Another peeing thread

darthclem

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Hi folks - first time caller, long time listener, great topic, love the show. That said, on with my problem...

I've read through the Inappropriate Peeing Problems Answered thread, so I at least I'm not a total newbie. I have 3 cats -- a 13 year old female, and a brother and sister that are around 4 years old. All are spayed/neutered. We have 3 litterboxes -- two on the ground floor, one in the basement and we clean them all twice a day.

A couple of months ago, we began finding pee on our bed on the wife's side, down by here feet. It took us a while to find out who it was, but eventually, we caught the young female (Arwin) in the act. She was actually attempting to "cover" it with her paws when we caught her and she took off running. So it would seem to not be a spraying problem, but rather a urination problem.

We took Arwin to the vet, but the vet was unable to get any urine -- even after keeping her all day. She suggested that Arwin's problem was probably behavioral (though she doesn't have conclusive evidence). We thought that the problem was that Arwin didn't like it when the bed was unmade, as she always seemed to do it in the morning before we got around to making the bed. So we began immediately making the bed as soon as we got up.

Around 2 weeks ago, Arwin actually peed down by my ankles in the middle of the night (that's not the way you want to be woken up). She also peed on our couch and on the carpet at the bottom of our stairs to the basement. In each instance, we have thoroughly soaked the affected area with "Nature's Miracle". We have also taken to locking up Arwin at night in the basement bathroom (with a new, clean litterbox). This afternoon, she peed at the bottom of the stairs again.

I have ordered a Feliway diffuser and the spray off of Amazon, and I'm kind of wondering what to do next. Is there any other indicator that this might be behavioral versus a UTI besides boarding her at the vet until she urinates? Any other trouble shooting you can recommend? This is really causing me a lot of anxiety.

Thanks in advance...
 

aswient

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Welcome to TCS. I don't see how the Vet can say its behavorial without getting a urine sample. I have 2 boys that frequently get UTI's so I know how they can go different places around the house. IMO she should have a urine test before ruling out a health problem. Good luck.
 

captiva

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I agree with the others . I know that you might be attached to your vet, but I would seriously go see someone else . It sounds like he/she doesn't really want to help. Once a health problem is ruled out, they should be able to try to help with the behavior. They can even prescribe anti-anxiety drugs if something is freaking her out (other cats?) , but I'm not a big fan of it. I know it's not easy but kudos to both of you for being patient and doing all that you have done. Best of Luck and Welcome to TCS!
 
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darthclem

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Thanks for the feedback. Arwin spent the day (and now the night) at the vet. I spoke to our vet this afternoon and she finally got a urine sample. She said that concetration was fine and that there were no crystals, but she is sending the sample to the lab to check for bacteria. Also, tomorrow she will do X-rays for any stones (or whatever they're looking for). One way or another, we should know if we have a physiological issue or a behavioral issue pretty soon...
 
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darthclem

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Well, I'm $368 lighter in the wallet only to be told that there is nothing physically wrong with Arwin. So it's time to go into behavioral mode. I'm still waiting on my Feliway spray and defuser from Amazon. Tomorrow, I'll go buy a black light and a bunch of Nature's Miracle and start following all the behavioral advice I can find on this board.
 

hwangster

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I have a cat that peed on my bed, cloth, tub, pillow, blanket, and even me for about 1 year with a frequency of about once a week. At first I had to control the problem by locking him in the bathroom and putting away my blanket and pillow when I'm not sleeping. However, whenever he jumps on the bed, I either have to shoo him off, or keep track of him constantly.

I also went to the Vet with feces, urine, blood samples, and everything was normal. So I thought it was behavioral also. Perhaps I just moved? My friend came over? Too much noise from road work outside? Ticks? Not enough play time? etc etc etc etc....

I only recently discovered my problem. And it was simply he wasn't getting enough water. He wasn't drinking out of his bowl, and hardly drank out of the fountain bowl I bought him.

So I had to hydrate him through wet food, and the faucet (I don't want to give him tap water, but he seems to prefer it over anything else)

I discovered a drastic change in his behavior and mood, and he has shown a lot of improvement this past month.

I'm not saying your cat is dehydrated, I'm just saying the cat is peeing outside the litterbox for a good reason. At times I thought he was out to get me, but he wasn't, you have to preservere and discover the problem.

I also spent a lot of money on solutions that didn't work, but now that I finally discovered the reason, Kitty and I are closer because of it.

Good Luck!
 
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darthclem

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Update: It's been almost a month since Arwin has peed where she shouldn't.

I'm not sure what the solution was -- whether it was the Feliway, the extra litterbox, the change of litter, the locking her up at nights for a week...

Whatever it was, I'm not complaining.

Hwangster - you raise an interesting point about the water and/or dehydration. Arwin has a bad habit of flipping over the water dish or just "diggin" in it to splash water all over the place. I'm not sure what's behind that behavior.
 
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darthclem

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I guess it was too good to be true. Arwin is peeing again where she shouldn't be. At first, I thought it might be because she doesn't like anything out of place, as she peed on a sweater I had set on the bed and on a pile of laundry that my wife had sorted but hadn't gotten around to. She peed on a tent we had left on the basement floor and handn't put away yet and she peed on a bag in our walk-in closet that had some stuffed animals in it. Today, while sitting on the couch, I kept picking up the smell of urine and sure enough, about half the pillows on my couch smelled like urine and were stained.

I have 3 litter boxes -- two are the largest I could find -- located on different floors of the house. I have 2 Feliway diffusers. I've had every conceivable test run on Arwin by the vet. Between vet bills, litterboxes, trying different litters, a black light and the jugs of Nature's Miracle, I'm easily $600 into trying to solve this problem.

Tomorrow, I'll be picking up some anti-depressants for Arwin. Frankly, I'm at my wits' end...
 

hwangster

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I feel your frustration. I use a baking soda/Hydrogen Peroxide/Dish Washing Solution someone suggested on here for removing the urine, and it works pretty well, and is much cheaper.

I believe it's 1 part baking soda 5 parts Hydrogen Peroxide and a few drops of Dish Washing Solution.

Good luck.
 
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