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Dealing with a feline who pees outside the litter box is one of the most discouraging problems feline parents may be dealt with with. We’ve previously attended to the different reasons why cats get rid of outside the litter box, including litter box aversion, urine marking, hormonal problems, as well as medical issues, here. Today, I’d like to address a less common, however nevertheless discouraging version of litter box behavior: cats who pee standing up, or vertical pee-ers, as I like to phone call them.
The difference between vertical peeing as well as spraying
Spraying is not to be confused with vertical peeing. Some cats, both male or female, will urinate inside the litter box either standing up, or they begin urinating in a squatting setting as well as then slowly stand up as they finish. as well as yes, female cats do this, as well – we’ve got our own citizen pee-er with Ruby.
Spraying, on the other hand, is a territorial behavior. Cats who spray stand upright as well as deposit a little amount of urine on vertical surfaces. even though both male as well as female cats spray, the habits is mainly seen in unneutered male cats, as well as occurs a lot more commonly in multicat households, although even a single feline may spray.
Anatomy of a vertical pee-er
After I embraced Ruby, I couldn’t figure out why there was often a little amount of urine just behind the litter box. considering that the box is put in a corner against the wall, I understood that she couldn’t potentially have squatted back there, so exactly how did the urine end up outside the box? After a couple of days of being puzzled, I lastly caught her in the act.
She started out squatting as well as peeing horizontally, however slowly as well as slowly increased as well as wiggled her rear end throughout the duration of her peeing. A typical size litter box wasn’t high sufficient to consist of the urine.
And so the browse for the best litter box began.
The browse for the best litter box
I don’t like covered boxes. a lot of cats don’t like them either. They don’t like not being able to see while they’re doing their business. If covered boxes aren’t scooped promptly after the feline deposits something in them, the stench becomes concentrated inside the box (think of a covered litter box as the feline equivalent to a Port-a-Potty). I likewise like to be able to see what my cats are doing when they’re utilizing the box. Some health and wellness issues very first manifest with unusual habits in the litter box, such as straining.
Several good friends suggested that I get a big Rubbermaid or remove plastic storage container with high sides as well as cut an opening on one side that’s low sufficient so the cats can quickly get in as well as out. This can work well, however it likewise looks quite ugly. While my litter boxes aren’t the center of my decor, they are in quite visible areas (I don’t believe in hiding them in a dark corner), so I desired something that was at least somewhat pleasing to the eye.
There are a number of high-sided, uncovered litter boxes on the market, as well as I tried a lot of of them. a lot of worked 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time, I dealt with cleaning up urine that had spilled over the edges of the box. Both of my litter boxes sit on carpet, so this was not fun. Thankfully, the Anti-Icky Poo enzyme based cleaner I’ve been utilizing for many years totally eliminates urine spots as well as odors, even on (white!) carpet. For additional insurance, I put a Drymate Litter Mat underneath the boxes. now all I had to do when we had spillage was throw the mat in the washer, however I was still anxious about some urine making it past the mat onto the carpet.
The NVR Miss
Thankfully, I found the NVR miss litter box a year or so after I embraced Ruby. At the time, it was the greatest box on the market, as well as I believe it still is.
This box is whatever a litter box must be. It’s roomy. It has a strategically positioned cat-friendly entrance that makes it simple even for senior cats to get in as well as out of the box. The creative style (a minor protrusion across from the entrance) supplies a cue for cats to line up themselves lengthwise, so you won’t have to concern about urine going outside the box at the low entrance. The sides are high sufficient even for miss Ruby as well as her vertical peeing gyrations.
While I was more concerned about urine spillage, one more great benefit of the high sides is that it likewise keeps litter contained inside the box. Ruby as well as Allegra are litter kickers as well as they both get quite energetic when it pertains to covering what they produce. This box has kept that problem to a minimum. one more plus is that the smooth surface enables litter clumps to quickly release from the box’s walls – something that has not been the situation with a few of the other boxes, where panullnull
