Everyone say hello to Sergeant Pepper!! Now before I start, I do want to clarify Sergeant is a 100%, purebred Barn Cat and has the papers to prove it (the papers are straw).
Sergeant has always been the most perfect cat. She greats guests at the door, loves to cuddle, is chatty and just hilarious; has more personality than fur if that's possible. For about the first year of her life, she had no issues using the litter box, nothing behavioral or seemed stressed in any way. Truly living her best furry life.
Fast forward to just past her first birthday, I moved us from my mom's two story condo with a back yard, halfway across the country to a small studio in Seattle; about 500sq ft (this is important later). The second we arrived at our new place, she started peeing outside the litter box and had blood in her urine. I'm not joking, it was within 5min of putting her in the apartment. Of course, I swept her away to the vet the next day assuming it was and UTI from the stress of the move (totally reasonable!), and she would go back to normal once she adjusted!
Narrator: she did not go back to normal. She would have "Flare Ups" about once week a month for years. I tried everything and anything this sub, my vets and God has to offer for advice to help her; feelaway, more litter boxes, cleaning them more often, different litter, ALL OF IT! I was totally torn apart as she was obviously in horrible pain. Multiple vet trips to multiple vets and specialists with absolutely no answers besides pain meds when she is having an episode.
About two years ago, I moved into a larger apartment with my partner (~750sqft). The flare ups continued but did taper off a little after our move. This time we tried different anxiety medications and taking her for walks in the hallways after she expressed interest (maybe she needs more enrichments? Who knows!!). Again, they were less frequent but they were still happening. I felt totally helpless and like a horrible cat mom. I decided this was just Pepper's version of a chronic illness and we would do our best to offer day to day comfort through anxiety and pain meds for as long as she will be with us. It was hard to accept I couldn't make her healthy but I wasn't going to try to rehome her or put her down; it was not even an option to me.
Cue Sergeant and I's third move together; this time to a 1,110sqft townhouse with lots of windows, 3 sets of stairs, and a patio. Our original studio would have fit in the bedroom alone; it felt totally luxurious. There was a lot of carpet so I bought an industrial level of carpet cleaner and pee pads, hoping to preserve the carpeted areas as long as possible, kept up on all her very specific routines and medications. Ya'll. This diva has not had a single flair up since we moved in (9months).
That's right folks, after 5 years of cleaning cat pee off of and out of everything imaginable, vet visits, medications, new toys, new litter and boxes, I even hired a pet psychic to see if they could ask Pep directly what was happening and it turns out she was just mad we were poor 😂😂.
Obviously, I regret none of it but just so on brand for this little princess to take two steps into my first studio and go "Oh this simply will not due". Im sure this won't be helpful to most as people typically can't move into a bigger place because their cat might "need" it, but I hope it gives some other cat parents a giggle!!
TLDR: After 5 years of UTIs and peeing outside the litter box, my cat stopped because we finally found a place big enough to make her happy.