My male, neutered cat (3 years old) has started peeing outside the litter box. Always in a similar corner near the original box and he does behavior indicating he has a problem with the box its self. Sniffs it, turns up his nose, and goes to pee somewhere else. He has never peed in a bathtub or sink, I haven't noticed any straining, or increased licking or drinking. He has lots of energy and I haven't noticed any behavioral changes. There's also no guarding in the abdomen region, even when I press quite firmly. I also got some pretty litter just to check and it came back normal. There have been 2-3 times where he's thrown up in the past two months but it's not regular and it's mostly bile. My question is, do I need to take him to the vet? I took him and my other cat less than two months ago for an annual check up and got charged a huge bill. After doing some research, I felt kind of mislead on what tests they were doing and how necessary they were. (everything came back within normal ranges) It created a large financial burden and wasn't covered by insurance because it was "routine testing". I will take him to the vet if needed but the only indication is peeing outside the litter box and I'm scared they will not be upfront with me. I would rather find a new vet first but the wait times are usually pretty long for good vets in my city, so if I have to take him in sooner, I want to get on that. His health is most important to me, but cost and reliability of the vet is a concern, especially if it comes back negative.
Hi Spencer,
Inappropriate urination for behavioral reasons is very common in cats, especially males. I do feel if a cat is going back to the same spot over and over that you're more likely seeing a behavioral issue. Depending on what material (carpet, hardwood, drywall, etc) exists in that location, you can try to use an oxidative cleaner or dilute bleach solution to get the urine out. But if it has a chance to really soak into a surface, that can be a longterm problem. As far as litter boxes go, it is helpful to have one more box than the number of cats in the home as a general rule. If your cat seems to find something distasteful about the box, you may find it helpful to completely empty the box, wash it out, and put all fresh litter in. Some cats are more tolerant than others. I can clean the box out 3 times a week and my two cats are good with that. Others may prefer it scooped daily. Putting a Feliway diffuser near the box may also be helpful.
If you see signs of straining, vocalizing in the box, and frequent repeat trips to the box with very little or no urine produced, these are signs of a more serious medical concern that should warrant immediate vet attention. Another concern would also be if the urine appears to have blood in it. While I don't put a ton of stock in pretty litter in all cases, it can at least detect blood in the urine.
As far as preventive care goes, I can understand some of the frustration. Preventive care is all about not waiting for something noticeably bad to happen and screening for early signs or changes in health status. When we're doing wellness labwork, the goal is for it to all be normal. For some pet owners, normal labwork may then feel like a waste of money, while others are greatly relieved. From a vet's perspective, we see too many cats that hide signs of illness until it's more advanced and treatment options become limited. I'm not sure how old your cat is, but I would say I place a greater emphasis on annual labwork in cats 7-10 years of age and older because the likelihood of chronic disease developing gets higher and annual screening is really important.
It's hard to speak on costs because everyone has different expectations and costs differ depending on where you live. But in the DC area where I am, dog owners expect to pay about $1000 a year on wellness care. Cat owners, a little bit less (there are fewer annual vaccines), but still easily $500-700, including flea/tick prevention. This is higher than the national average, but so are costs in general in the DC metro area.
As many veterinary hospitals are purchased by private companies and corporations, we're seeing a great increase in costs for veterinary care. Unfortunately, veterinary caretakers are less involved with control over pricing but are still always the ones who have to incur it directly on pet owners. The best we can do most of the time is tell folks what to expect. Grumbling about prices people have to pay is a constant theme at my practice (and more so the last 2-3 years). My point being that the care team at your hospital is (hopefully) focused on the best medical healthcare for your cat and the money that comes in from that is not their sole focus. It's hard to say if you'd find better pricing, especially if you live in a city.
Some practices do offer wellness plans that allow a select number of wellness items like vaccines and bloodwork to be paid for over the course of the year. I know there are also insurance plans that have wellness coverage as an option. But at least for wellness you are able to plan on the costs for that each year if you know what they are. Insurance helps when unexpected costs arise.