Cat pee.. Ugh!! Any suggestions?

[C.Ann]

What did the vet do? Blood work, check for stones, take a urine sample to make sure there isn't any blood, or rule out diabetes? If the cat has had a problem, and it hurt to pee in the litter pan, they associate that, and so they often will pee elsewhere. Changes in the house (even having someone new come and live with them can confuse and change their habits as well as confusion in the house, such as when you were all packing to move), furniture moved around, a change of litter (and even though I use one brand of litter, I had a cat that suddenly wouldn't use it..(luckily, she just pee'd next to the box, and not all over the house)..I didn't realize the company changed it, until I called and asked them..it looked the same) can all have a part. Is the cat drinking a lot, or not enough? Has the water changed? Is he on only dry food, and has wet food been tried? Has the cat been confined to one room for a week, with lots of visits from the family to break the cycle, while the smell is taken care of..and covered, so he can't get to the same spot?
A touch type physical will seldom find anything..you usually need more invasive tests to see if it's a medical problem. If the vet rules those things out, then a sedative might be in order.

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Everything you suggested has been done - and more.. Even the crystalized testing.. Initially we thought it might have something to do with the moving and packing too, but then my son-in-law recalled times that Taz had done this months before they were even considering a move..

Taz drinks a normal amount of water - but has never been able to eat wet cat food or he'll vomit it back up as soon as he eats it.. (Been that way since they first got him as a kitten..) He still eats the same food - is very finicky about that and won't eat anything else.. Still uses the same kitty litter - but he uses it when he "wants" to throughtout the course of the day and night.. When he doesn't want to, he pees elsewhere..

About the only room in this house that he could be confined to would be the bathroom - and then he would just yowl non-stop at the top of his lungs..

When SIL's cousin drops by she always has her bag of medical goodies with her because she has to travel to Saratoga to treat horses that are farmed there, so it's never just a touch-type exam.. If anything needs to go back to the lab for further testing she just takes it back with her.. Of course DD has also taken him to the regular vet quite a few times when SIL's cousin isn't available or is out of town, but the tests never reveal any problems..

It's very frustrating - to say the least.. If push comes to shove, I guess they'll have to try the sedatives from the vet..

 

[daisyduck123]

Anyone else have this problem? And if so, how did you deal with it? We're at our wits end here!!!

We got rid of the cats...problem solved. We've been happily pet free for 10 years now. It was a hard thing to do, but I COULD NOT live with the smell anymore. (We've also moved since then, into a brand new house...so no way will we get pets again).

 

[LauraAnn630]

My mom said vinegar. The vinegar smell will disapear so will the pee smell.

 

[crabbie1]

I think this is a very hard situation.I had a birman ho used to do this and one of my other cats like there was some sort of competition going on.Like you I tried everything.I eventually got a pet psycologist to se hollie(my birman) and she said it is often a pecking order situation and that something has upset them.In the uk there is something called feliway which comes in a difuser (that you plug in the wall) or a spray that is supposed to be the cats natural feramones ,giving a calming effect.It seemed to work, but in the end she had to be pened for a week and let out for only 30 mins a day.When she realised how bad the smell was herself after being confined she came out a week later and hasn't looked back.I felt awful doing this to her but it was for her benefit and our sanity.I used to place her food bowl with a few munchies in on the spot on the bed where she used to spray and that also helped as they will not soil near there food.Cats do not like tin foil either.I wish someone would invent something to stop there sensitive smell.It is illegal to declaw in the uk but I have indoor cats who do not go out and it would save me a fortune in stair carpets(thank god the rest of the floors are wood)

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Get a big dog crate and retrain the cat to use the litter.

 

[DMRick]

Once they have ruled out all the usual thngs, it just becomes how much more money do you want to put in the cat, and how much do you want to put it through, to see if there are any other problems. I know people who have spent thousands..I wouldn't. I would suggest they go the sedative route, (his cousin didn't suggest that?) since it's sounds behavioral. Even if you find out what caused the cat to not use the litter (perhaps something fell off a shelf while he was in it, or he didn't like whatever was going on in the house at the time..who knows..they can't tell us), it's often to late to retrain them. If he's not looking for just a smooth area to pee in (like the tub), then it's prob been something that happened, and it's time to see what else you can do. Oh, and howling is just bad on your ears..won't hurt him.

 

[Sinderelli]

I don't mean to make light of the situation, but when I first read the topic I thought it said, "Can't pee...any suggestions?"

I was thinking, "Wow, poeple really do share EVERYTHING on the internet."

 

[cjb71870]

Once they have ruled out all the usual thngs, it just becomes how much more money do you want to put in the cat, and how much do you want to put it through, to see if there are any other problems. I know people who have spent thousands..I wouldn't. I would suggest they go the sedative route, (his cousin didn't suggest that?) since it's sounds behavioral. Even if you find out what caused the cat to not use the litter (perhaps something fell off a shelf while he was in it, or he didn't like whatever was going on in the house at the time..who knows..they can't tell us), it's often to late to retrain them. If he's not looking for just a smooth area to pee in (like the tub), then it's prob been something that happened, and it's time to see what else you can do. Oh, and howling is just bad on your ears..won't hurt him.

We've saved 5 cats, have 4 now. 3 females 1 boy who found us outside a sports bar one night. We noticed he wasn't peeing and took him to the vet. He had a narrow urethra and was passing a stone. We paid over a 1000$ to fix him. Even though he found us and we hadn't had him that long, when the question was operate or he will die, we said operate. No qeustion. We still have him and he gives so much affection to us.

 

[DisneyBlonde]

I surf the web and buy Nature's Miracle by the gallon where I find it the cheapest (free shipping too).

Since it's a male, I would definitely check with your vet to make sure it's not the beginning of a urinary tract problem. For females who are marking, I have had good success with the Feli-Way plug in product, a little cha-ching, but everyone (I have three cats) seems much mellower.

 

[LisaS]

We had a problem with one of our cats spraying to mark his territory. This is a different problem than cats peeing in the bed, but I'll share my story in case it is helpful.

This had been going on for a while and we had tried all the usual suggestions (such as moving his food dish in front of his favorite "target") and nothing had worked. We ended up closing off as many doors in the house as possible to keep him out of most rooms in the house and draping everything else in plastic. Finally we did what we should have done much earlier -- we took him to a vet specializing in animal behavior. He told us the most likely cause was anxiety, due to neighborhood cats coming into our yard. Among the things he told us to do were:

- Make sure you have at least one litterbox per cat, plus one. We had 2 cats, so he said we should have 3 litterboxes. With a 2-story house, he suggested having a box on each floor and that they must be located in a quiet place where the cat feels safe.

- Clean any area he has sprayed very thoroughly with an enzymatic cleanser. Unless you get rid of the smell completely, the cat is drawn to re-mark the same spot. We bought a black light to find all the places he had sprayed to be sure we treated them all. We followed the instructions on the product to the letter. We doused the area and then covered it to keep it moist for 24 hours so that the enzymes can do their work. Some areas had to be treated two or three times before the black light showed all traces of cat pee had disappeared.

- Do what you can to keep neighborhood cats out of the yard (this is a tough one -- never did find a good solution).

He put our cat on a low dose of fluoxetine (Prozac). I think the usual dose for cats with this problem is one milligram per kilogram of body weight but he put our guy on a lower dose than that (3mg instead of 5mg). Within 24 hours of receiving his first dose of Prozac, he stopped spraying! Some cats are on the drug for several weeks and then weaned off of it (you should not stop it abruptly). Other cats have to stay on it for life. My guy ended up needing it for life. He did spray a few times over the years he was on Prozac, maybe once or twice a year during the first few years, usually outside in his cat enclosure and only once or twice in the house that I recall. This was after suffering with this problem every day so cleaning up one or two spots was not a problem. I also always treated the places he sprayed in his enclosure just to help keep the behavior from becoming reestablished.

So for us, fluoxetine/Prozac was a wonder drug. Unfortunately, it wasn't available in cat-sized doses. We originally had the capsules made up by a compounding pharmacy but that ended up being somewhat expensive. So we ended up having larger dose capsules sent to us by the animal hospital where the behaviorist works, along with empty gel caps and I just made the small capsules myself using the contents of the larger ones. That worked great and saved me 75% over what the compounding pharmacy was charging.

Good luck! I know from experience how frustrating this type of problem can be.

ETA: Forgot to mention: the other problem we mentioned to the behaviorist is that our cat was becoming increasingly agressive towards our other cat. Turns on the fluoxetine/Prozac took care of that problem, too!

 

[nhrenee]

When nothing else worked, we put him in a large dog cage. He lived in there for about six weeks with a bed, food and water, and a litter box, with only supervised time out of the cage. After a while, it sunk into his head that the litter box was the only sensible place to relieve himself and we haven't had a problem since.
Good luck!

I have a friend who does this with one of her cats. She puts her in there at night.

I also would recommend natures miracle. It's much cheapr by the gallon. But, it does take a few days to dissapate the urine.

 

[C.Ann]

Well it looks like there are going to be some hard choices to make with this cat.. Medication was mentioned before - even "cat therapy" - but they were hoping they could find the solution to the problem on their own.. Even with having a vet in the family, there are still fees involved that she can't simply bypass..

What makes it so confusing is that he's still using his litter box - but also peeing in other places whenever he feels like it.. It really seems to be some sort of spitefulness - but who knows why?

Anyone know of a "cat whisperer"??

Needless to say, I keep MY bedroom door closed at ALL times!!! LOL

 

[nancyL]

We have this problem as well. 8 years ago I put down Ghosty's brother Tuffy because he did the same thing (well, he peed, marked, and defacated all over the house AND in the litter box). I still regret the decision- I miss Tuffy dearly and I have since adopted Snowflake, Felix, Kelly, Peanut Butter and 6 rabbits- I believe all due to the guilt I felt in putting Tuffy down. Therefore, getting "rid" of Ghosty was not an option for me. I tried all the suggestions given and was at my wits end. My husband actually threatened to leave me (too bad he didnt- grin). But seriously, what I ended up doing was having a rug cleaning service come in and put alot of simple solution (which is really the same as natures miracle) and doing my whole house in the stuff. He also sprayed the walls. It cost me about $500. Then I put Ghosty in a very large "cat cage". Its a 3 foot by 4 foot cage enclsoure on wheels about 4 feet high that has 2 shelves in it for perches. I found it on the internet. It stays in my kitchen and I put a cat bed on one shelf (held in place with a bungee cord ) and the litter box on the floor of the cage. The other shelf holds his food and water. This is where Ghosty lives. I line the bottom with a bedsheet and when I do my laundry, I change his sheet too. I have a dog cage in my bedroom and he gets put there to sleep at night with a fleece blanket a small litter box and some water. When we watch tv, his cage rolls into the family room with us or we take him out and hold him on our laps. It solved our problem and we still have Ghosty. He's happy in there and has plenty of room and attention. When we play outside, he gets rolled out onto the deck so he can be with us then too. He also has a leash that we attach to a stake in the ground when we're outside with him. The other cats just live in the house like normal.
So there's another option. I understand your problem totally. Its a horrific situation. My kids didnt want to have friends over because of the smell of our house. Imagine how that must have felt....Good luck!
NancyL