Revenge Pee

 

                Our cat is elderly. Her back legs are weak and her bladder is small and grumbly with an occasional bladder infection. Last year, we all gave in and put a litter box in the bathroom.

                Although she has always preferred going outdoors—under the Ark in bad weather—to a litter box, she is also the master of what we call the Revenge Pee.  This is the perfectly targeted pee (or poop) right by the door, or at the bottom of the stairs, or, once, in the middle of a laundry pile in the basement.  She occasionally indulged in Revenge Pee when we locked her in the house with a litter box because we did not want her roaming while we were gone for a few days, or when we did something else to cause her wrath.  It was always a statement.

                For the past month, we have been struggling with a variation of the Revenge Pee. We set up two litter boxes when her infection was bad. One in the bathroom and one by the front door, because she was peeing on the floor in an attempt to go out.  She really liked that, but I did not. So, I slowly moved the second box across the living room and into the bathroom. She moved with it. It paused over the heater’s intake grate in the hall for several days and then I moved it the last few feet. She showed her displeasure by peeing in the grate. I showed my displeasure by pitching her out. To clean up the mess, I stacked the two litter boxes in the bathroom.

                While we were gone, she came in, ate some crunchies, and went into the bathroom. Then, on her tired old back legs, she climbed into the stacked boxes and pooped. Mark thinks it was a sign she is ready to make peace. I am not so sure.