Why is my cat doing this?!

[Nion Kokesu]

Alright. My neutered cat is still under a year old and has always loved playing with plastic bags. I don't think much of it. Today when my friend and I got home from the store she realized he ran to the corner where I keep the bags and looked like he was relieved himself. I couldn't believe it, but when I looked he had definitely urinated a /lot/, and it looked like it hadn't been the first time. There was never any smell, though, which is the only reason we didn't notice.

I don't know why. I work from home, so he's not lacking attention at all, as he's barely left alone and I frequently have guests over who enjoy playing with him. He's not stressed. His litterbox is always clean and he uses it daily, he barely drinks any water since he is rawfed and I just have no idea why he'd decide to start urinating there, which he's never done before. Needless to say I'll be keeping plastic bags somewhere else from now on, because he has never urinated outside of his litterbox at any other occasion.

Anyone else experienced this before or have any ideas?  

[kage no neko]

Perhaps he has a UTI. My cat pees in the tub. He's doing it less now that he's on antibiotics. And if you bring him to the vet, make sure they do a culture on his urine! First vet didn't and gave us an antibiotic that didn't do anything to the specific bacteria...

He's peed on the newspapers, which are in plastic bags... but we keep our usable plastic bags in a cabinet, so he wouldn't have access to those. He's also peed on the wooden floor and in the sink. But the tub seems to be his favorite.  

[Celestial Fireflies]

kage no neko

Perhaps he has a UTI. My cat pees in the tub. He's doing it less now that he's on antibiotics. And if you bring him to the vet, make sure they do a culture on his urine! First vet didn't and gave us an antibiotic that didn't do anything to the specific bacteria...

He's peed on the newspapers, which are in plastic bags... but we keep our usable plastic bags in a cabinet, so he wouldn't have access to those. He's also peed on the wooden floor and in the sink. But the tub seems to be his favorite.

cєℓєsтιαℓ ғιʀєғℓιєs:

Yep yep. First thing anyone should look at when their cat is suddenly peeing outside of the litterbox (and the box is clean/nothing's changed) is UTI. Cats are excellent at masking illness and injuries, so behavioral differences like this that seemingly happen for no reason are very important to pay attention to.

Make sure you clean the area with something that actually breaks down the urine (I love Nature's Miracle) and doesn't just cover up the smell. Cats can still detect it and will often pee in the same spot again, because that's how they identify potty spots.  

[Nion Kokesu]

Thanks for the input everyone. He is due for a vet visit soon, so I will ask them about the possibility of a UTI. The only sign pointing to one is that he is urinating outside of his litterbox at some point, apparently, but he's not avoiding his box at all--he's still using his box normally too and is going a normal amount, exhibiting no pain and not going frequently (I'm usually in the bathroom when he's using his toilet). He grooms his genital area as usual, too, and with no pain. He's really expressive and I can tell when something is "off" about him really easily. Everything seems absolutely normal aside from the plastic bag thing, but I've removed all the plastic bags around, so if he starts going somewhere else then I'll definitely note it.

As far as the cleaning goes I'll just have to do my best. I live in a developing country and the stuff that actually breaks down the urine smell doesn't exist here. If I can request a care package from someone or find it on my next trip to Turkey then I'll definitely make. Thanks again!  

[kage no neko]

Aside from peeing outside the litter box, Tora's behavior was normal. Only just recently did we catch him straining to pee, and that was in front of the door. But we've seen him peeing many many many times and it's always been normal and no strain, no pain... If he's had a UTI the entire time he's been peeing outside of the box, he's had it for at least 10 months, and this is only recent that he's straining, and blood has recently started showing up too.
What I find most confusing is... he uses his litter box also. So it made no sense and I wouldn't have suspected it until I actually caught him peeing.


I suggest vinegar for removing urine smells. You should have that available.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

The fact that you say he's "never" done this before immediately makes me think Urinary Tract Disease. Irregular/Inapropriate urination is a classic symptom. Often the only one owners notice.

Out of curiosity though, how old is he, how old was he neutered. Is h declawed, have there been any changes in or around your home lately (litter, furniture, new pets, new people etc). How many litter boxes in the house, how many cats and how often are they cleaned.

As it's been mentioned, do use an enzymatic cleaner like dilute vinegar.  

[Nion Kokesu]

Thanks for all the continued input, everyone. Since removing the plastic bags there have been no further incidents in that spot and he's not gone anywhere else. He was literally climbing /into/ plastic bags and doing business there so nothing seems to have gotten on the floor, but I'm still going to give it a few more good rounds of cleaning with vinegar just to be safe.

Based on his growth and development I estimate he's around nine or ten months old (I don't know exactly since he just followed me home and adopted himself one day, but he was quite young at that time). He was neutered on August 30th. He's not declawed--I would never even consider it.

Things have been almost completely stable since early October. We moved to this flat in September, I took a trip with a friend for a few days in October during which time he was cared for by that friend's grandmother. He's gotten to know my landlord's family and a few friends and he's taken to all of them wonderfully (he loves it when company comes over).

No other pets, I'm using the same litter and I've just got the furniture that was in this flat when I moved here. There are cats living in my yard but he's not allowed to go outside. One of the cats hangs around my flat a lot, but I'm really careful about making sure he can't get in. At my last flat there was a cat coming in through a window when I wasn't home that would eat his food. Nothing like that is going on now.

He's got one box, I clean the litter daily and I clean the box itself every couple of weeks or so. I live in a tiny place (one room, a kitchen and a bathroom...that's it) so there's no need for more than that.

One thing about him is that he does not like being left alone and he definitely acts out when he is. As I stated earlier he is rarely left alone for more than a few hours nowadays and /never/ for an entire day, but if he ever does something seriously odd it is usually during or after these periods of time alone. This bag incident happened after one such period of time.

Any additional input is, of course, appreciated and I will definitely be getting vet input during his next visit.