Cat urinating in odd ways

by KH
(Canada)

I have a 5 year old male cat that has been peeing in random places around the house for two years. He has been fixed since he was roughly 7 months old. It got to the point that he was ruining furniture and belongings, and is no longer allowed free run of the house since we had to get rid of 2 couches and a recliner because of him. Yesterday I was watching him and he climbed into his litter box, squatted and started to urinate. After just a second or two, he slowly lifted up his rear until he was peeing on the wall behind his litter box, as high as he could reach. After some investigating it would appear he's been doing this for a while. Is there any way to figure out why he's doing this? We have a very crowded household right now, and we figured he was stressing out over that, but this is the strangest thing I've seen from my cats.

RESPONSE:

We refer to this as "elevator peeing". It is normal for some cats. Get a taller litter box for him. We use storage bins and just cut a "u" shaped opening for the cat to enter. The high sides solve the problem of them peeing on the walls. Make sure you clean up well and get rid of all the odor or the cat will continue to go in the same spots.

Donna - House Full Cats Mom