Kitty acting strange

[frawri]

HI group, my brother has an aged cat. He is like 11 I think. Any ways he is going potty in their tub. Just out of the blue he started to pee and poo in the tub. His kitty litter is cleaned out regularly, he has never had a problem with it before. What could be causing him to do this. I thought maybe a change in his life, so it has caused him to stress out. But from what my brother says, their hasn't been any changes. He spends most of the day alone with my brother. They have two kids, 2 and 3. But the girls are almost always gone during the day. And they haven't been chasing him around or anything to cause him to be stressed out. They feed him cat hairball food, and he hasn't shown any signs of hacking up any hairballs, or problems like that. What else could be the problem? He isn't showing any signs of illness either.

[moosmom]

Sounds like he needs a trip to the vet to rule out a Urinary Tract Infection.

[Freedom]

OK, first, Ruffles says to tell you 'we are NOT aged, we are senior, distinguished, kitties." Ruffles is 15.

This is interesting, as it sounds like he is consistently using the tub. Jumping in and out of that must be at least as much work as in and out of the litter box. But maybe there is something making the entry to the box not clear and open? It doesn't have to be anything that changed, just that arthritis and such is making what used to be a quirky jump too hard to do now. That is one possibility.

And I thought a urinary tract infection would mean he is going in a few different places, as the urge came, though I haven't dealt with one. So I bow to others who know more on that topic.

Does the box have a hood? Maybe the smell has built up in the plastic to the point he doesn't much like it in there anymore? I know you said they scoop regularly, but maybe they need to just empty the whole thing, give it a good scrub with some dish soap and a scrubbing brush, and start fresh? Mr. Amber Cat was VERY particular about his box!

If it is a small size box with a hood, and if he is a large boy, maybe he just can't swat low enough to get comfortable in there now? Mr. Amber Cat had some back issues the last 2 years of his life, and I had to remove the hood so he could use it. He didn't switch to the tub to let me know, though, he just started using a corner of the room.

Just some thoughts.

[callingallcats]

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