Teritory Marking

Help! I have a six year old spayed female who insists on marking her teritory by going outside the litter box. She has always done this fairly consistently (she is timid and is picked on by our other cats), but before it hasn't been as much of a problem because it was solid, not liquid, and not on carpet. We've recently moved and I began by isolating her with one other cat that she gets along with pretty well (the others seem to pick on her), and everything went fine for a few days.

The other cat was getting stir crazy, though, so we let him out. And her behavior started again. I've tried keeping her alone, isolated with one other cat, having the door open - nothing works. SHe will go just beside (as well as inside) the box, with no logic I can tell about why she sometimes will use her box and sometimes won't.

Any suggestions? I love her but cannot just designate a room to be her litter box! If it were an area I could mop it wouldn't be as much of an issue, but we've lived here 3 weeks and our carpet has been peed on six times already.

Thanks for letting me vent, too!

~Madrone

 

My mom's cat always misses the litter box so my mom got one with high walls. It hasn't been a problem since then. You can also try an enclosed box if you haven't already. Good luck!

 

I would first rule out a UTI by having her checked at the vet. If she's fine, then you can try the Feliway spray that mimicks pheromones and is effective in reducing spraying. If she is stressed then you probably want to try to reduce the cause of her stress with regards to the other cat--providing more territory for them by getting some elevated scratching posts for example or trying to keep them as separate as possible. You may also want to try an herbal remedy that helps to calm them down, like Rescue Remedy or Stress Relief by Dr. Goodpet (I know Walmart in Canada carries the latter, Rescue Remedy is found in health food stores). Good luck, I know firsthand this can be a REAL pain in the butt to deal with.

 

I agree with Dolly. You need to rule out a medical reason.

Does the box have a lid? Maybe she's just hanging out the side and missing.

 

I had a cat that used to do that...and it had a fairly high "lip" to it too...crazy cat. I put a lid on it (so to speak! ) and the problem went away just fine.