My cat is annoying me!

roxsam

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Roxy has been peeing outside the litter box a lot. I have not yet taken her to the vet and am 98% sure it is behavioral. She has sporadically used our laundry basket to pee the past couple of years (2-3 times/year) and noticed an increase in this 2 years ago when my roommate at the time had a cat. She hadn't done it in a while until we got our kitten a few months ago. Now she has consistently peed in our laundry basket, and also pees on clothes left on the floor, on my book bag, and on other random places. She has never peed on furniture and I don't recall her ever peeing on DH's stuff! Over the weekend I discovered she had peed on my Bible(realized this while we were at church after I kept smelling cat urine!), yesterday on new carpet we just installed in a spare bedroom on Sunday and today on my bag again! I have only caught her in the act once (in the laundry basket) and therefore can usually never get on her case about it.

We have not changed litters, I have not changed any of my scooping or box cleaning habits and we have 2 litter boxes for 2 cats.

I am thinking she is trying to show her dominance to Stitch (which I see in many other ways as well) and as far as the new carpet, was claiming the new room?? (there was just concrete floors before).

SO my questions:
1. what can I use to clean my bag, laundry basket, carpet etc? Preferably something I do not have to buy (I am out of a job at the moment and we are very strapped with money).
2. How do I deter her from doing this? The only places she has gone more than once are the laundry and my bag. Everywhere else is random.

Right now I am very frustrated (especially with the pee on the newly installed carpet) and am tempted to keep her on the porch permanently! (I wouldn't really do that though, just tempted).
Thanks!
 

faith's_mom

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Can you close her up in one easy to clean room, complete with easy to clean floors, litter pan, and food; perhaps lock them both up in a big room eventually, so she can bond with him better. This really helped one of our kitties, who hated all the others with, what it seemed like, a passion. We have a large furnace room, and that is where we put their litter boxes, food, water, etc...well, one day I just had enough of the grumbling from the one little lady; so in there ALL the cats went. It was amazing how quickly a difference came, too. Within 2 days, she stopped being so 'angry' at everyone, and could even be caught snoozing with our other eldest female.

I know others will tell you not to stick them together, but really, if she is marking her territory, because she enjoys you most; then give her no choice but to bond with the other kitty; play with them daily, of course, but put them in a room in which each can get 'away' from the other if they want too. Our furnace room is really a nice area for the kitties, as we have cozy kennels (left open), cat beds, and hide away kitty tree things. So everyone could sleep in their own corner away from one another if they wanted; but because there is no one to 'protect' or 'mark' persay, they learn to coexist much quicker than trying to deal with a large area, and them never having to see each other if they wanted. Your girl is probably marking more, because she can smell the little one everywhere, but they probably seldom actually cross paths...does that make sense? So she thinks that (even though he has been there awhile) he is still a stranger, so she feels she needs to mark her territory. And yes, I had one marking certain items in my home, too, and having them all in the kitty room, was what stopped her from doing so; her potty habits were reinforced, because the boxes were right there, and she was constantly within 'touching distance' of the other kitties.

As far as 'cleaning' things; replace certain items, such as the laundry basket, as the plastic can really absorb that smell, no matter how you clean it... Go to rummage sales, and replace items you don't want to wash, or spend time and money on cleaning.

For everything 'washable' clean it with an enzyme cleaner...which you will have to buy, but is the only way to really get rid of the kitty scent; especially the ones she can only smell. The floor especially, needs to have special care given to it if you are going to keep her, the other cat, and the dog from visiting, and revisiting those spots.

When you do get things cleaned up, I highly suggest you be very conscientious on where you put certain items; put bags, clothes, etc in a closet, or cupboards...thus out of her reach, and temptations to mark.

If your litter pans are all in the same location, and you don't have a room to make in to a kitty room, then I suggest spreading the litter pans out into different locations; it may be a pain, but she may also not like having to 'share' those boxes when they are so close to one another, for fear of being startled by the other kitten, which may have happened; if the boxes are in different locations, the chances of that happening are less likely; the kitten can't be in two\\three places at once to potty! I'd also add another box, as well, atleast till you know she is back into using the box regularly.
 

GoldyCat

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Try adding another litter box. I took in a stray (abandoned pet, not feral) and had a few days of inappropriate peeing. I never caught anybody in the act so don't know who was doing it. As soon as I added a third litter box, the behavior stopped.
 
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roxsam

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Originally Posted by faith's_mom

Can you close her up in one easy to clean room, complete with easy to clean floors, litter pan, and food; perhaps lock them both up in a big room eventually, so she can bond with him better. This really helped one of our kitties, who hated all the others with, what it seemed like, a passion. We have a large furnace room, and that is where we put their litter boxes, food, water, etc...well, one day I just had enough of the grumbling from the one little lady; so in there ALL the cats went. It was amazing how quickly a difference came, too. Within 2 days, she stopped being so 'angry' at everyone, and could even be caught snoozing with our other eldest female.

I know others will tell you not to stick them together, but really, if she is marking her territory, because she enjoys you most; then give her no choice but to bond with the other kitty; play with them daily, of course, but put them in a room in which each can get 'away' from the other if they want too. Our furnace room is really a nice area for the kitties, as we have cozy kennels (left open), cat beds, and hide away kitty tree things. So everyone could sleep in their own corner away from one another if they wanted; but because there is no one to 'protect' or 'mark' persay, they learn to coexist much quicker than trying to deal with a large area, and them never having to see each other if they wanted. Your girl is probably marking more, because she can smell the little one everywhere, but they probably seldom actually cross paths...does that make sense? So she thinks that (even though he has been there awhile) he is still a stranger, so she feels she needs to mark her territory. And yes, I had one marking certain items in my home, too, and having them all in the kitty room, was what stopped her from doing so; her potty habits were reinforced, because the boxes were right there, and she was constantly within 'touching distance' of the other kitties.

As far as 'cleaning' things; replace certain items, such as the laundry basket, as the plastic can really absorb that smell, no matter how you clean it... Go to rummage sales, and replace items you don't want to wash, or spend time and money on cleaning.

For everything 'washable' clean it with an enzyme cleaner...which you will have to buy, but is the only way to really get rid of the kitty scent; especially the ones she can only smell. The floor especially, needs to have special care given to it if you are going to keep her, the other cat, and the dog from visiting, and revisiting those spots.

When you do get things cleaned up, I highly suggest you be very conscientious on where you put certain items; put bags, clothes, etc in a closet, or cupboards...thus out of her reach, and temptations to mark.

If your litter pans are all in the same location, and you don't have a room to make in to a kitty room, then I suggest spreading the litter pans out into different locations; it may be a pain, but she may also not like having to 'share' those boxes when they are so close to one another, for fear of being startled by the other kitten, which may have happened; if the boxes are in different locations, the chances of that happening are less likely; the kitten can't be in two\\three places at once to potty! I'd also add another box, as well, atleast till you know she is back into using the box regularly.
The only place I have I could lock them up is on the screened porch, which I could do as long as I put a fan out there! Actually, though, over the past month they have started to become friends and Roxy is now playing with Stitch, they can be next to each other without Roxy attacking her, and occasionally Roxy will lick her (although I do not think that is showing affection, but dominance?). Occasionally Roxy will hiss/swat/attack Stitch unprovoked, like after Roxy has licked her a few times she will all the sudden hiss and walk away. Other than that they seem to be getting along very well and have progressed a lot. I can try locking them together...for how long?

I guess I will have to suck it up and buy an enzyme cleaner. What do you recommended?

The litter boxes are nowhere near each other right now. I suppose we can add another one someday. I read somewhere that covered boxes are not good in multiple cat households due to only having one escape route if the other cat comes near the box, is this true? Roxy has always been fine with the covered box, but do you think now this could be contributing to the problem?
The problem is our dog thinks the litter box offers gourmet desserts and the covered box at least deters him away more than an uncovered one!

Originally Posted by GoldyCat

Try adding another litter box. I took in a stray (abandoned pet, not feral) and had a few days of inappropriate peeing. I never caught anybody in the act so don't know who was doing it. As soon as I added a third litter box, the behavior stopped.
Hmm, I will definitely try to get one sometime soon to see if that helps!

Thanks to you both!
 

faith's_mom

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Perhaps she is leary of the dog coming up to her too...I know my kitties don't appreciate when the dogs are in the kitty room near their litter boxes... So I make sure the door is propped closed enough so the dog can't get in, but the kitties can. When I am gone, the pooches are kenneled anyway, so then it's not an issue; something to think about anyway...especially if she did that before you got the kitten too.

I like Nature's Miracle for an enzyme cleaner. I usually use lysol to thoroughly clean and disenfect an area, and make it 'smell decent' (to my nose anyway...Lol!), then clean it again with the NM. After all that is done, I like to use the Baking Soda Carpet powder; the one for pets. Makes the entire home smell good again... Out of those the NM is the most spendy, but the most necessary, so if that's all you get, that is fine.


Good luck with everything! It does sound like they are getting used to one another, but keeping them in a same room, can really move things along...I only had to keep mine together for 3 days, and now they are all locked in the kitty room when we are gone; keeps the home in one peice...Lol! Keeps em all bonded AND out of trouble...tehehehe!
 

GoldyCat

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I actually had two covered boxes, which I thought were working well for my two cats, although I did notice with the covered boxes they weren't always covering their leavings. I think they didn't have enough room to turn around.

After I brought Goldy in I ended up pulling out one of my old (small) uncovered boxes. Would you believe all three cats started using the uncovered one and mostly ignored the covered ones? I got a couple of larger sterilite containers at a discount store and now have three uncovered litter boxes. Just have to figure out where to get rid of the others.
 

skimble

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This link may help. http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9563

I remember that some cats are attracted to the smell of dryer sheets. May help to look there since the laundry is taking a hit.

There is a home-made recipe for urine removal. It may be in the link above. You might do a search here and see what comes up. I know it contained vinegar and not sure of the rest.

The rule of thumb is one litter box per cat plus one extra. I use various things for litter boxes. The favorite is a "concrete mixing pan". Rectangular plastic pan for $5 at home improvement store. Also use plastic storage boxes with one side cut out. You might find something at home that can be recycled to use as a litter box.

The only thing that might be worth buying is "cat attract". A litter additive that the cats are drawn to.

Great helpful info in the link above. Hope things get better soon.
 
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