Although our female cats are neutered and do not show signs of heat such as urinating outside the litter box, this symptom can occur for many other reasons beyond the cyclicity of their sexual hormones and the moment of higher levels of estrogens in the heat phase. Thus, our neutered cats can urinate everywhere for reasons as diverse as stress, lower urinary tract diseases, marking problems, illness or simply because there is a problem with their litter box.
if you have noticed that for some time now your sterilized cat has begun to urinate everywhere or in a certain location and unwanted, like when you say "my neutered cat wets the bed", continue reading this article on our site to find out the causes that explain your cat being urinating where they shouldn't, as well as what measures to apply to avoid this unwanted behavior.
Urinary diseases
The main diseases that will influence your sterilized cat to urinate everywhere are those that affect the lower urinary tract and are classified within what we know as FLUTD or feline lower urinary tract disease These diseases include common symptoms such as frequent short urination, blood in the urine, painful urination, difficulty urinating, or inappropriate urination outside the litter box. The latter may be the only clinical sign that cat keepers detect, or at least the one they detect first, and is usually caused because the cat is associating the litter box with the pain of urinatingdue to his illness.
Some of the diseases that can cause FLUTD in cats are:
- Feline Idiopathic Cystitis (50-70%)
- Urolithiasis (15-20%)
- Urethral plugs (10-20%)
- Anatomical defects (10%)
- Urinary tract infection (1-8%)
- Lower urinary tract tumors (1-2%)
However, inappropriate urination outside the litter box is more frequent in cases of idiopathic cystitis, urolithiasis, urinary tract infections and lower tract tumors.
Feline idiopathic cystitis
Feline idiopathic cystitis is a disease that affects the bladder and is closely related to stress. We will talk about it in depth in the next section.
Urolithiasis
Urolithiasis or the creation of sediments in the feline urinary tract, called stones or uroliths, although they can also affect the upper urinary tract, that is, the kidney and ureter, they occur when the threshold for certain minerals present in the urine. In the feline species, the most frequent uroliths are struvite and calcium oxalate
Struvite stones are rarely associated with bacterial infection, unlike what happens in dogs, and are made up of phosphate, ammonium and magnesium, appearing more frequently in oriental cats of 3 -6 years who ingest little amount of water, are overweight and sedentary and have alkaline urine with a pH greater than 6.5, while those of calcium oxalate, which are formed when acid urine becomes saturated with calcium and oxalate, are more frequent in males, although they can also appear in overweight and sedentary spayed females with hypercalcaemia and low water intake. This problem causes painful urination, which leads to inadequate elimination of urine at home.
Urinary Tract Infections
Urinary tract infections, or bacterial contamination of the same, are generally caused by bacteria such as E.coli, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus and Proteus sppAlthough rare, they develop more in females and generally appear in cats with low local immunity, anatomical defect in the glycosaminoglycan layer of the bladder or due to changes in urine or urination, as well as secondary to diseases such as chronic kidney disease, the use of immunosuppressive drugs such as corticosteroids or chemotherapy, hyperthyroidism, hyperadrenocorticism, diabetes or transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder.
Inappropriate urination outside the litter box is a symptom of UTI, as are painful drop-by-drip urination, incontinence, and blood in the urine.
Lower urinary tract tumors
Lower urinary tract tumors have a low prevalence and usually affect the bladder, the most common being transitional cell carcinomaIt is very aggressive, it invades deep layers of the mucosa of the bladder and can produce metastases in the liver, lungs and other organs. Clinical signs may include painful urination, blood in the urine, scanty urination, and inappropriate urination.
To prevent these diseases it is important that our cats are at their ideal weight, that they maintain good daily physical activity and good hydration.
Stress
Our cats love routines, so everything that is out of their habits and customs is a source of stress, like the introduction of a new person or a new animal at home, reforms, changes in the furniture, strange noises, more absences at home, etc. Stress in cats has many negative consequences, among which we find behavioral problems, one of which is urinating everywhere except in their litter box to feel more "safe" in the new situation they are experiencing. In this way, they keep the house full of their scent, which is what they feel more than familiar with. Other signs stressed cats may experience, in addition to inappropriate urination, are hiding, reduced or increased grooming, clawing, and aggressiveness.
Feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC) is the most common cause of FLUTD and is associated with stressful stimuli for the affected cat, which cause a poor response of hormones and the sympathetic nervous system, being more prevalent in young or middle-aged, sterilized and overweight cats fed dry food in exclusiveness. It can also appear secondary to alterations in the bladder, a decrease in the vesical glycosaminoglycan layer that protects the bladder wall and due to a high concentration of compounds in the urine that induce inflammation. Idiopathic cystitis consists of a non-infectious inflammation of the bladder of urine with periods of remission and relapses, and manifested with signs such as inappropriate urination, difficulty or pain on urination and frequent small amounts of urine.
For all these reasons, this is usually the most common reason why a sterilized cat urinates everywhere, hides or shows unusual behavior.
Marking
"My spayed cat marks territory" is something that caregivers of neutered cats may notice when they scratch the curtains or the sofa in addition to their scratching post, but what you may not know is that spayed cats They can also mark with urine Marking is used by cats to alert others that this is their territory and for matters related to reproduction, for this reason your cat urinates around the house by marking is more frequent if it is not sterilized. In fact, the most common is that it is a cat in heat that urinates everywhere.
However, our spayed female cats can also urine mark the house for non-reproductive purposes, such as out of fear, insecurity or stress, as we have commented in the previous point. Stop to think if there have been major changes in your life that are affecting the mental he alth of your sterilized cat or if the building is under construction or you have bought new objects that have been urinated (marked) by your cat as a form of welcome. We talk more in depth in this other article: "How do cats mark?".
Problems with your litter box
Cats are very exquisite beings and the taste for their sandbox would not be less. Although there are some more "off-road" cats that adapt to any type of litter and size or shape of the litter box, there are others that do not tolerate certain types of litter or litter boxes. This may be happening to your neutered or spayed cat, who as a form of rejection may be urinating everywhere except where she should.
If you want to get your cat's litter box right, you should know that Uncovered ones are much better than covered ones and they must be sufficiently wide enough for the cat to walk around inside without bumping into any corner. Likewise, it must be placed in a familiar location for the cat and always in a quiet place and at a good distance from the feeder and drinker so as not to contaminate her food source with odors. In addition, the litter must be unscented in order to avoid irritation and rejection due to the strong and artificial smell and, if possible, not to share the litter box with another cat since it is recommended one litter box per cat plus one extra, that is, if you live with two cats, you will need three litter boxes, if you have three cats, four sandboxes and so on. In addition, if the sterilized cat has any mobility problems or joint pain, the edges should be low so that she can enter and exit without much problem.
It is also important that the litter box has a good hygiene, cleaning the droppings daily, changing the sand and washing the container frequently, since these factors can also cause the sterilized cat to urinate everywhere, even on your bed or sofa.
Other diseases
In addition to disorders of the lower urinary system, sterilized cats can urinate everywhere due to other types of organic diseases in which there is an increase in thirst and the desire to urinate, such as diabetes mellitus, hyperthyroidism and kidney disease, more frequent if your sterilized cat is elderly, although we should not assume that she cannot suffer from them because she is young.
Other problems that can cause your cat to urinate where she shouldn't are those that cause incontinence, such as some neurological problems that affect the spinal cord of the lumbosacral region or the hypogastric, pudendal or pelvic nerves, as well as alterations in the urethral sphincter mechanism.
What to do if my neutered cat urinates everywhere?
Before you get angry with your cat for urinating where she shouldn't, try Investigate the reason for this behavior As you have seen, the causes that explain it can be very varied and some quite serious, so the first thing you should do is go to a veterinary center to have your cat examined and find the cause.
Some of the things you can do to prevent your cat from urinating outside the litter box may be the following:
- Change the sandbox and the sand for ones you like and locate it in a quiet place away from its sources of food and drink. Do not forget to clean it frequently. In this other post we talk about the different types of cat litter and we help you choose.
- If the source of stress can be eliminated, remove or avoid it, and if not possible, reduce their stress levels by using use of feline pheromones to create a more peaceful, calm and happy environment for your cat. Add more scratching posts to mark those places and provide it with high areas and others so that it can hide. We also share a video with different ways to relax your cat.
- Treat feline lower urinary tract disease that is causing inadequate elimination. If you have struvite stones, urinary diet, along with increased hydration and physical activity, can remove them, while calcium oxalate stones require surgery and treatment for hypercalcemia. In urine infections, a urine sample should be taken, cultured, an antibiogram done and effective antibiotic treatment applied for about 10-14 days, being up to 4-6 weeks in chronic cases or in those in which the infection has passed. also to the kidney. Tumors must be treated with surgery or chemotherapy depending on the severity. To treat feline idiopathic cystitis, stress must be reduced, water intake increased, weight reduced and physical activity increased, and in some cases opioid drugs, glycosaminoglycans or tricyclic antidepressants must be used due to their anticholinergic properties, increasing the of the bladder and relaxation of the ureters and urethra.
- Treat the organic, endocrine or neurological disease, if this is the cause, through a specific treatment for the problem in question.
