JoeBob only urinating once a day

[galensgranny]

I have been concerned about JoeBob.  He has been urinating only once a day for the past month.  One day there was nothing at at all.  So, we took him to the vet and she took an x-ray, along with squeezing his bladder, but the x'ray didn't show anything and his bladder was not full when she squeezed it (though she said it had some urine in it).  Obviously, he isn't blocked, since he is urinating, and what would be a normal amount for a round of urination.  It's just that usually, animals urinate more than once a day. I haven't seen him urinate, so I can't say if he strains at all. 

He won't urinate or defecate in his room anymore.  (He lives separately from the others.)  They have been doing construction across the street at the school for months, so maybe one day while he was in the litterbox a sudden loud, different than usual construction noise happened that scared him.  That is all I can think of to account for his no longer using the box in his room.  So I got a large cardboard box, and set it on it's side like a cave, then slide the litterbox init, in case JoeBob felt he needed more of hidden place.  But, no difference.

The way it goes now is that when I get up, he runs to the door.  He wants to go across the hall the Rey's bedroom (Rey is a cat, for those who don't know, and Rey stays separate when we are asleep or not home.)  So, I put JoeBob down in front of Rey's door, open it, and he and Rey sniff noses.  Then Rey saunters out and JoeBob goes in.  I scoop Rey's box.  Then I keep JoeBob shut in Rey's room until JoeBob starts hollering for me, which is usually about an hour later.  Then, when I open the door, JoeBob runs across the hall to his door, to get back "home".   He doesn't bother trying to go down the stairs, and will ignore other cats that happen to be in the hall.  He just wants to go back to his "home".

So, I shut him back in his room, then go to Rey's room to check the litter box, and sure enough, pee and poop.

I am worried about him only urinating once a day.  It is certainly not good to hold urine for around 24 hours, since bacteria could build up. I have tried putting JoeBob in Rey's room in the evening, hoping he would use Rey's box again for another time per day, but no.  I also tried putting Cat Attract "herbs" in JoeBob's litterbox, but it didn't make any difference. 

He seems to be eating and drinking as usual.

Maybe his bladder stretched out so it holds a lot more than it used to, due to his having been holding it in for almost a day.

Does anyone have experience with once-a-day urination? 

I might try rearranging his room and put the litterbox in a new spot.  Maybe get a brand new litter box.  And maybe a different type of litter.  Maybe that will help, since it seems he has deemed his current litterbox situation no good anymore.

[kb2zct]

Hi Margaret:

Well, your situation is very unusual.  Now, I've had cats that only want to use certain boxes.  Evan was like that.  Until the very end, he would walk all the way across the house to use the litterboxes in the dining room.  I had a box just outside the door to his bedroom, but he would never use it.  I could never understand why.

I can only assume that JoeBob is doing the same.  I would think that he is concerned that some big predator animal (the construction noise) is looking for him, and that by going in the other room, he would be safer - by leading the predator away.

Is JoeBob the one from under your deck? 

Mark

[animalangel1]

I'm thinking along the same line as Mark is.... I think JoeBob is afraid to use the litter box in his room because going to the potty makes you vulnerable for those moments that you are in there - and the noise is a big monster that might get him while he is temporarily "unavailable" to protect himself.  He likes using Rey's box because it's in a more peaceful/safer spot I'm guessing.

If the vet didn't find anything wrong with him... I'm thinking he might just not be drinking enough water throughout the day and due to that - maybe he just doesn't have to go! 

Do you have another room that you could put him in - away from the noise - for a while and see if that makes a difference???

[mrsgreenjeens]

As usual, I got nothin!  At our house, one day, one box will be completely full, while the others remain completely unused, then another day, a different one will be completely full, while the others will remain completely unused, then some days, NONE of them get used, and some days ALL of them get used.  (we DO clean them all twice a day, so if there is no use at times, I am meaning since the last cleaning!)  "Course, we don't have any cats that have "their own", because we don't have any special circumstances that require separation do to health issues.

[galensgranny]

Yes, JoeBob is the cat that was living under the deck at the Lynchburg house. He had been living there for a while apparently.  The neighbor said the previous owner put out food for cats.  JoeBob was a timid cat, scarcely venturing to the deck itself.  He never roamed around the yard.  There were several stray cats around.

I think the problem has to be a sudden, overly loud and different construction noise than there had been for months.  They had been working on the roof for a long time, maybe repairing and insulating it, and that didn't bother him. 

Oh, but they recently had a truck "raking" the gravel of the new parking area they had made, taking up some lawn area that was between the street and the existing parking lot.  This new area is directly across from my house, at the street.  The high school itself is set back aways from the street, with their parking area in front, so what they did back there, hammering on the roof, didn't seem to concern JoeBob. But, directly across the street, not too far from our house, would concern him.  So maybe that metal monster thing crawling back and forth across from the house- kind of too close for comfort- is what upset him. It wasn't a car or truck that he is used to as normal. And it just stayed there, stalking....

JoeBob had been a bit territorial about the part of the high school property closest to the street and therefore, closest to our house.  He growls if there is anything out of the ordinary.  For example, one day during school hours, a worker was standing in the new parking area close to the street talking on a cell phone. JoeBob growled the whole time.   For the year or so that he has been looking out the window, there has never been a person just standing in the lot- they are all supposed to go in the building in the morning and stay a long time, then leave the property all at once at a certain time in the afternoon. No loitering! Suspicious, incorrect behavior!  Intruder alert!  Then, another time, a worker was putting something in the construction dumpster that they had in the new parking area, but then it seem the worker was there too long (probably trying to get the item stuffed more in the dumpster).  JoeBob didn't like that, so he growled until the man left.

Michelle, there is a bedroom on the first floor at the back of the house where the noise might be less, but one could still hear some.  But I think maybe that would be worse if JoeBob can't see out the window to notice anything.  It is something to consider.

Well, anyway, last night I moved his litter box to the front side of the house (the high school side) and kept it in the cardboard cave.  At five AM he was meowing at the door to go out.  I figured he needed to eliminate.  So, as if I had a dog to take out, I carted him to Rey's room and put him by the litter box.  But, Rey was still in the room, and JoeBob rushed up to Rey.  So, I carted JoeBob back to the bedroom so I could go back to sleep.  He cried a bit more, but I told him no.  A few minutes later I heard digging in his litterbox!    I turned on the light and he was pooping!!  Yay!!  He sure needed to, as a lot came out!  But, it was a normal consistency, not hard and dried. And he didn't strain.  So he doesn't seem constipated.  More like he is willfully holding it until he just no longer can.

Now, here's hoping he will decide to urinate also in his room, and will continue to poop in there.

[galensgranny]

Progress!  This morning at around 6 AM I heard JoeBob digging in the litter box, so I got up to look.  He defecated.  So now it is day 2 in a row using his box in his room to defecate.    But, it was runny.

Then, about an hour later, I heard him digging again, and he urinated in the box! 

So, here's hoping he is over his reluctance/fear of using the litter box in his room.  And now, I hope he will urinate more than one time per day.

[grammywms]

Yeah, Joe Bob.   Keep up the good work.

[animalangel1]

Great news!!!  We'll keep our fingers and toes and paws crossed over here!! 

[galensgranny]

Well, JoeBob is still only urinating once a day, but he is using a litter box in his room.  So that is good.  I went out and bought him something new to use as a litter box, which was a litter box sized plastic storage container, thinking maybe he would take better to a brand new box that was very different from his usual box, in case he was blaming that litter box and trying to avoid it.  But, he has ignored the new box and is using his original litter box that was always in his room.   

So, in his case, it wasn't blaming the box, but feeling nervous to eliminate while in that room.  Must have been the scary construction noises happening while he was using the little box in that room one day that made him not want to eliminate in that room.  Anyway, there hasn't been any loud construction noises for at least two weeks (though they are still not finished with whatever they are doing). 

I left that second litter box in case he might decide to use it also.