Inappropriate urination?

[alb73]

Hi there. I have 2 cats - a male who is almost 10 years old and a female who is just over a year old. The cats have been spayed/neutered. They are current on vaccinations and are both healthy, happy cats. They eat and drink regularly. My older cat has always pooped outside the litterbox. I have no idea why. In the earlier years I tried different boxes, different litters, nothing... we've lived in 3 different places in the last 10 years and he always finds his "spot" and that is where he poops. We've come to live with it.

However, this morning I found him urinating in this area and, to my knowledge, he does not normally do that. I have never had a problem with wet floors or urine smell, and there is always urine in the litterbox. I thought maybe he wasn't feeling well because I've heard that inappropriate urination can be a sign of illness in cats, but he is not acting strangely, is playing, eating and drinking plenty. And here is the kicker. Just a bit ago my husband found our other cat over in the same general area (but not the same spot) and she was peeing on the floor! What the heck is going on???? We have lived in our home for over a year and this is the first time we've ever seen them doing something like this. We have not gotten new litter boxes and we are not using a new brand of litter or anything.

Any advice is appreciated. I used to post at a place called Acme a long time ago, but they closed and this is the first time I've found this board. Thanks in advance!

[kk]

Hi,
Well, the best first step is to have them evaluated for a urinary tract infection and/or crystals. They do not necessarily have to have other behavioral issues (believe me, I know this from experience). It could be both have one of these problems,or that one does and the other is peeing there because it smells like urine but they both should be checked. For sure, get an enzyme cleaner for that area (petsmart, etc). But the first thing is to check out physical probs.

I also used to visit Acme, and I met Traci (site owner) there. Welcome and good luck. kk

[alb73]

Thanks KK. I know that neither of them have UTI or crystals problems, we've been down that road before I can see the signs a mile away. I will try the enzyme cleaner and see what happens there.

Is this Traci the same Traci from Acme?? She was so good to me when I posted there, my cat was very sick and she helped me out a lot. My name is Amy, I wonder if she would remember me.

Will check back in a bit!