Hello! We have two bengals, one is three and one is about to be four. Our youngest one, Lillian, has always had some issues with peeing outside her litterbox. We tend to see it when we think she might be stressed, but we don't know what do to. We have multiple litter boxes, but she'll go in the closet next to her litter box which leads us to think it's a behavior issue. She has a clean bill of health from the vet as well. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi there

Going through this myself as it happens!

Do you know what is stressing her as that is what you need to sort out. The stressor here is foxes, something that I'm working on but is going to take me a while to sort out, they are constantly in our garden and coming right up to the Windows and freaking my two out etc.

I have jagger on zylkene which is a natural milk protein that helps to reduce stress. Definitely worth a try while you try to fix what is stressing her out. If I take him off it, we get 'accidents' - he definitely copes better when he's on it.

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Clare
Hendrix and Jagger, Brown Marble Boys (born 18 August 2013)
Hampshire, UK

Welcome to our great forum. Urinating outside of the litter box is the #1 complaint among cat owners and it seems to happen more in multi-cat households. Since you've ruled out anything medical, it becomes stress related. The key is finding out what is causing the stress for the cat. Do both of your cats get along? An episode of My Cat From Hell featured two cats that seemed to get along fine when the owner was home, but one of the cats was bullied by the other when the owner was gone. They had to set up a camera to witness that. Both of your kitties have their own space or territory? Litter boxes are placed in proper areas with easy access and exit. Sometimes another cat will block the exit while a cat is using the litter box. Has anything changed in the cat's environment? Did you move furniture around? Buy new furniture? The least little change can set a cat off as cats love structure and routine. I'm just throwing things out because it could be the simplest of things that you would never suspect would bother a cat. Are there neighborhood cats that one around onto your property or maybe walk by windows or doors? A cat can smell them. Do you have children?

Basically, you need to truly observe the cat. You say she goes to the bathroom next to the litter box. Is the litter box large enough? Bengals usually require a large box. You might want to invest in a larger one and place it in the same area. The other thing is if she is going IN the closet, close off that access. And you have to make sure any area is cleaned completely with Natures Miracle or a similar product.

There is no quick fix for this ... it takes time and you need to find patience with her. She is doing this for a reason and once you find that reason and deal with it, she should return to using her litter box.

Good luck.

There are no absolutes of course but I tend to think when a cat is going on a bed or a wall near a window or on their human's clothing or something like that then it's more likely that it is some sort of territorial insecurity (I.e. Stress). But if your kitty is marching right over to the box and going right outside the box, then I think it's more likely that she is telling you that there is a problem with the box. That it's "owned" by another cat, or that it is too small, or too smelly, or has the wrong litter, or perhaps it's a hooded type and she wants open. Another possibility is that she knows where she's supposed to go, but that it's hurting her to go and now associating that box with her discomfort, so she's trying something else to alleviate the discomfort. So if you notice her straining to go, or there is blood or mucus or runny poo, then would be a clue that it is some kind of discomfort.

One other comment... I'm not really sure that a closet is going to be an acceptable place for a box for many cats. To solve this it may require you to experiment with other box locations. My suggestion would be to start with a really large non-hooded box (in addition to what you have now) and leave it out in the open somewhere, then observe the usage patterns and learn from it.

Then when/if she goes outside the box, really take stock of the state of things. Is there poo or pee in the box when she rejected it? Where was the other cat at the time? What does her poo look like? Etc.

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The little monsters 3