Desperate: Peeing out of jealousy?

Our cat started peeing out of the litter box after our son was born. Our son is now 2. Our cat, Miller (male) is 14. His peeing also gets worse after my mom's visits with her dog. We lost our other cat in November but it didn't seem to affect him.

His litter box is in the basement. He started peeing on the carpet in the room where is scratch post is on our top floor. So we moved the scratch post to our bedroom and locked him out of the top floor via the baby gate.

About six months ago he started peeing in our bedroom. In the same corner over and over again... there's nothing special about this corner, my son doesn't go there or anything. We used urine-off an enzyme cleaner many times. After having to sleep downstairs because the smell was sooo bad we went through a rigorous cleaning where we used vinegar and baking soda, than the next day peroxide, than carpet cleaning. This is what we found got rid of the smell the best.

We've now put up a baby gate to block him out of our bedroom so the carpet doesn't totally get ruined and moved his scratch post temporarily in the living room.

This morning as we sat down to breakfast we noticed the dining room table was wet. He had peed on it! We weren't mad, just sad that this had now progressed to an even worse level. Incidentally, 2 nights prior my son had tried to feed him some chicken from the table and I'm wondering if there is a connection.

He's also stopped manicuring himself. His entire sides and underbelly are full of matts, which he's never had before and brushing isn't keeping it under control. My husband thinks it's age and although loves him is of the mindset to put him down in a few weeks. I want to make sure we've asked all the right questions and have tried everything for our Miller.

After eliminating a urinary infection, where does this leave us?

If it's social behaviour, should we try reintroducing him to all rooms in the house by starting off by locking him in a room with food and litter box and gradually introduce him to the rest of the house?

At what point is it simply age and he's lose control? Was it maybe social behaviour and now it's an age thing? HELP

Are you saying he's been to the vet and they've ruled out crystals in his urine, a bladder infection or cystitis? Does he have arthritis? Have you moved the box to the top floor so he doesn't have to go up and down stairs to use the box?

Laurie

Cats don't act out because of jealousy, but they can act out when their world changes. I'll make an assumption here that when your son was born, that you had to split your attention between your son and your cat (e.g. the cat got less attention - not judging here, just the reality of having a child). Cats are always creatures of habits and his world changed when the baby came. I've also noticed that the older a cat is, the harder it is for them to adjust to change. He was 12 when your son was born, and at 12, he's a few years into senior citizenship.

The only way to get cat urine smell out of something is to use a product that neutralizes the urine. Baking powder and rug shampoo doesn't do it. You might not smell it, but your cat can. A cat will return to a spot over and over again if there is residual smell. Try a product such as Nok Out (ordered online) and saturate the spots where he has gone (don't just mist it, soak it). You may need to repeat a few times if he used a spot over and over again. It's pricey but effective.

How much attention does the cat get now? One of my cats has been known to walk up to me and pee on me when I haven't given him the attention that he craves. He's trained me well. I stop and give him some loving every time we cross paths and he has stopped doing this as long as I give him attention.

At 14 years old in a multi level house, you should look into getting a litter box on every level. The normal advice is to have 1 litterbox per cat plus 1 extra, unless you have an older cat that may not be getting around as easily as before, in which case you want even more boxes.

Have you taken him into a vet yet and what tests have you run? At 14, he is definitely a senior, and should have a geriatric blood profile done on him to rule out a variety of diseases that can occur at that age. A UTI can be suspect, but don't rule out other senior illnesses.