What causes urination challenges in cats?

If someone comes to me with a urination challenge with their cat I always distinguish whether the cat is urinating or spraying.  Here are some things to consider:

Urination

This is when a cat squats down and urinates on items

A large quantity of urine

Scratching after they urinate

Spraying

This involves a standing position and a tail quiver before a spray.

A small quantity of urine

No scratching

What causes urination outside the tray?

It is NOT because of spite or malice or because they are annoyed you are going on holiday, I promise you that.

There are a number of possibilities. These may include: issues with the litter tray around cleanliness, or smells that the cat finds aversive such as lemon or deodorisers, an unsuitable litter depth (too shallow), incontinence potentially because of age or another reason such as orthopaedic challenges, not being able to get in and out of the litter tray (muscoskeletal challenges), a bad experience when using the tray,  memory of pain when using the tray (such as cystitis), the tray being in a busy location, competition over the tray in multi cat homes, suffering with bladder , kidney or hyperthyroid issues.

What causes spraying behaviour

Spraying challenges can be because of medical challenges, emotional insecurity (the location of the sprays can indicate what area a cat is attempting to mark, unneutered males can mark, it is also thought that in multi cat homes where there is a male and a female that a male may more be likely to spray[2], a cat who is frustrated may spray as it makes them feel more secure , it can sometimes co-incide with a stressful experiences such as a cat coming in from outside or food insecurity. A cat may do it in the garden where other cats have been to mark their territory.

 What would a behaviourist do?

A behaviourist would get a vet referral and look at your cats clinical history to see if there is anything that could be contributing to the behaviour or onset. They would look at possible pre-disposing factors such as past experiences, genetics etc. They would also look at initiating factors (a new cat coming in), any changes to the household for example. As well as this they would look at maintenance factors (what is keeping the behaviour going and environmental modifications  such as food and water away from windows where other cats look in that may need to be made). 

References

1. Rodan, I. and Heath, S. (eds.) (2015) Feline behavioral health and welfare. St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.

2.Hart, B.L. and Cooper, L. (1984) Factors relating to urine spraying and fighting in prepubertally gona- dectomized cats. Journal of the American Veterinary

Medical Association 184(10), 1255–1258