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Old September 20th, 2009, 01:09 AM
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RUSTYcat RUSTYcat is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Le rocher
Posts: 404
Hi John, and welcome to the forum!

When cats suddenly begin ignoring the litter box and eliminate elsewhere, it usually isn't due to memory loss...more likely, there's a medical issue in the picture.

It's also posible that some change has occurred (new litter, some change in the litter box area) that is deterring her from the box.

If this happened here, I'd first be doing some detective work to identify anything in that environment which may have changed.

In any case, if she hasn't seen a Vet in the past year, this would be a good opportunity for you to start her on yearly wellness exams. Rocky's now 16 - that's 80 in human years! - and the accepted practice these days for senior cats is yearly physical exams with bloodwork and urinanalysis (with a "simple" physical at 6 month intervals). Cats age much faster than humans (next year she'll be 84 in human years)...therefore the need to keep ahead of any developing health issues.

(One example of a medical problem could be constipation...IF she were having difficulty passing stool, it could be painful for her - she would then associate the pain with the litterbox and go elsewhere next time in an attempt to avoid the pain...)
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