My cat is peeing on the beds

My Cat is a female and 18 years old. She's good for her age and can get about ok. She has a litter box which we keep outside and she's got a cat flap so she's able to come and go as and when she wants to.

The trouble is most of the time she chooses to pee on any of the beds, or sofa or a cushion. This is happening far too often now.

Can anyone help with a good solution?

My thoughts: I'm sorry to hear that your kitty is having issues. At 18, she's an elderly cat and just like humans, that often means more health issues, arthritis and decreased mobility.

I would take steps to make things as easy as possible on her.

She may simply not be able to hold it long enough to make the journey to the box outside, or she may not be happy with the box accomodations anymore. Placement, cleanliness, odors (plastics absorb odors and boxes need to be replaced periodically), litter type... these are all important, and cats have been known to change their preferences from time to time.

Along those lines, I would provide her with an easy to get into (and out of) litter box inside the house in addition to the one she is used to using. Even though I'm generally not a fan of outside litter boxes, I would keep that one in place so as not to disrupt things too much.

But the first thing I'd do is get her checked out by a veterinarian with this problem in mind. One of the signs of urinary/bladder problems is occasional or frequent urination outside the litter box.

Her older immune system may not work as well as it used to, so she may have a urinary tract infection or she may have some other urinary tract/bladder problem.

Kidney disease is very common in cats, especially older cats, so that is a possibility as well. This is especially true if she's urinating more frequently than usual. I'd get her checked to rule these things out.

I hope that helps give you some ideas. Please let us know how she gets on.

Kurt