Cat urinating and defecating outside litter box
When my cat (now 17yo DSH female neutered) was about two years old we completed a long distance move. Prior to completion of the move, my younger brothers were cleaning her litter box while I was out of town working, and Misty developed the habit of defecating on a rug that I kept outside the litter box, but urinating inside the litter box. She has maintained that habit to this day. We moved (again) last December, and that was fairly traumatic for her, but she has adjusted and everything was fine until recently. Her litter box is in a very large walk-in closet; no clothing is kept there, just boxes on shelves. Over the years, I have always kept a shower curtain covered with rag rugs and placed her litter box on it. Recently, she has started urinating on the rag rugs, and defecating outside of the litter area. I have purchased new litter boxes, new litter (a kind that was supposed to "attract" cats), the same kind of litter she was used to with completely fresh litter and a new box (the same kind of box she was used to), new rugs (the same kind she was used to). I have not changed the location of the box, although for a while, I thought she might have felt crowded as there were boxes stacked about three feet outside the closet. I moved the boxes, but that did not help. She has also stopped sleeping with me, but I attributed that to the fact that I have a large fan blowing directly on me during the summer months. (I don't know if that is significant or not, but I am trying to give you as much information as possible.) She still sits in my lap whenever I sit down, so I haven't worried too much about the sleeping issue; I am also a very restless sleeper and sometimes that irks her. Nothing else in her routine has changed. I am constantly buying new rugs and shower curtains and new litter, to try to eliminate the odor. I am at my wits end and hoping you can help me. Misty hates going to the vet, so this seemed like a reasonable solution. Thank you. |
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