One of my cats is super finicky about how and where she goes to the toilet. If the litter boxes are not clean enough, smell too strongly of the other cats, or aren’t the right size, she will express her displeasure by spraying the wall of our back bathroom.
Vertical Spraying Cat
On top of all her fussiness, she is also what is known as a vertical spraying cat. Also known as high spraying cats, this means instead of splaying her legs and crouching down to pee, she pees stand straight up, aiming her output straight at the sides of the litter box.
Avoid Two-Part Litter Boxes
I have experimented with quite a few litter boxes over the years in an attempt to find ones that allow my vertical peeing cat the space both vertically and horizontally to pee without the urine exiting the box.
I first tried to buy litter boxes that come in two parts, where the open lid extends the height of the box. Unfortunately, what I have found is that when my cat uses the litter box, the urine will leak out the back of the litter box. So, while my walls were protected from the my cat’s upright toilet habits, the outside of the litter box and the floor beneath it weren’t so lucky.
High-backed Litter Boxes
The solution for cats that pee standing up is a high-backed litter box. These litter boxes have high sides made of one piece of plastic. No more urine leaking through where the top and bottom of the litter box meets.
I found it surprising challenging to find a one-piece litter box that is high enough and isn’t excessively expensive. These are the two high-backed litter boxes that have really worked for my cat that I found that were reasonably priced.
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Frisco Leaf High-Sided Cat Litter Box
The first is the Frisco Leaf High-Sided Cat Litter Box. This large litter box has a height of almost 16″ (15.95″ to be exact). The Frisco litter box has a roommy squared-shaped interior and measures 14.5″ across and wide. The litter box is spacious and my large cat has no problem stepping inside and turning around.
The litter box is solid on all sides and one piece so there’s no connecting panels where urine can leak through. The front of the litter box has a wide opening for cats to be able to walk into the opening. My cat has no problem simply walking over the front lip to enter the box. No awkward jumping needed.
There is an indentation at the top of the two sides of the Frisco litter box. The idea is to grab the two openings and pull them together so you can tip the litter box sideways to more easily pour the litter out. The idea, in concept is a great one, but I found it awkward to both squeeze the sides together and tip the litter box.
Cleaning this box is super easy. There are no crevices where urine gets stuck into. I typically wipe down the insides as needed whenever my cat pees high. The box gets a thorough rinsing before I dry it in the Sun for a little disinfecting and deodorizing each time I change out the litter.
My cat accepted this new box pretty quickly and started using it within a couple days of it being introduced. This litter box has definitely become the go-to litter box for my largest cat.
Richell PAW TRAX High Wall Cat Litter Box
The other high-backed litter box that my cat really likes is the Richell PAW TRAX High Wall Cat Litter Box. The litter box comes in two colors: white or black. The litter box isn’t as high as the Frisco Leaf but at 12″ the height is still high enough to contain my cat spraying against the wall standing up.
The interior of the Richell is spacious with a depth of 19.1″ and a width of 16.1″. Overall, while the litter box is a fairly generous size, it’s compact enough to fit into a more constrained space than the Frisco. Like the Frisco, the Richell PAW TRAX also has a low entrance that is about 5.75″ high. The entrance, however, doesn’t lead directly into the bottom of the litter box. There is a grated plastic step at the entrance.
The step is there, in theory, to help dislodge litter from your cat’s paws as they exit the litter box. My cat, however, avoids the step and tends to jump in and out of the box. My suspicion is that her avoidance of the step is a sensory issue and she probably doesn’t like the feel of the grating on her paws.
For the most part, cleaning this box is pretty easy both by wiping down the interior walls in-between cleanings and doing a full clean and dry out in the Sun. My one complaint is that the added step and the underlying support have crevices where urine and litter get stuck. This mixture turns to gunk inside those crevices so a little extra soaking is needed to thoroughly clean out those crevices.
It took about a month of the litter box sitting there for my cat to accept and to start using it. Again, my hunch is that the step is something she really doesn’t like. Still, she does use it regularly now.
