litter box issues

Question
Hi Tabbi,
My ten year old female cat has started having litter box issues....frequently urinating and having bowel movements in inappropriate places, even right next to the box. We have three cats, use two boxes which are changed frequently. I can correlate the behavior with a burst of flea activity, which we are having difficulty bringing under control. Any ideas or suggestions?

Answer
Gale,

At 10 years old your cat is approximately 56 years old in human years. At that age things start to slowly go wrong. She could have a urinary tract infection, urinary crystals, or kidney problems. All are painful when she pees, so a cat will associate that pain with the litterbox and go elsewhere. Cats get arthritis too which makes it painful to get in and out of the litterbox so they go next to it.

I would try using 'puppy pee pads', or the human type that are used under incontinent humans, next to the litterbox and let her go on those. It is inconvenient but as a cat ages sometimes you need to make concessions for it.

Don't get upset with her. Someday you may wish she were still here having 'accidents'.
Take her to a vet that specializes or is knowledgeable in geriatric cat care and conditions (not all vets do which can be detrimental to the cat). She needs to have an 'older cat checkup' to check the function of her thyroid, kidneys, and liver, and bloodwork. If she has a urinary tract infection she can be given antibiotics for it. Or pain meds for arthritis. As a cat ages this checkup should be done about every 6-8 months. In doing that a lot of age related problems can be caught early. The cat can be given treatment or medication that can continue her quality of life, ease any pain, and give you more time together.

Being prepared and knowledgeable about older cats will make things easier for the cat AND for you. I am including some very good links about elderly cats.
Copy and paste, or type, the whole links into your address bar:

http://www.sniksnak.com/resources/geriatric.html

http://www.messybeast.com/towards-end.htm

http://www.2ndchance.info/oldcat.htm

Tabbi