Help save our cat.

[Promomx2]

Our cat,whom is about 7 years old has taken to urinating on select furniture only in our florida room. He did it last nite on a cushion of a storage chest. Not much loss,but DH is about ready to get rid of the cat. The cat did this a few years ago in his favorite recliner. The recliner had been there for a while, nothing changed, he just decided one day. Is there anything I can spray on my pool table so he doesn't urintate on it? Please help? Cat has been spayed when he was little, don't have any clue what the deal is. The storage chest has been in the room for over 5 years, and he never had a problem with it.

 

[gramto2boys]

I had a cat years ago that did that and I took him in and the vet said he had a urinary infection. maybe this is the cause. I am sorry, I am not much help I hope you resolve it hon

 

[lntsmom]

Have you recently moved the furniture around? About 15 years ago I had a cat who freaked out when I moved her basket of toys so I could put the Christmas tree in the corner. She started peeing in the toys, so I moved them back. Problem solved.

That said, I had an aunt I cared for during the last 15 years of her life. For the first 10 of those she lived in my home. When she went into a nursing home one of my cats went insane. First she started peeing on my clothing...either sweaters on the shelves or even things in the clothes hamper. I broke her of that and she moved to a corner of the dining room.

Over the next 5 years I tried those pheromone plug-ins (at around $40 each), black pepper, Kitty No, plastic, aluminimum foil, everything my vet and I could think of to try. Last June I finally had to have her put down. I was having to steam clean spots on the carpet every night and just couldn't take it anymore.

That said, I recently read that they have started giving human antidepression meds to dogs with great success. I don't know if they can give them to cats (I kind of doubt it since cat's can't do antianxiety meds like dogs can) but I hope they come up with something soon to help those of us blessed with neurotic pets to deal with them!

 

[TxDsnyGrl74]

I had a cat years ago that did that and I took him in and the vet said he had a urinary infection. maybe this is the cause. I am sorry, I am not much help I hope you resolve it hon

This happened also with my male cat... just started peeing on the outside cushions in the lanai. I took him to the vet and he did have urinary crystals. He was given meds to clear up the infection, and I did change his food to a type of food to help prevent the crystals, which you can only get the food at the vet’s office. It's called Science Diet C/D feline. My cats now eat this exclusively and knock on wood, there haven’t been anymore issues.

Good luck... I know how frustrating it is.

 

[Order66]

First and most importantly, as already suggested, take him to the veterinarian to rule out a urinary tract problem. Infections and/or crystals are not uncommon in cats (and can become life threatening in a male cat) but even more common is the "catch all" FUS... chronic urinary inflammatory problems. One of the first things cats often do to attract your attention to the fact they don't feel right, is to stop using the litter box. Diabetes and thyroid issues (also common in older cats) can also increase urination. Rule out a medical problem before you consider it to be simply behavioral.

Second most important clean it up well. Any trace of scent and the cat will keep returning. The cat can smell it even when you cannot. Get something that not only cleans, but actually breaks down the urine and removes all traces. Steam cleaning is actually the worst, as the hot water simply bakes the urine into the fibers of the furniture or carpeting. White vinegar is effective if the smell of that doesn't offend you as much.

Other suggestions are to have 1 litter box per cat plus 1 extra. So if you have only the 1 cat, have at least 2 boxes for him. Put the regular litter you use in one box and get a totally different one for the other (clay if you use clumping, etc...). When cats do have a lower UTI or FUS, they often associate their pain upon urination with the box they are using...and simply don't want to return to it. Different litter can sometimes help this issue.

Get a bigger box. Commercial litter pans are TOO SMALL for most cats. Your box should be at least 2x the length of your cat. Storage bins from a discount store with a hole cut for a doorway work great, and are usually cheaper than pet store pans. Wallpapering basins work good too if you prefer lower sides.

Put a box where he is going. The cat wants to pee there and sometimes you just have to put a box there for him to use. You can then slowly move the box a foot or two a day until it's hidden where you want it to be.

A scat-mat (or even more budget friendly- tin foil) placed on an area you don't want the cat on is effective for most. Put this up on the pool table so he doesn't jump on it. For whatever reason, most cats HATE tin foil and will not walk on it.

Feliway spray does work for some cats to calm and relax them. Some cats will pee out of the box when they are stressed.

good luck.

 

[Kriii]

Ditto the suggestion about having the cat checked for UTI. Our cat peed outside of the box and it was a UTI. The vet said cats might "blame the litter box." Another thought is stress. Another cat started pooping outside the box (thankfully in the unfinished part of the basement) and it was diagnosed as stress b/c the new dog was hassling the cat. Once the dog was trained, problem solved. I hope you find out what is wrong with kitty.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Questions: is your cat acting odd in any other way? My cat was 6 1/2 when all of a sudden she started having "accidents". Around the same time, she started drinking out of the sink, bathtub, etc. Also her litter didn't seem to be "clumping" correctly. In retrospect, I realized that it was because she was urinating too frequently. I thought she had diabetes. We took her to the vet when she very quickly lost a LOT of weight. Turns out she was in chronic renal failure. Sadly, we lost her two days later. My advise is to get to the vet ASAP.

 

[christa112]

I agree take the cat to the vet. UTI infections are very common in male cats and can be cured with medicine and special food you can feed them to keep them healthy.

 

[PrincessNoelle'sMom]

I have a cat that has been on meds, special diets , hundreds of $$$ on vet bills and will still pee in a crazy place every month or so for about a week. If it is not a UTI, you can expect this behavior for life. It is the truth - we used to foster many homeless animals in the past. It is a behavior and not a medical problem in most cats that do this.

Unfortunately, the outlook is grim for most cats in this situaution. We have to confine our cat when we are not home. That was the alternative to getting rid of her or putting her down.

My heart goes out to you. It is a difficult situation.

 

[unbroken chain]

There is a special cat litter called "cat attract" or some similar name. Supposedly cats really go for it. I'm sure another poster here will know more. If it's not medical, I'd suggest trying that too.

 

[rebe1968]

Im shocked people kill their cats because they pee on things...

 

[crisi]

Im shocked people kill their cats because they pee on things...

I'm shocked people live in a house that is covered in cat pee, but I guess we are all different.

 

[snickerboo]

My cat started to do this when a neighbourhood cat started urinating on our front porch. Our cat was naturally trying to say, 'no, it's my house'. Could another cat be spraying near your Florida room? You've had good suggestions. Good luck.

 

[pl71]

Prozac works. It sounds crazy, but it does.

Typically, step one is see your vet to make sure it's not an urinary tract infection or other health issue. If it's not that, they'll probably have you try some other things like:

-Clean up everything with Nature's Miracle so the cat doesn't smell it and want to go there again
-More frequent litter box cleaning
-Possibly add another litter box
-Feliway plugs-in and spray...this does help, but in my case it wasn't enough

If nothing else works, the vet can put your cat on medicine. My cat peed off and on around the house for 5 years and it recently got much worse. I took her in and she did not have a urinary tract infection. The vet put her on Prozac. I give her 1/4 pill crushed in a spoonful of tuna once a day. It's not expensive, about $5 for a month's worth. We went from 4+ pee spots a day to nothing starting the day she started on the medicine for 2 weeks now. It's so, so nice.

Her behavior did change, she used to be a huge lap cat and now she's more stand-offish, but so be it. I'll take stand-offish over pee any day. Our vet wants to try to take her off the medicine in the summer when the weather changes, the vet feels once the habit is broken we may be able to go without medicine. I'll try it, but if it doesn't I'll keep her on the Prozac forever if I have to.

Good luck, it's a hard thing to deal with.

 

[ChrisAlli]

One of our cats had bladder stones, three as a matter of fact. Poor thing. Had them removed and put on Science Diet and has been great ever since.

 

[jrogalny]

Get your cat to the vet right away. Cats NEVER go outside of their box and when they do, something is up. My cat started to pee in the laundry basket and the bath tub. I took him to the vet and sure enough, he had a UTI.

 

[Mermaid_Ariel]

It could be a UTI please take your cat to the vet.

 

[jenniferma]

We are having similar problems with our cat. Definitely take him to the vet! We did and found out he has a thyroid problem, which can cause urination issues as well.

To make our matters worse for us-- our neighbor's new cat "Buddy" has also decided that he is going to camp out on our porch-- and anywhere else around our house!!! That and the addition of an odd smelling bag that my husband brought into our house (he coaches soccer and this was the bag that was stored in a shed for the winter)... set our cat off. (we are now scurrying Buddy away and have removed the soccer bag to the garage).

When we took our cat to the vet, our vet also suggested prozac. He says it does help some cats with stress/peeing issues. We are treating his thyroid issues first, and then moving from there.

I have also heard fabulous things about Cat Attract cat litter.. we may try that next if our situation gets worse.

If you all have to resort to meds-- I was told about www.entirelypets.com-- their prices are WAY cheaper than our local CVS pharmacy-- and they have cheap shipping too!

Good luck to you... I know how you feel and it is terrible! I want to be a good pet owner, but on the other hand you don't want to become the "cat pee" house. There was a house in our neighborhood that was so ruined by cat pee that it sat on the market and the price dropped over 50k. SCARY.

have a great night and good luck!
jen

 

[Promomx2]

I can't believe all the great suggestions and support. Yes, we have an appt for tomorrow, tues at the vet. The area where he peed this past weekend was on a storage chest (from ikea). I threw the cushion away but it wet the wood top. How do I get the smell out of the top. I was thinking of lightly sanding it. I have noticed a few neighbor cats walking along the deck outside the florida room. Copper is strictly an indoor cat. How do I keep other cats off our deck? Will update all tomorrow when we get back from the vet?

 

[flying_babyb]

If its behavioral, I have a tip, worked with our youngin. We diapered him. Pi*sed him off to the max. We did cheap walmart diapers and put those traning pant covers over the top. It may seem creul but we changed his diaper. We did this for a week and he musta got the point cause now he dosent do it anymore. He now hisses at baby diapers LOL.