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Cat peeing on new carpet

post #1 of 7
10/22/10 at 9:57am
Thread Starter 
I have two 5 yr old neutured cats that have never pee'd on our floor until we just put in new carpet. Three days after carpet was installed I walked through a wet patch (carpet is very dark with specks of color so I cannot see the spots and the black light does not work with this color either). I had the area ripped up (yes a week after it was installed) to try to remove the odor and start again thinking it was a fluke that they pee'd on it. Well they have done it again. I haven't caught who did it butI know that they do not have a UTI. I am thinking they don't like the new carpet smell or the glue smell but I don't know what to do. I had the carpet professionally cleaned to remove the odor, then replaced the carpet and pad and they are still doing it. I don't want to get rid of the cats but I just can't continue to have them pee on my new carpet. Any suggestions??
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post #2 of 7
10/22/10 at 10:02am
They may be trying to impress themselves upon the carpet. Whenever the bathroom floor is washed, Zimmie always has to roll around on the floor to impress her smell on it.

Is the carpet only in one room or all over the house? If only one room, keep them out of that room until the smell of new carpet has evaporated.

Cats will not walk on aluminum foil if you can put some of that down over the carpet.

Someone else here will have better advice I hope. Good Luck!
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post #3 of 7
10/22/10 at 10:11am
Thread Starter 
Thank you. Unfortunately, the carpet is all over the house. There is one large room that doesn't have carpet that I have them in now until we figure out a solution.
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post #4 of 7
10/22/10 at 10:27am
Can you buy Fellway diffusers where you live? Everyone here recommends them. You can buy a spray or plug-ins. I've never needed them, but everyone here says they are great for relaxing an agitated cat.
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post #5 of 7
10/22/10 at 10:50am
How do you know one of your cats doesn't have a UTI? Have you had both cats' urine tested?

Stress, including the kind caused by the installation house-wide of new carpet, can cause urinary tract infections.

It may be marking, sure, but UTIs in males can become very serious very quickly so I would be having the urine of both cats tested.

Of course you aren't going to "get rid of the cats".

Take them to the vet and have their urine tested.

Install Feliway plug in diffusers to help with stress and with territorial feelings, and allow limited, supervised access to the rooms with new carpet, until the carpet is not so new any more.

But UTI needs to be ruled out by urine analysis or preferably culture, first.
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post #6 of 7
10/22/10 at 11:23am
I'm sorry the black light doesn't work on your carpeting - that makes it really difficult.

I do second Otto's opinion. That is a HUGE kind of change that can cause stress, and UTIs are usually stress-induced.

Also, you don't need to replace the carpet when it gets peed on, you can use an enzyme cleaner to clean up the problem. How you find the problems without a black light, I have no suggestions. But peeing on new carpeting is not unusual, and it really is best to confine them someplace that doesn't have new carpet for a little while, because if it's not a UTI, the smell is most likely causing the problem.

Here's a link to a thread with helpful info about enzyme cleaners: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=222265
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post #7 of 7
10/23/10 at 10:34am
I have had the same problem with new living room carpet and my older CRF cat Dusty. I also had problems with the black light and this carpet. I couldn't catch Dusty doing it, but I could smell the urine in that room. It resulted in me on my hands and knees sniffing the entire area until I located her areas of choice. I then used my bissell with oxiclean and warm water to saturate the carpet and extracted it. Then I used a mixture of a professional urine cleaner purchased from my local janitorial supply. I put that in a spray bottle as directed and again saturated the area, and left it to dry without sucking it up, as directed.

I no longer have the smell, and it hasn't damaged the carpet either.

I now know that Dusty can't be trusted in that part of the house unattended. Unfortunately there is no way to close off this room unless we lock her in our bedroom, and her loud cries drive us nuts.

She was an outdoor cat before we got her, and now that she is older and in declining health, she is content to stay in our yard, so she sleeps on the patio furniture at night, with a bowl of water and food for her convenience.
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