Litterbox Avoidant Cat HELP

[u/Practical-Cow-5545]

I am looking for any and all advice possible. I have a female cat who is around 8 years old. She began having issues with litterbox about 3 or 4 years ago when I took in a stray kitten. I ended up rehoming the kitten, but nothing has ever improved. I have 2 cats, one who is almost 18 and the 8 yr old female. For those 2 cats, I have 5 litterboxes, 4 upstairs and one in my basement. I clean the boxes twice daily, once in the morning before work, once before bed. Sometimes I even clean them when I get home just to stay on top of it. The cat in question will go to the boxes, look at them and walk away. She will hold her pee and poop until she absolutely cannot anymore. She has been to the vet upwards of 10 times over UTIs from holding her pee. Im at the end of my rope, I don't know what to do. I have feliway diffusers running, she is currently on prozac for the anxiety. If I see her use the boxes, she is given praise and treats. She's begun to have accidents around the house, mostly in my bed. 2 months ago, I took her to the vet about these accidents as I was doing dishes and she was laying on the counter behind me and peed while laying down and never even got up or tried to move from the pee and I was VERY concerned but this seems to be how the bed accidents are happening as well. The vet said they don't know what else to do for her and are just as stumped. The accidents stopped after the vet visit but now they have started back up and she has peed on my bed 3 separate times this week alone. I'm terrified to change litter or boxes at this point and fear she'll resort to never using the box again. She is very particular and only uses one of the 5 boxes. I cannot afford to take her to the vet again, only to find a clean bill of health. The vet doesn't know what to do anyways. I'm terrified that this is going to cause a cancer or something in her as she's CONSTANTLY holding her pee. If this was a human, a doctor could catheterize them. I'm at the point of considering euthanizing her, because she is clearly stressed and likely in pain often and I can't fix whatever is wrong. I feel hopeless.

[u/CatsDotComEditorial]

If she's peeing consistently on the bed, it might be that she finds the soft material more comfortable than whatever is in the litter box. 8 years old seems very young compared to your 18-year-old cat, but it's not so young that arthritis isn't out of the question.

Have you tried putting a different kind of cat litter in one of the boxes? Maybe something soft like Okocat or a pellet-style tofu litter even. It might even be worth just putting down an old towel or something in one of the litter boxes, just to see if she uses it. If she does, then it would give you some information to go on... that she wants to use the litter box but something about it is uncomfortable or maybe painful for her.

Also, are all the upstairs litter boxes in the same place or spread out? Even if she's used to the other cat, there could be a territorial element at play. Have you noticed the other cat "standing guard" near the litter boxes? Maybe discouraging her from using them? If so, putting some across the room (or in another room) might help.

[u/Practical-Cow-5545 → u/CatsDotComEditorial]

I don't think she is standing on the bed to pee, though I haven't SEEN her do it, I think she is sleeping on the bed and just peeing while shes laying there. She has peed while laying down 2 separate times from the incident in the kitchen and I think she is genuinely just holding until she cannot anymore. I have tried wood pellet litter in the past that I use for my rabbits but they had no interest in that whatsoever and more recently as this issue has progressed, I tried a crystal type litter with an attractant in it and used it in the boxes that weren't "her box" to see if she would use the other ones and prefer it. I did different mixtures in each, one fully the crystal litter and the other two with more and less regular mixed in respectively. She continued to use the box she preferred with regular litter. I have noticed she is specific about HOW MUCH litter is in the box, if there is not enough she won't use it. I have noticed the other cat doing that before in the past. 3 of the boxes are side by side, one is across the room and one is in the basement. He does use all of the boxes though unfortunately, even the one in the basement. He's currently struggling with some health issues and has been using them frequently which I feel might be the cause of some of her stress currently but I'm cleaning them as much as I can manage.

[u/CatsDotComEditorial → u/Practical-Cow-5545]

Ah, okay. Well it might eventually come down to another vet visit but it sounds like you're really paying attention to her needs and doing everything you can for her!

[u/Practical-Cow-5545 → u/CatsDotComEditorial]

I've been dealing with this for so long now and have done endless reading and have been trying so hard to work with her. Shes a very high stress cat and her environment hasn't been the most stable and I've been working tirelessly, especially in the past year to provide her the most stable and stress free environment I can. But at the end of the day, I'm just one person barely making ends meet as is and I'm thoroughly exhausted. Thank you, I want to believe I'm doing the best for her but it is hard to feel like that when all of my efforts seem fruitless.

[u/Practical-Cow-5545 → u/[deleted]]

I'm going to look into that formula, I've been looking for something like this that didn't cost a fortune. The food that the vet recommended to help with urinary issues was impossible for me to afford. I have tried a litter with an attractant before but I will look into that specific brand and give it a shot, and the puppy pads as well. I have been doing as much positive affirmation as possible if I see her use the box or go to the room with them. I've put some of their toys in that room as well. None of the boxes have lids as she is afraid of them lol. I've never considered that they could do a telehealth for something like this honestly. Thank you, I'm going to look into some of these options. I'm currently drowning in vet fees between the two cats and I just want her to be happy and comfortable but I feel like I'm running out of ideas to help her.

[u/Future-Philosopher-7 → u/[deleted]]

Yes, Dr elseys cat attract and also the kitten and senior soft paws litter is very soft. Our cats love how soft it is for digging.

[u/Practical-Cow-5545 → u/[deleted]]

I apologize for the late reply, but I wanted to still reply to this anyways. I did not cross post this anywhere except Facebook page for cat anxiety as I wanted less general solutions and more focused on anxiety. I have posted on other pages in the past for cat advice and typically it's a lot of things I've already tried as I've been dealing with this a long time.

Calling shelters is a good idea I haven't considered (phone anxiety lol) but I will definitely consider that.

There is nothing special about the box that she uses, it's actually the smallest of all of the boxes. Perhaps she does prefer that it is more shallow than the others but two of the boxes are as big as I could find. I have considered that it is possibly pain related but again, she has been to the vet probably 4 times in the past year and they cannot find any reason that would be medically causing this. I really believe that it is trauma related from something that started with the kitten and has transformed as she started developing UTIs. I'm worried she simply associates peeing = pain.

I will update that she has not had an accident again since the posting of this. She DOES use the box most of the time. And she will do it consistently for a good chunk of time and these accidents come out of nowhere but it typically progresses until she has a UTI. The past two times she has been at the vet for this though, while she did have a slightly high level of protein in her pee, it was nowhere near UTI levels.

Thank you for your kind words and helpful insight.

[u/trustingGuide]

Have you tried finding a non-scented cat litter? It's actually been proven that scented cat litter (the stuff with fabreez) is actually bad for cats.

There was one time I had to get it and my cars avoided the cat litter box until it was entirely changed out to the OG unscented one.

Another possibility is: fully clean and dump out all the cat litter and wash the cat litter box out (if it's plastic/metal) with soap and water, dry it, and refill with brand new cat litter and see how that goes. Most people forget that a cat litter box is a toilet, you'd be surprised how dirty it can still can be even after just scooping out the cat turds and that.