Cat Help (Discouraging them from "going" where they shouldn't)

[Marshay]

Hi Cat folks!

I have 2 cats (12 years old) and one of them insists on doing #1 or #2 in our soon-to-be nursery whenever the litter box is not 'fresh-n-clean'.

Obviously the answer is to have the current litter box clean all the time ... we even have an automatic box -- says it should last 2 weeks for 2 cats but it doesn't and my DH forgets to switch it out. (I can't/don't since I'm pregnant).

The cat will use the other box for #1 only but will only #2 in this one and only if it's nice and clean.

Any advice or products you've used successfully to make him stop going in the nursery?

Many thanks!

 

[Elmo888]

I would try adding another box in a quiet area of the house. And keep the door to your soon-to-be nursery closed unless you are in there. (Even after the baby was sleeping in the room, I kept the door closed.)

I've been there, and we never had any luck discouraging our cats. We added an extra box, and one of them would go #1 on the carpet one foot from the box! We had the boxes in the soon-to-be "baby's room" at the time (she's four now), and we had to replace the flooring in her room before the baby was born.

We had to replace carpet in most of the house (for another reason), and, after that, we put the cats outside after two long conversations with a very caring vet. She said that they have conferences discussing this cat issue, and it is one of the most frustrating topics for vets.

Good luck!

 

[ShawnaF]

My girlfriend had the same problem - they installed a screen door on the baby's room so they still had visual baby access but could keep it closed at all times.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

It may sound weird, but your cats may be stressed. Did you do a lot of construction getting ready for the baby? Even just new furniture, paint etc. My one cat gets stressed when we start doing any kind of projects around the house. The solution for us was kitty prozac. Seriously. We tried everything else. The litter box had to be spotless for her to use it. If we let it go a day she would find somewhere else to go. We kept her on prozac a few months while we were working on our basement. Now we give it to her when we think anything might upset her like a christmas party at our house, painting, etc. The difference is amazing. The vet recommended. I get strange looks whenever I tell anyone about it.

 

[brandylouwho]

Our cat went through a similar phase last year but I think he is over it...our last incident was in October. And yes, cats get stressed over strange things sometimes. We still aren't 100% sure what caused it our case, but we tried to avoid things that may have caused it. We also got him 2 boxes and cleaned them at least twice per week. We bought some feline hormone spray that is supposed to relax them.

The spray seemed to help a lot. We had maybe 2 incidents soon after we started using it and now we've been good for several months (knock on wood).

In our case, I really think something scared him in the litter box (maybe the dog? or the kids tossing/dropping stuff down the stairs, heck even the woosh of the automatic air fresher makes him scurry away.


If it is only in the nursery, maybe something smells to him. New and old things have odors and he is more sensitive to it than you or I are. Or he may just not like the changes in general.

And I like the screen door idea, we did that with our first child (I was overly concerned about the cat-bought a crib tent thing and everything). I mellowed out by the time the 2nd kid came along though. The cat loved to sleep in the bassinet or crib, but never when the baby was in it. He avoided the baby like the plague.

 

[Marshay]

I would try adding another box in a quiet area of the house. And keep the door to your soon-to-be nursery closed unless you are in there. (Even after the baby was sleeping in the room, I kept the door closed.)

I've been there, and we never had any luck discouraging our cats. We added an extra box, and one of them would go #1 on the carpet one foot from the box! We had the boxes in the soon-to-be "baby's room" at the time (she's four now), and we had to replace the flooring in her room before the baby was born.

We had to replace carpet in most of the house (for another reason), and, after that, we put the cats outside after two long conversations with a very caring vet. She said that they have conferences discussing this cat issue, and it is one of the most frustrating topics for vets.

Good luck!

Glad to hear I'm not alone but bummer! We are hoping that we can steam-clean the smell out of the nursery but I'm afraid it's happening too often to save the carpet. We currently keep the door closed and haven't had any issues for 2 weeks...but yesterday my DH forgot to close the door and sure enough, there it was.

I really don't want to do the closed door thing once baby arrives...may need to use a baby gate...although cat can jump over, he typically is not a jumper like my other cat.

 

[Marshay]

My girlfriend had the same problem - they installed a screen door on the baby's room so they still had visual baby access but could keep it closed at all times.

Oh, I never thought of a screen door...that's creative! Will keep that in mind.

 

[Marshay]

It may sound weird, but your cats may be stressed. Did you do a lot of construction getting ready for the baby? Even just new furniture, paint etc. My one cat gets stressed when we start doing any kind of projects around the house. The solution for us was kitty prozac. Seriously. We tried everything else. The litter box had to be spotless for her to use it. If we let it go a day she would find somewhere else to go. We kept her on prozac a few months while we were working on our basement. Now we give it to her when we think anything might upset her like a christmas party at our house, painting, etc. The difference is amazing. The vet recommended. I get strange looks whenever I tell anyone about it.

Stress -- yes, I can see that.

Although we haven't put new furniture in yet, we did paint and trying to get all the old stuff out of there (previously was a "storage" room), so I'm sure my cat knows that something new is going on.

Also my 3yo simply "loves" my cats and he's the one that would rather her leave him alone...so this might be a reaction to her as well...

I may have to bring up the prozac thing with my doc if we can't find a good solution before baby...

 

[Marshay]

Our cat went through a similar phase last year but I think he is over it...our last incident was in October. And yes, cats get stressed over strange things sometimes. We still aren't 100% sure what caused it our case, but we tried to avoid things that may have caused it. We also got him 2 boxes and cleaned them at least twice per week. We bought some feline hormone spray that is supposed to relax them.

The spray seemed to help a lot. We had maybe 2 incidents soon after we started using it and now we've been good for several months (knock on wood).

In our case, I really think something scared him in the litter box (maybe the dog? or the kids tossing/dropping stuff down the stairs, heck even the woosh of the automatic air fresher makes him scurry away.

If it is only in the nursery, maybe something smells to him. New and old things have odors and he is more sensitive to it than you or I are. Or he may just not like the changes in general.

And I like the screen door idea, we did that with our first child (I was overly concerned about the cat-bought a crib tent thing and everything). I mellowed out by the time the 2nd kid came along though. The cat loved to sleep in the bassinet or crib, but never when the baby was in it. He avoided the baby like the plague.

OK, may look into feline hormone spray too. Where do you spray it? In the box, in the room??

Yes, it's only one room so far. We didn't have the same issues with the old clay-based cat litter, but I switched to the crystal brand b/c I was so tired of the entire bathroom having dust all over it. However, when we kept the nursery door closed, I think he actually used the litter box (or we just haven't found his surprises yet in another room... )

DH is threatening to put him to sleep if he keeps it up. I'm not sure what else to do -- we got the automatic box afterall, so DH doesn't even have to clean it everyday anymore...it's just that the special litter cartridge cost $15 each and spending $60/month for litter is just too much for us.

Funny -- we bought the cat tent too for 1st baby ... returned it w/in a week or so...cats didn't want to be anywhere near a crying baby!

 

[Stephres]

This happened with my mother's two older cats and they are sisters. The problems really got bad after they moved to a new house.

They tried different things and ended up seperating the two cats permanently. One stays in the master bedroom and bathroom with its own litter box and has no contact with the other cat. The vet said it was probably the stress of the move. I think they are so old they forgot they are related! Anyway, good luck!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We put bubble wrap down with bratty Sebby would go and it's stopped him since he hates the sound.

Sebastian goes outside the box when he gets mad at us - not enough treats, reducing his food because the vet says he's too fat, not enough attention. That cat is driving me absolutely nuts and it's not helping that I'm allergic to him.

If my DD9 didn't love him so much, I'd have found him another home years ago.

 

[Elmo888]

Glad to hear I'm not alone but bummer! We are hoping that we can steam-clean the smell out of the nursery but I'm afraid it's happening too often to save the carpet. We currently keep the door closed and haven't had any issues for 2 weeks...but yesterday my DH forgot to close the door and sure enough, there it was.

I really don't want to do the closed door thing once baby arrives...may need to use a baby gate...although cat can jump over, he typically is not a jumper like my other cat.

I would just keep the door closed even after the baby comes, and just use a baby monitor (DD#2 was so loud and our bedroom backs up to hers that I hardly needed a baby monitor!). Also, since it sounds like you have an older child, it will help the baby have uninterrupted sleep. I finally bought a noise machine for DD#2 so if DD#1 was making noise, napping DD#1 didn't hear it. It isn't a problem with newborns, but became a problem when DD#2 was around 1 year old.

Back to the cat - I was this close to putting the cat down. That was one of the conversations with the vet. I was crying on the phone to her, and she was so patient. She said that she'd put the cats outside before she put them down, so we went with that. They mostly stay inside the fence (like dogs...they aren't very bright!).

If you decide to go with outside, I have since found out about those sensor collars that makes a noise to train an animal not to leave an area. I have a friend who uses one to keep her cat from using the dog door.

Good luck!

 

[dis75ney]

We had the same problem with one of our cats. My DH is diabetic and found out by accident one day that the cats HATE the smell of the antiseptic wipes he uses to clean his infusion site before he injects (DH is on an insulin pump). DH left an open wipe next to where our cat was "doing her business" and the cat avoided that area like the plague. She went back to the box and was fine for several months before the vet discovered that she was going through kidney failure and most likely couldn't control the urges anymore. We ended up having to put her to sleep...

Check with your vet, make sure there is nothing physical going on with your kitty, and then ask for recommendations. Vets hear this complaint all the time and I'm sure have some great ideas for stopping this behavior...

Hope this helps!

ETA: My niece installed the screen door on her baby's door...worked like a charm!

 

[emma'smom]

We have had the same issues with our 13 year old cat. We went away on vacation and when we came back, our playroom was a mess. We've tried to discourage her, but now she pretty much is confined to he basement. We let her up when we're around to supervise and occasionally take her into our bedroom at night. I was feeling a bit guilty, but at least she is inside (and she did seem pretty cozy in an old chair we have down there).

 

[Marshay]

Thanks everyone who responded with your advice and what you've done or are doing to work on this. We're going to take some of these suggestions and try them out over the next few weeks (3rd litter box, sprays to encourage or discourage, closed door ... lastly to confine to a room/area ... I just can't put him outside in Virginia winters...)

We were just at the vet in early December and he got a "healthy" report (including blood tests and urine sample) so I think we are ok on the health end...I think it's just a smelly litter box he doesn't like ... and honestly, I can't really blame him!

 

[Tasmen]

We've got a boy kitty that we have a similar problem with. He pees EVERYWHERE. I call him Sir Piss A Lot. We lost almost all our security deposit on the place we rented before buying our current house because he ruined the basement carpet. Once pee gets into the carpet, it's near impossible to salvage it

We haven't been able to figure out why he does it. He'll go #2 in the litter but loves to spray the toxic love around the rest of the house if we let him. One of his favorite spots is the couch and any blankets/pillows that might be on it. Piles of laundry are also fair game.

We put up our baby gates about 2 months ago and those are helping us to keep him out of the living room when we aren't in there. He's too fat to jump over the gate and our other two kitties (good little girls) can either jump over or walk through the slats. Maybe you could try some kind of baby gate on the entrance to the baby's room so that you don't have to keep the door shut?

Another thing that worked for us to keep him off the couch is to cover the area you want protected with tin foil. Cats HATE tin foil. So long as we had it there (we'd cover the couch at night or when we left for long periods of time with sheets of foil we just kept reusing), the couch was safe. Sure enough, if there was nothing there, we'd find a stain.

I tried the Feliway (the hormone spray) and it didn't seem to work for us. I encourage you to give it a try though. Maybe you'll have more luck.

Now that we have the baby gates up, he confines his pee-scapades to the hardwood entry way, bathroom rugs and kitchen floor. I wish he wouldn't pee, but at least those areas are easy to clean.

Stupid cat...

 

[Marshay]

Sorry to hear about your peeing cat!

We actually do have tin foil around the litter box b/c he was doing #2 right next to it but I hate the way it looks (but better than #2, right?)

Geesh, the things we do for our beloved pets...

 

[perkinsrose]

When I was preg. and with newborn, I was VERY concerned with risk of SIDS. My fear was more of cat climbing into crib to sleep/cuddle and interferring with breathing. I also have allergies so also thought best to keep our 2 cats out of the kids bedroom.

I read somewhere idea of putting a screen door on baby's room. I bought a cheap($15 ) unpainted wooden frame door with mesh screen at Home Depot. We installed in doorway (without removing regular door). It gave me the ability to peek in during naptime and allow for fresh air-flow as well as keeping out the cats. Our cats can sometimes manage opening doors that arent shut tight by pawing at corner edge--so we put hook & eye lock on outside when we weren't home.

With a toddler, I used door instead of a baby-gate. I could hear my kids at the door so I could get them when they woke up before they started wandering the house/stairs. Though the way our cheep screen door was made--a mildly ambitious child could push the screen mesh out of its frame. This door idea really helped us for many years.

We had periodic issues with cats/pee. Definately daily cleaning of litter boxes helped decrease issues. We had 3 litterboxes for 2 cats. Problem got much better when we moved from 600 square foot apt. to a home when we had the screen door. Seems like cats were also slightly more likely to pee outside litterbox if they were neglected/alone more. When I was at home many days all day for many years when the kids were little--much less of a problem. Now down to one cat--the pee problem is a rare once a year thing--not sure if our dear cat that died that had been mostly responsible or if the situation of having multiple cats (?)

Very frustrating problem, I know. Hope you can find some relief.

 

[Tasmen]

Seems like cats were also slightly more likely to pee outside litterbox if they were neglected/alone more.

I wondered if this is playing into things. It's just so hard to spend quality time with the little bugger when you easily remember how he ruined a pair of leather boots by peeing on them. Leather + cat urine = cardboard btw

I'm going to try to take him into the vet soon to have him checked out for a UTI. It's possible that he associates the litter with pain when it comes to peeing. He obviously doesn't mind the litter as I've said he poops in it just fine.

And yes, the things we do for our little fur babies..

 

[Elmo888]

Leather + cat urine = cardboard btw

LOL!!! Cat urine math. I'm amused.

I had a real pumpkin sitting on a table, and the cat pee'd on it.

Pumpkin + cat urine = Pumpkin bum (if the pumpkin had a bum and if I used the nice word for bum instead of the bad word for bum, which I didn't!)

Yes, what we do for our pets!