I have two cats. I love them both dearly, but one, the Road Warrior, has me very upset.
In two other threads I have posted about his bad habit of urinating on the carpet in my hallway. Dopers have given me tons of good advice. I have tried every kind of training, of carpet cleansers, and so on, that I have heard of. I took him to the vet and spent $100 on various tests to be sure he is healthy(he is)Things will help for a while, but then I catch him squatting again. It’s gotten so I’m embarrassed to have guests over, because there always seems to be that “eau de pee” in the air. The other cat does not do this, so why does the Road Warrior? I want to get new carpet, but I can’t, because I know that RW will pee on it too.
If I try to find him a new home he’ll probably pee there too, and whoever I give him to wouldn’t thank me. But I find myself getting upset now, very upset with the cat, even though I love him. The damn animal just won’t learn.
Have any other Dopers had to get rid of a cat for this reason? I don’t want to, not at all, but I also want a house that smells fresh. Would finding him a new home be a moral thing to do? He is neutered, has all his shots, and is declawed on his front paws. I didn’t want to do that latter either, but he just wouldn’t learn not to scratch the furniture.
First off, your basic department store carpet cleaner won’t work. At best, it will cover up the scent. You need to go to Pet Smart and Petco and get an enzyme/friendly bacteria based cleaner. Extra points if you can get one with phermones. Otherwise, you will have to get Feliway, which is very expensive, but very effectve. Trust me, these things work. I just had a round of cats peeing in the apartment after my mother let a neighborhood cat in and it sprayed in the apartment. These enzyme cleaners actually get rid of the smell of cat spray.
Feliway is not an instant cure, btw. You have to spray it in the area of offense daily.
I’ve had pretty good luck with these products. I’ve gotten the cats to stop peeing in the apartment within days of a “visitor” coming in and spraying. Now, if I could just get my mom to stop letting the neighborhood cats come in and visit I’ll be all set. She continued to let one in even after multiple spraying offenses, then said that if our cats don’t stop peeing inside, we’ll have to get rid of them. I’ve explained to her about how they’re marking their territory, and will continue to do so if she keeps letting other cats in, but it falls on deaf ears. After the boys haven’t peed indoors in a while, she gets the idea that it’s “safe” to let other cats in, and the cycle starts all over again. Of course, not all of the visiting animals spray, but even so, after multiple visits, their scent is in the apartment, and the territorial instinct kicks in again.
If you’re really desperate, here’s one more thing you could try. Get a large and roomy animal crate. Put cat, litter box, food and bedding in the crate. Be sure you clean the litter box OFTEN – after every use if you can.
Meanwhile, get an ultra-violet (“black”) light. Turn off the lights and shine the UV light in the offensive area. Kitty pee glows under UV!! If there’s widespread evidence, you may have to replace the carpet. If there’s just one area, be sure to check under the carpet, too. If the pee has soaked into the floor, you have an even bigger problem that may require you to sand off a layer or even replace a section of the wood underneath. If these drastic measures aren’t necessary, use the enzyme cleaners mentioned by Thea Logica. Follow the directions meticulously until you no longer see anything that glows under the UV.
Back to the wicked and much loved kitty: Yes, he is going to be royally irritated and will probably yell his head off. But he has to re-learn that there is one, and only one, place to go. Let him out of the crate only when you are going to be able to watch his every move and rush him to the right place if he goes to the wrong one.
I’m sure you were already being very careful that the normal litter box is cleaned regularly; most cats will look for other places if their box is dirty.
If you simply cannot bear the thought of even a large and comfy cage, the closest equivalent would be a room with an easily-cleaned, non-odor-absorbing floor that you can confine him in when you can’t watch him like a hawk.
Some brands of litter are more attractive to cats than others. There is one whose name I forget, but it was Doctor somebody’s and I got it at PetSmart.
One of my three cats is extremely picky about his litter box. If it isn’t clean, he won’t use it. And this goes for more than peeing. If we clean the potty really often, he’s fine.
I know you said your cat is healthy, but is there a chance he has urinary tract problems? A while back picky litter box boy as mentioned above got a UTI and began spraying (only on or near my husband though). I think it was partly because he was mad at my husband for being away for a few days and not giving him enough attention, and partly because of the UTI. The vet put him on antibiotics for a few days (the cat, not the husband), and it solved the problem. If that hadn’t worked, the vet was going to put him on antidepressants (sounds silly, I know, but I guess cats can get depressed too). Fortunately, we haven’t had to do that yet.
Good luck.
How many litter boxes do you have? If only one, I’d get at least one more and put it in a different area than the one you’ve got now. Also try a different type (covered if you have non-covered, or vice-versa). Have you switched litters? Has anything happened that maybe triggered this or has he always done this?
If you’re at your wit’s end and you don’t mind investing a little bit more money in Road Warrior, you might ask your vet if they can recommend a good behaviorist.
I have not read through the previous posts on your cat. I can say that I am in a very similar situation.
My cat has decided that when she is mad at me, she is going to let me know by peeing on my bed. I’ve had her since she was a kitten (9 wks old) and she is the first cat I’ve had on my own. I absolutely love her to death, but damn it she drives me crazy.
I frist figured out that if her litterbox is not prestine, she will not use it. That resulted in the puchase of a electronic self cleaning litterbox. That helped mitigate the problem some.
You’re right about the cleaners, I have the damnest time getting my mattress clean, and I don’t think I ever will get it completely. I do have a plastic cover on it now, which atleast helps in clean-up.
I know the feeling…come hell or high water I’m not getting rid of the cat.
Thanks for all the replies so far. To fill in some things, I have tried two kinds of cleaners from PetsMart. The one that worked the best was from Simple Solutions. It took care of the smell in one area, but a couple of weeks later her started urination in another spot. He doesn’t have a UTI, that’s one of the things the vet checked him one. I have two litter boxes, one covered and one uncovered, so the two cats can have a choice. I sift them at least once a day.
I might just have to do as Mauvaise suggested and ask the vet about a behaviorist. I wouldn’t mind what I spent if I knew it would stop the problem.
well, there is a product called Comfort Zone. My mom ordered some online, sorry don’t know the name of the company, but it’s basically Feliway in a plug-in diffuser thingy, which is supposed to get the pheromones throughout the house, thus chemically signalling to Kitty that This Is Not A Good Place To Pee. It hasn’t arrived yet, so I can’t tell you if it works, but it might be something worth looking into.
Even if you can’t afford or just don’t want it everywhere, if he only bothers this one area, rip up the carpet, clean and then paint the floor underneath (bathroom paint is best - resists mildew), and then lay down some laminate flooring.
Unfortunately part of figuring what it wrong (and getting it fixed) is ruling things out. The first thing you should check when confronted with litterbox issues is a health problem. It’s good that your kitty is healthy, but makes the problem more frustrating because behavioural problems are harder to pin down, especially without professional help. That’s why I suggested an expert - a home visit my be in order. I’m not saying this is the case (I’m no where near an expert, or even a novice), but I’ve listened to case studies and it could be something as small as some weird dynamic with Road Warrior and your other cat that you don’t notice because you don’t know cat body language/behavior.
For example, the case study that I’m remembering, the owner had a problem with multiple cats not using their litterboxes. It turns out one of the cats is what they’d call a “clout” cat and would lounge on the floor directly on the path to the boxes. The other cats wouldn’t go around the “clout” cat (out of respect more than fear) and therefore would pee elsewhere in the house.
Where are the litter boxes? Are they in the same location (like side by side)? If they are, you might try moving one to a different location - hell, put it in the hallway where Road Warrior is peeing if you don’t mind having a litter box in a hallway. How often does he pee outside the box?
“That’s what we need more of in this company, Watkins. People who approach peeing from a whole new perspective!”
OK, seriously. Just to offer one more suggestion, and assuming the problem didn’t start with a switch in litter, you might try a different type of litter. Clay, or clumping, or pine, etc…whichever type you’re not using, maybe try something different.
Also, if you don’t have very much of the litter you do use in the box, try adding more. Some cats like 3-4" of litter. My brother had a cat that would sometimes pee all over the house (often on any type of fabric that might be on the floor, like a pair of socks or laundry to be sorted). He barely had enough litter to completely cover the floor of the litter box. Loading it up with a few inches of litter solved the problem.
Skelji, your suggestion of having the litterboxes in two places is one I haven’t heard before. I’ll give it a shot. What do I have to lose? They have been side by side.
Yes, I would try moving one of the litter boxes as well. We have two cats and that worked for us. My cat is really attached to me, so spends all his time in my room. After I found out he was peeing on the counch in here, I bought a litter box with a new type of litter. That solved the problem. He now goes in there. And also, as you already do, keep them clean. I googled my problem on the net and found out they have pretty much the same bathroom tastes as us, they prefer a clean bathroom.
What I also did was encourage him with positive reinforcement. Whenever he used his box I would praise him and give him a treat. That worked really well. Actually, it got to the point where he would go over there and just dig around, then he would come to me expecting a treat. You may want to try a cat repellant in the area where your cat pees on the carpet, but I’m not sure how well they work. The one brand I tried seemed to work, but not for very long.
Anyway, the two combined may get your cat to change.
