Intermittent Litterbox Issues with Senior Cat

OK, thanks. Looks like I’ll just have to continue managing the situation as best I can. That’s what I suspected. Nothing really seems to solve it in the long term. I’m totally baffled by the empty bowl thing, though.

Yes, the problem began when she had the bladder stones a couple of years ago. At the time, she clearly was having discomfort that caused her to, understandably, go whenever and wherever. She had those removed and was actually checked quite recently, just as a follow up, to make sure they have not returned. They have not. The behavior since the surgery is altogether different. There is not the same sense of urgency and nowhere near the frequency. It’s as if she just developed bad habits when she had the stones and occasionally reverts to those if I let down my guard. I just can’t seem to get her reliably retrained. I have begun to wonder if she might have a touch of dementia due to advancing age, although I’m not seeing it in other areas of behavior. Maybe the onset of that just happened to coincide with the bladder stone issue. The dog’s bowl is large-ish for a bowl, but tiny compared to a litter box. I’m not even sure how she manages it, as I’ve never caught her in the act. She must just back up to it and position her backside over it. There is no way she could get inside it at all. Our home has a very open floor plan which makes confinement or additional litter boxes problematic. The dog’s feeding area with the bowl in question is actually quite near our own dining table. A litter box next to it isn’t terribly appealing. But it may come to that, I suppose….

Thanks so much for the input. I do see some food for thought here. I’ll definitely check out all the links. Macaroni is actually 15, not 13. I still don’t consider 15 to be super old, though. We’ve had cats live to be 18 or so. But it’s not young either. I don’t think she is really incontinent, per se, as this does not happen all that often. She actually seems to be able to hold it for a pretty long time generally. When she had the stones, she did not seem to be able to hold her urine for long at all. She was peeing really frequently, but only tiny amounts. That was one of the major clues that something was wrong physically. And I would see her doing it. Now, I almost never catch her in the act. So the behavior is not quite the same. Still, a UTI and re-checking again for the stones certainly bears looking into. But wouldn’t the peeing be, again, quite frequent and in smaller amounts? I have used every kind of cleaner known to man! I’m not convinced any cleaner will totally get rid of all traces of odor. But, yes, I’ve used enzyme cleaners. I agree with you about the bowls. I have several that can be switched out and I’d rather have her pee in a bowl than on the floor itself. I’ve just never heard of a cat doing that and find it puzzling. Do you think the Feliway spray works? I’ve heard conflicting reports about that.