Why behaving so bad?

Question
My cat won't stop meowing lately and I keep on catching him peeing on my shoes! He crouches on my shoes like he does in the litter box and goes to the washroom right in front of my face!! Any ideas on why he is acting like this?

Answer
HI Denise,

Cats urinate outside the box almost always due to medical problems. Your cat may have a bladder infection, and left untreated this can get very serious and damage the kidneys. Please take her to a vet right away and have her checked. If you are given antibiotics, make sure to give them all.

Your cat can't tell you hwat is wrong - he is trying to let you know he is sick and it hurts to pee.

Here is an article about how to handle this:

http://catnet.stanford.edu/articles/infosheet_litterbox.pdf

Also, try to get your cat more water by feeding mostly or preferably all, canned food. Here is some more information about cat nutrition and the problems some foods cause, including urinary tract problems:

http://www.catinfo.org

http://www.catnutrition.org/clienthandout.html

I think you should also try using the Feliway plug-in diffuser and/or spray. Feliway helps reduce anxiety and aggression in cats, it mimics relaxing pheromones that cats exude from their cheek glands. Spraying doorways and furniture with Feliway can stop inappropriate urination and calm nervous cats. The plug-in diffuser creates a constant release of Feliway, the spray is best for local and immediate but short-term effect. They work well used together, with the spray used on your bed or area that she is peeing. It is not detectable by humans at all (the spray smells like rubbing alcohol when you first use it, but that quickly evaporates). It is sold in most pet stores and online, for example at www.drsfostersmith.com.


The other possibilities for your cat's behavior are:

1. litterbox not clean enough
2. if your cat is declawed, the pain from the paws can cause stepping in litter to be very painful - have her checked up to make sure everything is healing OK
3. anxiety or other psychological problems

But in your case I am certain this is a urinary tract problem.


Good luck!