Need help with getting my cat to stop peeing outside the litter box.

There can be a number of reasons for a cat peeing outside the box and some of them can be medical. Have you taken it to the vet?

Seconding Magilla - my cat had urinary crystals, which if they were left untreated, could've lead to serious kidney issues.

Get the dude checked out.

My male cat is fixed and still likes to pee in the carpet in the adjoining room sometimes. I have no idea why, we clean his box daily so I think he is just being an asshole.

The best thing I have came up with is if I catch him doing it I chase him with a Febreeze can. Now if I hear him scratching carpet and yell he will run. He still sneaks some in while we are at work though.

Sorry I don't have anything better than that.

Edit: are these urinary crystals something vets look for at a routine checkup? Because my cat just went two months ago and this behaviour is not new. He will piss in the litter box most of the time.

Our cat has the same issue

And we have dealt with it to a breaking point

The issue can be a wide variety of factors. Litter box not clean enough, urinary tract issues, illness, and worst of all...

Instinctual marking behavior

The downside to having a male cat. This behavior apparently can be triggered when they sense other mammal scents nearby or whatever the fuck else

One of the things that helped us temporarily was giving him outside time so that he would be willing to mark oitside instead of inside.

However it was only temporary as after we got new carpet he started marking once again...

Now we basically have to find him a new home at this point since hes basically a basement cat that we let outside from time to time. We cant trust him to roam the house freely and it sucks

You may have to consider a similar option if all the other stuff you try doesnt work.

Moral of the story? Don't adopt a male cat i guess

Step one is checking for a medical cause like a UTI.

DYK: In humans and dogs there is a direct connection between the nervous system and the digestive system. The reason you get queasy during stressful situations is this connection. Likewise, dogs throw up when they get tense. In cats, a similar connection exists but between the nervous system and the bladder. A stressed out cat pees in random places as a coping mechanism. In fact, a cat can become so stressed that they cause damage to their urinary tract. They can literally worry themselves into having a UTI.

Learned this amazing fact after adopting a very shy and nervous cat. She started peeing on sofas and chairs about a month after we got her. The vet took a urine sample (from her bladder with a needle!) and it was very bloody, which is a common sign of UTI. She, no joke, was put on a month long dose of cat anxiety medication plus some antibiotics for the UTI. Fixed the urination problem completely. Cat is still shy and nervous, but at least she pees exclusively in the litter boxes.

If it comes back with a clean bill of health, which I hope it does, there are a few things you can try.

Most people suggest at least 1 litter box per cat, but you may need more.
Make sure they are cleaned regularly.
Maybe try a different style of litter box. Some cats like enclosed boxes, some like low sides, etc.
Observe when the cat does use the litter box. Is the other cat picking on him or bothering him in some way. If a cat associates the litter box with something unpleasant then it will be avoided. Most cats like their box to be in a quite place away from their food/water.
If you think there might be a conflict between the cats then separate the litter boxes so they can go in separate safe places.
Try a different litter.

Obviously don't try everything all at once as that could introduce too many variables, but adjust one or two easy ones and see what happens. Good luck. It can be frustrating, but once you get it figured out it will be worth it.

Magilla said:

If it comes back with a clean bill of health, which I hope it does, there are a few things you can try.

Most people suggest at least 1 litter box per cat, but you may need more.
Make sure they are cleaned regularly.
Maybe try a different style of litter box. Some cats like enclosed boxes, some like low sides, etc.
Observe when the cat does use the litter box. Is the other cat picking on him or bothering him in some way. If a cat associates the litter box with something unpleasant then it will be avoided. Most cats like their box to be in a quite place away from their food/water.
If you think there might be a conflict between the cats then separate the litter boxes so they can go in separate safe places.
Try a different litter.

Obviously don't try everything all at once as that could introduce too many variables, but adjust one or two easy ones and see what happens. Good luck. It can be frustrating, but once you get it figured out it will be worth it.

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All great points - make sure that you clean the litter box AT LEAST once a day. I used to clean it every 2-3 days and since switching to every day the "accidents" have completely stopped.

Aside from what everyone else has suggested, have you tried a different kind of litter yet? Some cats are very sensitive to 'dusty' litters and will avoid them if they can. There are hypoallergenic crystal-type litter that has fixed pee-aversion cats that I know of. Also: How often do you clean your box? The cat might be avoiding an overloaded tray..

If you have more than one cat make sure you have more than one litter box. Learned that lesson after losing out on a couple pairs of bed sheets.

shamanick said:

All great points - make sure that you clean the litter box AT LEAST once a day. I used to clean it every 2-3 days and since switching to every day the "accidents" have completely stopped.

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H.Protagonist said:

Also: How often do you clean your box? The cat might be avoiding an overloaded tray..

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Seconding this. The oldest (and grumpiest) of our cats refuses to use any tray that doesn't have fresh litter.

If you can rule out the medical stuff and narrow it down to purely behavioral, there are a bunch of options. We tried pretty much every option before eventually putting my cat on Prozac. A half pill daily solved his issues completely, and we've since weaned him from the medication and he hasn't started inappropriate urination since.

Always have one more litter box than the amount of cats you have. We had a similar issue with one of my cats but then we got another litter box and the problem was solved. They're pretty territorial about where they pee and poop apparently.

I was having this issue with my cat last year and I switched to Dr Elsey's Cat Attract litter and never have any accidents anymore. Stuff is a little expensive though.

I'm taking my cat to the vet tomorrow, because she just started peeing around the house. We had been catsitting for a friend for a couple months, so we had two cats in the household until recently. During that time, our cat would occasionally pee outside of the little box if she was jealous or pissed off.

However, now that the other cat is gone, our cat just keeps having accidents. She still uses the litterbox, but we keep finding wet spots on furniture, laundry, you name it.

I hope you can figure out what's going on with your kitty, OP.

TheManWithoutFear said:

I was having this issue with my cat last year and I switched to Dr Elsey's Cat Attract litter and never have any accidents anymore. Stuff is a little expensive though.

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Never knew this existed, thank you for recommending this, ordering some now.

We have a blind cat who pees on our carpet fairly frequently. We took her to the vet and we didn't really get much feedback about it, so we are trying what we can to get her to know where to go. This might help a lot.

Easy way to fix this is to buy a big storage tub/container with a lid and cut a hole in the top big enough for the cat to go through. This also avoids litter being kicked out when they poop. Don't put a crazy amount of litter in it and make sure it is an appropriate size for the cat with plenty of room. Leave the lid off for the first couple of days though.

OP are you using scented litter? Stop doing that.

Also I've found that most cats don't like pine, so if you're using a pine blend stop doing that.

I just buy the giant tubs of tidy cats unscented and it works well.

Good luck OP, I've never been able to get my cat to stop peeing out of the litter box. We mitigate it by putting doggy training pee pads in front of the litter box. He pees on those, we toss em, replace, etc.

Theshow84 said:

Anyways, he pees in a few random spots in our house

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Where are these spots? If there are really only a few of them, they might not be as random as you think.

Consider getting a few automatic spray deterrents and placing them in his most popular pee locations. I haven't had to use them myself, but they seem pretty effective on My Cat From Hell.