Advice for friend with peeing cat

[Richo]

A friend of mine asked me to post a question about this.

She has an 11 year old diabetic cat. He gets his daily insulin and it's been keeping his blood sugar in check. I don't know if that is related to the problem.

She feels like he is being spiteful when she is gone from the house. 2 weeks ago she took a vacation for a week and her daughter was checking in on the cat and giving him his shot. She says that when she got back there was urine on the throw rugs in the bathroom and ever since she has been back he has been doing it a lot a lot. Before that it was occasional.

She has 2 litter boxes upstairs that he uses for both ways, and one on the main floor that he also uses. When he pees on the floor it's always on the main floor and somewhere in the vicinity of the box but not in it, and it just seems to happen when she is away from the house. She keeps the boxes clean daily and hasn't changed litter brands. He never goes on the floor upstairs, just on the main floor whether it be the hard wood or a carpet.

She said it's not the same spot he goes in either. When he wets a rug she will clean it with an enzyme cleaner and she also has a cleaner made for removing urine smell from pets.

She is taking him to the vet on Saturday but can anyone make heads or tails out of this? I've heard that cats don't do this to be spiteful but that's what it seems like.

[catloverami]

Some cats do feel the loss of an owner and upset of their routine when the owner goes away on holiday. Inappropriate peeing isn't spiteful, but it is a reaction to stress. It can also be a medical problem. So the first thing is to get her checked out by a vet to rule that out. If it's behavioral, having several litter boxes is the right thing, as she already does. I suggest she buy some Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract litter, (available at most pet stores), to replace her present litter, or she can try dressing the top lalyer of her litter with a layer of it. I've had good success with getting a cat to start using the litter box again when it has a behavioral problem such as peeing outside of it or on rugs. All the rugs should be removed. Don't given her any opportunity to pee on them. It this fails, she may have to retrain her using a large dog crate to confine her, or a small room such as a bathroom. Good luck to your friend, hope she gets on top of this, before it becomes habitual.