Creative way to accommodate cat with abnormal urination posture

Dear Dr. Fox: A recent letter in your column about the cat who started spraying about two years ago reminded me of our Mischief. Mischief wasn’t actually spraying; he just preferred to urinate standing up.

From the time he was ak itten, we hadtom ake special litter boxes out of large Rubbermaid containers (no top, door cutintoas ide) or else we’d have wet walls, floors, etc.

Helivedto171/2 and never deviated from that posture. There didn’t seem to be any reason other than his personal preference.

Since it’s a recent thing, though, with the cat in the recent column, I’m wondering if perhaps the letter writer’s cat has something structural going on that could makesta nding feel more comfortable. — B.W., Ellicott City, Maryland

Dear B.W.: Youareto be commended for your creative solution for your rather unique cat, who should have h adt ests done to see if indeed your plausible theory of a congenital abnormality of the spine w as the issue. Thatwoul d be my first guess in a young cat.

When older cats sudden lype e and poop outside the litter box and seem to have difficulty bending their backs properly to evacuate, they are often experiencing pain from arthritic vertebrae. Antiinflammatory fish oil or a sardine a day helps many of these old cats.

Actual spraying is deliberate marking behavior, where the cat will raise the tail (which m ayvi brate), slightly elevate the hindend, then back up to whatever he/she wishes to put a scent mark on. Thi sismore common in un-neutered males.