Old Cat Peeing Outside Litter Box - What to Do?

My cat Muffin is almost 14 years old.

She is a beautiful lovable cat but as like most kitties, has a mind of her own that has worsened as she aged.

Just recently she decided that peeing outside the litter box was acceptable, which of course it was not to me!

Not sure what got into her head at that moment, but think it was simply laziness on her part in the end, but it quickly became a bad habit.

She Just Stared at Me and Peed!

I figured this was going to be a battle of wits.  I looked at the obvious things, such as ..

Did I change the litter brand? - NO
Did I clean it out often enough? - YES

So what has changed? 

I Thought maybe the box sides were too high now as she walks a bit stiffly with age, so I replaced the litter box with one with lower sides, but that changed nothing.  Until I made one big discovery!!

Change Out the Newspapers or Floor Protection!

I always kept layers of newspaper under the box as I have 2 other messy cats.  I guess Muffin decided on one of her lazy days... that the newspapers were just as good as litter and would pee on them and then shred them up with her claws as if burying her business and walk away.

So, it wasn't that she was too stiff and arthritic to get in, she just got lazy!

I got tired of the drippy newspapers full of cat pee, and washing the floor around it.

Puppy Pee Pads to the Rescue!

As an senior cat, she tends to pee a lot and I was getting tired of stockpiling newspapers, and decided this situation wasn't on.

So I got rid of the papers, kept the original kitty litter box, and placed it on a puppy pee pad.

Hoping this strategy wouldn't send her into other rooms as a protest, I watched from afar to see what she would do when she came across this new layer of material.

She sniffed it, then made the effort to climb in the box!

So far, she only had an accident on this pad, and that was 6 days after I put it there.  Even this accident was only because her bum was not totally inside.

She couldn't shred this material like she could with the newspapers, so decided that she had better make the effort and get in.

So for anyone else out there with a senior cat that still has some life left in them, don't let them get control of this situation!

Take a close look at the way they use it and if you have not changed anything, and they go beside the box, then try the puppy pads.  AT least this way you are not cleaning wet floors all the time.  Even if they keep going on these pads, they are much easier containment as they are designed to hold a lot of pee.

They are not thick, but I am amazed at just how much they can hold as they are designed for dogs.

Compromising with my Cat

When they do pee on this material it totally contains it.  So for me this was a compromise.

I thought I would simply have to invest in these for the remainder of her life, but was surprised to find out she could still use the box, just found the papers easier.

One for Me!

So this was one battle I seemed to have won... for now.

If you use a litter mat or something under the box and your cat is peeing and pooing on this instead of climbing in, then at least by using puppy pads you can keep the area clean.

But with my cat, Muffin, it seemed to cure the situation that had been going on for months.  Some of the pee had actually migrated under the baseboard and now that needs replacing, so this was not looking good for my old cat.

These puppy pads totally limit any damage the cat pee does when you are not there and they decide to go on the floor beside it.  I found them online for a good price.  I found I didn't need the big ones,  just enough to cover the floor area on the side she was using.