I moved to a new place and now the cat, which formerly never peed anywhere except his litter box, is now urinating all over the place. Bathtubs, sinks, corners of rooms, even on the bed several times. He never, ever used to do this.
Why is he doing it all of a sudden? It’s driving me insane. He is a neutered tuxedo cat about 2 years old.
Possible causes?
Trying to mark his territory in the new place?
Is upset with dog (a dog is now living with us in the new place - was not before.)
How can I make him stop? I know there are lots of cat owners here, hopefully someone can help.
It’s a combination of factors, the worst of which is the dog. Did you keep them separated at first, or just throw them together. Was the dog already living there, or are they both new to the place?
They spent time together occasionally (cat and dog) before we moved in. They were afraid of each other at first, but don’t seem to be anymore. The dog is very lazy and sedentary. It sits all alone by itself in a room and hardly ever bothers the cat in any way.
We moved, brought one cat with the first load of stuff, brought the next cat later (mother and daughter cats). Momma cat had to live on the china hutch for almost a year. Daughter gave the smackdown every time she tried to get food or anything. Eventually it wore off. Cats are weird.
Good luck with that. What’s that smell?
Oh.
My cat poops on the kitchen floor every day, same spot. The other cat used to poop in the tub. Rubbing your eyes, stepping in moist runny poop first thing in the morning, when it oozes up between your toes…after you’ve been running the shower for a while to warm it up and that brown river of…
Our vet recommended Feliway to help the critters adjust to a recent move. It supposedly contains feline facial pheromone to help them adjust but I didnt notice much if any effect.
According to Wikipedia, feline facial pheromone is conjecture and has not been identified. Feliway just contains Valerian, which attracts some cats like catnip.
Sometimes a good bed or private room where the cat can be away from the dog may help. Sometimes cats get upset about another animal, person, or even object even though they haven’t been actually threatened by it. Hope it works out.
There are several approaches to this problem. Litter box placement is key. If the cat doesn’t feel safe using a litterbox, he will go somewhere else. Even if the cat and dog seem indifferent to each other, the cat may prefer areas away from the dog to do his business. If he has to cross the room where the dog is, that may be deterrent enough. It may not have to do with the dog. The box may be in a place that’s too busy and the cat just doesn’t like going in a place where he perceives too much activity.
Try placing several boxes in different places in the house. The cat will use the acceptably places one(s) and after a while you could remove the others. Keep the boxes uncovered. If the cat feels he can be cornered in the box without means of escape over the side, he may not use it.
You can’t rule out medical reasons. Stress can induce sterile cystitis in cats that otherwise don’t have urinary issues. I have one cat who gets this periodically - it happens if I’m away from home more than a couple of days. A week later, he pees on the bathroom sink and I know it’s time for the vet. In his case, his urinalysis always comes back clean and a couple doses of fluid therapy do the trick. You should consider a trip to the vet to rule out medical reasons.
There could well be a medical issue that happened to co-occur with the move - the first step is to take kitty to the vet. Bring a urine sample if you can; otherwise the vet will collect one.
There are some common cat ailments (e.g., UTI, crystals in urine) that manifest as random peeing. (Ask A Vet Online 24/7 - PetCoach) So first rule out a medical cause. The vet should also be able to help you manage a behavioral/environmental issue, such as stress from the move, the dog, or whatever else is going on.
Last, for getting rid of residual cat pee stink in the house, I highly recommend Nature’s Miracle enzymatic solution - available online or at a pet supply store near you.
If the cat habitually pees in the same places, try laying down some aluminium foil (on the spots you don’t want him to pee) in addition to providing more litter boxes. It may encourage him to start using the litter box(es).