nyare
Member Since 2020
Hello. I’m new to the forum, & I joined because i’m at my absolute wits end with trying to manage my cat & his habit of urinating outside the box...
Some history: My kitty used to be a very fat cat, I believe due to overfeeding, and also possibly his diabetes. I’ve had him for 5 years, though for 1 of that he was living with my parents while I was out of state. My parents gave him access to outside, where he got used to eliminating, and also left food out for him. I have always fed him on a set schedule and kept him indoors. I believe the switch back to indoors started his litter avoided issues, which started with defecating outside the box. Around a year ago & a half ago, he started peeing outside his box, around the same time he started losing a LOT of weight, and eventually became unhealthily skinny. At that time, I didn’t have the money to afford a vet, so we could not confirm diabetes.
Fast forward, we finally got him to a vet last December, and got his diagnosis. After starting insulin, his weight went back up, as did his energy levels, and the volume of his urine went down a little. He still pees multiple times a day, and drinks more water than I’ve seen any cat drink. He is much healthier and the vet says his blood sugar is stable. But he still goes outside the box all the time!
We have tried spraying him with water, we have tried enzymatic cleaners, we have tried using vinegar on the carpets, we treat him after he uses the box. We have given him multiple litter boxes to use, and placed those near where he pees, we’ve changed litters, used litter attract. I’m not sure what else to do.
I will be trying this week to get a crate to keep him in, so we can deep clean a few times over and let the carpets dry without him around them, but I’m not sure it will help. The only other recommendations I can find are to switch to wet food, which I want to do but haven’t tried since I don’t think I can afford a blood sugar tester, or to put foil/tape down, but if we covered all his pee spots it would block access to his litter boxes.
He’s a very sweet kitty, I think around 14 years old, and he has separation anxiety from being abandoned so many times, so I feel awful about considering surrender. But I can’t manage this. The bedroom where he pees smells so awful even after cleaning the carpets that I have to sleep in the living room regularly. I desperately want to find a solution to this problem, but it has been ongoing for so long that I’m starting to feel hopeless.
Some history: My kitty used to be a very fat cat, I believe due to overfeeding, and also possibly his diabetes. I’ve had him for 5 years, though for 1 of that he was living with my parents while I was out of state. My parents gave him access to outside, where he got used to eliminating, and also left food out for him. I have always fed him on a set schedule and kept him indoors. I believe the switch back to indoors started his litter avoided issues, which started with defecating outside the box. Around a year ago & a half ago, he started peeing outside his box, around the same time he started losing a LOT of weight, and eventually became unhealthily skinny. At that time, I didn’t have the money to afford a vet, so we could not confirm diabetes.
Fast forward, we finally got him to a vet last December, and got his diagnosis. After starting insulin, his weight went back up, as did his energy levels, and the volume of his urine went down a little. He still pees multiple times a day, and drinks more water than I’ve seen any cat drink. He is much healthier and the vet says his blood sugar is stable. But he still goes outside the box all the time!
We have tried spraying him with water, we have tried enzymatic cleaners, we have tried using vinegar on the carpets, we treat him after he uses the box. We have given him multiple litter boxes to use, and placed those near where he pees, we’ve changed litters, used litter attract. I’m not sure what else to do.
I will be trying this week to get a crate to keep him in, so we can deep clean a few times over and let the carpets dry without him around them, but I’m not sure it will help. The only other recommendations I can find are to switch to wet food, which I want to do but haven’t tried since I don’t think I can afford a blood sugar tester, or to put foil/tape down, but if we covered all his pee spots it would block access to his litter boxes.
He’s a very sweet kitty, I think around 14 years old, and he has separation anxiety from being abandoned so many times, so I feel awful about considering surrender. But I can’t manage this. The bedroom where he pees smells so awful even after cleaning the carpets that I have to sleep in the living room regularly. I desperately want to find a solution to this problem, but it has been ongoing for so long that I’m starting to feel hopeless.
