 2024 11:50 AM

In the past month, our beloved cat Paddington (cat tax!) has been sick, and acting different. One of the differences in his behavior is that he's not peeing in his litter box any longer. How can we encourage him to use the litter box, and not to pee in other places around the apartment?

Paddington developed anemia a month ago, and has been subdued and uncharacteristically not social.
He's getting very thorough medical care, which is good! However, one of the differences in his behavior is that he pees in various places around the apartment: a tiled corner of the bathroom, inside a wooden storage bin, on a cardboard box. After peeing in one of these other places, he doesn't scratch or attempt to clean up the way he typically would after using the litter box.
What strategies have you used to get cats peeing in their box again? While we're moving likely targets to inaccessible places and keeping closet doors shut tight, we want him to again prefer his box.
His litter box itself is an ample size, in a private location, and has completely fresh litter.
Thank you for reading. One more picture of Paddington.

posted by lasagnaboy to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

Best answer: Our car had a bladder infection and started peeing on a rug.

We ultimately just placed a second litter box where she was peeing and then replaced the soiled rug shortly thereafter. We slowly shifted the new litter box to a less conspicuous place- moving it a few feet every few weeks. We spent most of last fall with an open litter box in our living room before we finally got it into a hallway at least.

Eventually she just started using her old litter box and after we removed the new one after a month or so of her never using it.
posted by noloveforned at 12:00 PM on July 28 [2 favorites]

Best answer: For a long time, one of our cats would only pee on a pee pad. This was annoying but not as annoying as peeing anywhere else.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:22 PM on July 28 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Do you have any other pets in the house? If so, does Paddington get along with them? Any change in your routine? Cats can be surprisingly sensitive to change/stress in the house which can lead to inappropriate peeing.

I would also consider adding a second litterbox if he just has the one. The general rule of thumb is one more litterbox than number of cats.
posted by cozenedindigo at 12:34 PM on July 28

Best answer: My cat had crystals and so associated painful pee with the litter box.
To retrain, we gave him a favorite treat (yogurt) when near the box, then after using the box, etc. it took a few weeks to build a new association.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 3:19 PM on July 28 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you all for the suggestions.
Paddington’s recent trips to the hospital have definitely brought him stress. We are meeting him where he is and adding a litter box near where he has been spending most of his time.
We have — unsuccessfully! — tried treats to associate using the litter box with tastiness.
posted by lasagnaboy at 6:44 PM on July 28

When I first got my tortie (6 months old), she was doing this in my living room. I put a puppy pad in a litter box, and when she started using it, began moving the box toward the bathroom in small increments. She moved with it, and that solved the problem.
posted by elphaba at 7:46 PM on July 28

Dr. Elsey makes different types of "cat attract litter" - clay, crystal, one specifically for senior cats, etc) and also also an additive that you can add to any litter. We had good luck using the cat attract kitten litter when we first brought home one of our guys and he was peeing outside of the box.
posted by amarynth at 7:43 AM on July 29 [2 favorites]