My 11-year-old cat is sneezing and not using her litter box.

Question

Hi my cat is 11 years old. She is very nice and intelligent and has always had good behavior. She is an indoor cat and we have no other cats and there are no other cats around. Lately she has not been using the liter box and she has never done that. She is also sneezing a lot. We are using the same liter brand. We recently took her to the vet and she was fine. Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 11 years and 5 months old | 6 lbs

Lauren Jones VMD · Accepted Answer

Litter box issues can be extremely frustrating! If Luna is both urinating and defecating outside of her litter box, this is more likely a behavioral issue. If she is only urinating outside of the litter box, there is a chance that there is an underlying medical issue, such as a urinary tract infection or bladder stones. Sneezing can be due to a number of issues in cats, including simple irritation to the nasal passages from dust or pollens, nasopharyngeal polyps, upper respiratory infections, among others. I'm glad to hear that Luna has recently been to her vet and seemed to be healthy, but it may be worth going back to the vet for a urinalysis if this was not already done. This urine test will rule out a UTI and crystals in the urine. Your vet will also be able to determine if an upper respiratory infection is suspected. Once medical issues have been ruled out as a cause of Luna's litter box issues, consider several at home strategies. Add an extra litter box to the house, consider changing the litter type to one with less dust (Yesterday's News is one brand), add or remove a hood/cover to one of the litter boxes, and consider using a calming pheromone collar or diffuser (Feliway is one example). If all of these attempts fail, you may need to talk to Luna's vet about anti-anxiety medications. I hope this helps! Good luck! :-)

My 11-year-old cat is sneezing and not using her litter box.

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