The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
We now return to our regularly scheduled PA Forums. Please let me (Hahnsoo1) know if something isn't working. The Holiday Forum will remain up until January 10, 2025.
Cat peeing where she shouldn't
Cambiata
Commander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
Commander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
I have three cats, two boys and a girl, seen here:
The girl cat is the one we're having problems with, Cassandra. She's the black cat in the center of that photo. For some reason, she keeps finding places to pee that we don't want her to pee. Initially, I thought the problem was not enough boxes in places where she wants to have her smell, so we added some boxes and moved them all around downstairs to the areas she likes to pee. (We have four total litter boxes for three cats, which is the recommended amount of boxes) That didn't fix the problem, so we thought next that the issue was that she doesn't like covered boxes, so we removed the covers from all boxes and it actually seemed for a little while that that had fixed it, except that last night I found a cardboard box full of electronic parts that she had been using as a pee spot, despite the four boxes. I removed that box, cleaned the electronic parts and put them in a new box, then put that box in the garage where she can't get at it. Only to find this morning that she peed in that corner where the box had been (not two steps away from where the actual litter box was).
As far as we can tell she's not having any medical bathroom issues. She never poops in these spots, only pees, so it seems that spreading her scent is the goal. The other two cats, Garak and Alistair, are not having problems with where to pee, even though Alistair is our cat that has the most anxiety issues personality-wise. We have not had any other animals in our yard our house recently, although about two months ago some puppies from our next door neighbor did get into our yard. They haven't broken in again since and Cassie did not seem to mind them at the time.
As far as cat furniture, we have two large cat trees (the one in the picture is the downstairs one), as well as two smaller cat trees that are basically just cat beds, seen here with Alistair:
I'll also admit that I have a lot of boxes still around from when I moved from my apartment to this house. That box of electronics was one of them that I finally emptied out and put everything in a proper place, with the goal to clear out a corner for an armoire that we bought. I have been slowly trying to remove these boxes and put stuff away or sell it, and each time I remove a block I find a new place that Cassie has been peeing that we didn't know about.
I'm at my wits' end trying to figure out what Cassie's issue is. She doesn't behave as if she feels anxious or insecure. She is the boldest of our three cats and seems to feel free to go where she wants. Her favorite way to lay is belly-up.
She does tend to scratch at doors that we close on her, but only when we are on the other side of those doors. We do have rooms that we close off to the cats, and one is notably a back storage room that we closed off permanently to her because it now smells so strongly of cat urine that I don't know how to get it out aside from removing the carpeting.
Cassie seems like she's had a peeing problem since we've had her. We got her as a 6 month old at the same time we got Alistair. @Strikor was not living with me then, so I had to leave both kitties alone during the day in my bedroom, and I wonder if that being left alone is part of her insecurity. Though that was the entire reason I got two cats, so that they wouldn't be lonely during the day. Strikor did move in about a month after I brought them home, so I'm not sure that being left alone during their kitten-hood is having an impact a year and a half later. I added our third cat, Garak, around July of last year. Cassie gets annoyed with Garak for attacking her when she doesn't want to play, but she seems happy with him otherwise. She will groom both Alistair and Garak.
Between us two humans, Cassie is most strongly bonded to me, though she does love Strikor too and lets him pet her. I considered whether it was the fact that I go to work during the week that bothers her, but Strikor pointed out that she does her morning "bad pee" whether I'm here or not.
So, I feel like we have covered the bases as far as what internet cat lore suggets: Plenty of cat furniture for her to rub against and leave her scent in an acceptable way, plenty of litter boxes for her to pee in and leave her scent that way, plenty of interaction with both humans and cats so she feels secure. What are we missing?
Sometimes I think she dislikes how many boxes of stuff I still have around that need to be emptied, but then it always seems like she has an episode once I clean something out (like the aforementioned box). She's our mystery kitty.
The girl cat is the one we're having problems with, Cassandra. She's the black cat in the center of that photo. For some reason, she keeps finding places to pee that we don't want her to pee. Initially, I thought the problem was not enough boxes in places where she wants to have her smell, so we added some boxes and moved them all around downstairs to the areas she likes to pee. (We have four total litter boxes for three cats, which is the recommended amount of boxes) That didn't fix the problem, so we thought next that the issue was that she doesn't like covered boxes, so we removed the covers from all boxes and it actually seemed for a little while that that had fixed it, except that last night I found a cardboard box full of electronic parts that she had been using as a pee spot, despite the four boxes. I removed that box, cleaned the electronic parts and put them in a new box, then put that box in the garage where she can't get at it. Only to find this morning that she peed in that corner where the box had been (not two steps away from where the actual litter box was).
As far as we can tell she's not having any medical bathroom issues. She never poops in these spots, only pees, so it seems that spreading her scent is the goal. The other two cats, Garak and Alistair, are not having problems with where to pee, even though Alistair is our cat that has the most anxiety issues personality-wise. We have not had any other animals in our yard our house recently, although about two months ago some puppies from our next door neighbor did get into our yard. They haven't broken in again since and Cassie did not seem to mind them at the time.
As far as cat furniture, we have two large cat trees (the one in the picture is the downstairs one), as well as two smaller cat trees that are basically just cat beds, seen here with Alistair:
I'll also admit that I have a lot of boxes still around from when I moved from my apartment to this house. That box of electronics was one of them that I finally emptied out and put everything in a proper place, with the goal to clear out a corner for an armoire that we bought. I have been slowly trying to remove these boxes and put stuff away or sell it, and each time I remove a block I find a new place that Cassie has been peeing that we didn't know about.
I'm at my wits' end trying to figure out what Cassie's issue is. She doesn't behave as if she feels anxious or insecure. She is the boldest of our three cats and seems to feel free to go where she wants. Her favorite way to lay is belly-up.
She does tend to scratch at doors that we close on her, but only when we are on the other side of those doors. We do have rooms that we close off to the cats, and one is notably a back storage room that we closed off permanently to her because it now smells so strongly of cat urine that I don't know how to get it out aside from removing the carpeting.
Cassie seems like she's had a peeing problem since we've had her. We got her as a 6 month old at the same time we got Alistair. @Strikor was not living with me then, so I had to leave both kitties alone during the day in my bedroom, and I wonder if that being left alone is part of her insecurity. Though that was the entire reason I got two cats, so that they wouldn't be lonely during the day. Strikor did move in about a month after I brought them home, so I'm not sure that being left alone during their kitten-hood is having an impact a year and a half later. I added our third cat, Garak, around July of last year. Cassie gets annoyed with Garak for attacking her when she doesn't want to play, but she seems happy with him otherwise. She will groom both Alistair and Garak.
Between us two humans, Cassie is most strongly bonded to me, though she does love Strikor too and lets him pet her. I considered whether it was the fact that I go to work during the week that bothers her, but Strikor pointed out that she does her morning "bad pee" whether I'm here or not.
So, I feel like we have covered the bases as far as what internet cat lore suggets: Plenty of cat furniture for her to rub against and leave her scent in an acceptable way, plenty of litter boxes for her to pee in and leave her scent that way, plenty of interaction with both humans and cats so she feels secure. What are we missing?
Sometimes I think she dislikes how many boxes of stuff I still have around that need to be emptied, but then it always seems like she has an episode once I clean something out (like the aforementioned box). She's our mystery kitty.
"excuse my French
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
+1
Posts
We use two different kinds of litter (two boxes for each). One is the Breeze litter box system which uses clay litter pellets. The other two use World's Best kitty litter and yeah, it does clump. Whether she pees in the box or pees two steps away from the box seems to happen regardless of which type of box is nearby. Cassandra does seem to prefer the clumping type, though.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
Though I should say the Feliway was gotten to help Alistair who does seem to have severe anxiety issues. I'll try Feliway downstairs where Cassie does the unwanted peeing and see if that helps.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
Island Name: Felinefine
We haven't had her checked for that, but she's not displaying any other symptoms. For example, one of the reasons we like the Breeze litter box is it allows us to see discoloration in the cats' urine. There is no blood in her urine or we would have seen it by now. She doesn't show signs of painful urination or straining. She just, in a ritual way, finds one of her spots in the morning and pees on it.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
http://www.natures-miracle.com
Been using it for years. Really seems to take the odor out, which reduces the chance of kitty smelling the previous pee and wanting to pee there again.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
Ok, I'm willing to try anything at this point. And I tried using the Nature's Miracle in that storage area that perpetually smells of pee and it did nothing. Ordering this now.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
Another thing that comes to mind is maybe your cat is not happy with the presence of boxes? They all have their own weird quirks you know, maybe your's is an anti-box rebel? You should try to get all the boxes removed and see if the habit continues.
I would say it's the opposite - Cassie loves boxes far more than her siblings do. But I am getting the boxes cleared out as quickly as I can just the same, since the boxes give her the opportunity to pee where we can't see her.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
Really old pee stains/areas are gonna take multiple soakings with product, those are tough
Is the cat urinating on walls/in corners or in the middle of the room?
1) Put 2 Feliway diffuses in the two corners she likes to do her urination
2) Used Nature's Way and Fizzon to clean her messes
3) Sprayed Fizzon in the areas and let it dry (per directions from Fizzon)
None of this has had an effect. Her peeing seems to be very ritualistic and not related to anything that's actually happening to her.
Next step will be for us to physically bar her from her favorite pee areas. For one of those two areas, we have actually already purchased an armoire to go there, but we won't get it until this upcoming Saturday. However once it's in place I expect that she won't pee in that area anymore; she's never shown a proclivity for peeing on furniture. The other one is down our front hallway, so we should be able to get a pressure gate to keep her our.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
They make absorbent pee mats for dogs: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DZITJNC?psc=1
She might just pee around them, I'm not sure. But I would lay these down in the spots anyway after cleaning the carpet below. If shes been peeing in those spots without you noticing, its possibly soaked into the padding below, and that's not super easy to spot treat. At a certain level of smell, ripping out the carpet is your best bet.
It's always in the same general area. Also she doesn't pee on the floor, she's actually peeing on the walls.
Edit: Just now I took the Frizzon and actually soaked the walls all around her favorite corners. Before I just did some perfunctory sprays. Should be dry by the time she gets down there tomorrow, we'll see if it does anything.
Edit again: I asked @Strikor about her pee locations, he says she pretty much does the exact same spot each time.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
Well, see my post at the top of this thread. There haven't been other animals around that we've seen, except the dogs that one time and she had no reaction to them. As far as previous animals, I'd buy that if it weren't for the fact that the walls got newly painted as part of the other owner's selling the house. I mean maybe the laminate smells of something, but that would surprise me, especially with how often we've cleaned it since she started doing this.
I'll also add that we've never seen her, or any of the cats, react to seeing something outside. Even thunder they ignore 99% of the time, unless it's really loud. There are kids who play in our neighborhood and the times that we've left our windows open during the day, the cats have all acted curious rather than nervous of the kids.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
What I mean to say is, cats are assholes and kind of strange. If you can't figure out why she's doing it, you're best off trying to simply prevent the behavior or make it not something she wants to do.
I've known people who used double-sided tape or plastic wrap on the countertops to break their cats habit of jumping up. I wonder if you could do that with the baseboards and carpet line of that room so she no longer wants to walk up to the walls to spray them?
Ha ha, NOPE, she still peed. She just waited for later in the afternoon. Maybe it's her internal clock, we do tend to sleep in until late afternoon and so that's when she waited to do her peeing. Sigh.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
But yeah, cats ARE assholes. At least I don't have to worry about a blockage in Cassandra's case, although I would prefer her to not be quite so messy about letting us know.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
Sometimes it may be that cassandra smelled, heard or saw something she didn't like when she went to the litterbox and peed elsewhere, or it could be that she smelled something she didn't like in the area where she is peeing, and wanting to mark it.
My cat's big problem was surprisingly simple to solve - I already cleaned her litterboxes every morning and evening, but I found that when I finished cleaning the litterboxes, if I shook the litterboxes to fully level the litter, she started peeing in them almost immediately. Her being able to see that the litter was super flat apparently signaled to her that the litter boxes were available to be used again.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
You're a good person, @Cambiata.
She's my baby girl, c'mon! I'm not gonna get rid of my baby just because she has a peeing problem. At least she limits herself to once per day as far as we can tell.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
The fact that her demeaner seems to indicate an otherwise content kitty does point to some ingrained behaviour of which the initial trigger for development may be long gone.
Her physical stance when she does it definitely looks like marking behavior and not like bathroom problems/kidney problems/litter box isn't satisfactory.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"