Expert: Dear Tabbi - 9/15/2008

Question
My cat is 13 years old and is in fine health. However, she does have a heart murmur (but thats not really part of the question). Ever since we moved to our new house 4 years ago she always wants to use my bedroom floor as a litter box. So I closed my door and don't let her in so she would use her litter box. Her litter box is in the laundry room. But just recently she has been using other parts of the house. I need to find out what the problem is or my parents won't keep her. Please help.

Answer
Eric,

At 13 years old your cat is 68 years old in human years. She is getting at the age where medical issues start causing behavior problems. She needs to go to the vet for an "older cat exam" to check the conditon of her kidneys, thyroid, and liver. She may also have a urinary tract infection or urinary crystals. They are painful and cats associate that pain with the litterbox and go elsewhere.

I would move a litterbox to your room to make her happy if that is the area of the house she prefers. She may have arthritis which makes getting in and out of the litterbox painful. Or try using puppy pee-pads next to the litterbox to see if that helps.

Older cats don't take stress as well as a younger cat, and moving, with a complete change in routine, would be very stressful for her.

Being prepared and knowledgable about elderly cats will make things easier for the cat and for you. I am including some very good links about elderly cats:
(Copy and paste, or type, the whole links into your address bar)

http://www.sniksnak.com/resources/geriatric.html

http://www.messybeast.com/towards-end.htm

http://www.2ndchance.info/oldcat.htm

Your parents wouldn't get rid of your grandparents for getting old and having accidents, so they shouldn't talk about getting rid of your cat. She is like a grandmother with 4 legs and fur! Your parents should be more accepting of age-related behavior.

Tabbi