Peeing outside litterbox

This is so hard for me to write. I am thinking of putting my cat Cheeto down. He is 7 years old and has been peeing on things his entire life. I love him and he has a fantastic, snuggly and charming personality. He is beautiful and well cared for. However, I am sick of him ruining everything I own.

We re-did our basement after the flood we had. Did it all in vinyl to avoid his peeing and I got a new chair for down there. He peed on the chair and the ottoman.   He pees on my son's coat, my favorite sweater, our bed, the carpet, and other random stuff.

These are the things we've tried:

1) re-homing our other cat w/my sister who doesn't get along with Cheeto (other cat didnt' do well)
2) Prozac, it made him jumpy
3) amitriptyline, made him really, really sedated and barely moved
4) Immaculate litter boxes
5) all different types of litter
6) different types of boxes
7) feliway
8) a calming collar 
9) feliway spray on items
10) 4 litter boxes all with different litter, varying their locations
11) many, many vet visits 
12) a urinalysis, many of htem. None have showed up as being a UTI
13) we are trying Valium again

HELP. My vet wants me to euthanize and said there really aren't many other options. She said he won't change and after 7 years I believe he won't. I want to use my basement for the kids because I have a very small living room and I just  want to use it. I hate all my stuff getting peed on. I hate getting new coats and new things I can't afford due to him peeing on it. 

Please, give me wisdom.

You haven't mentioned diet. What are you feeding them? A urine culture should be done (more in depth than a urinalysis) but there are some things that don't show up in urine, such as inflammation.

A dry diet can cause some cats to always have some inflammation, which causes discomfort, so they are always looking for someplace to pee where it won't hurt..

If you are feeding dry food I recommend you get your cats on an all canned low carbohydrate diet. Pates are usually lower in carbs than the chunks or shreds in gravy.

I also would suggest cosequin for cats for Cheeto, it is an anti-inflammatory supplement.

Amitriptyline dose can be adjusted to reduce the sedation effects. It can also be timed...give it at night, when everyone is sleeping anyway. Sometimes you have to give medication a bit of time to help, a few months at the very least.

Here's a good site written by a vet that may offer you some insight.

www.catinfo.org

Thanks!! I don't want to euthanize him. I love him so much. Should I take him to a different vet? We have gone to the same one. Any thoughts on Valium?

He is on chicken soup for cats soul. Other food makes his poop smell

Do you live in an apartment or  could you make an outdoor pen for him?
 

I would also get X rays done and an ultrasound if you haven't already. He could have a stone in his bladder, even though the urinalysis is normal.  What is his normal urinary ph level?

This article may be helpful- it has a list of medications you can try:

http://vet.osu.edu/assets/pdf/hospital/behavior/felineInappropriateElimination.pdf

I just ordered the L theanine for my FLUTD cat. I know it helped me when i had anxiety problems and I am hoping it will help him as well.

They did a study in cats with FLUTD and found many of them has small adrenal glands and mild primary adrenocortical insufficiency. What this means is that they have a hormonal imbalance. Even the normal amounts of stress in daily life are more than they can tolerate. One of the reasons why lowering stress levels works for some cats.  At this time there is no effective treatment as there are several other components to the disease as well.

Other things you can try is to add fiber in case he has constipation (as that makes urinary issues worse). You can also try a limited ingredient diet, as most women with the same disorder have food allergies or sensitivities. The problem with allergy diets is they need to be used for 4-6 weeks and all ingredients must be something the cat has Never had before.

If that fails, I would build a cat cage that he can spend his time in (since cats spend so much time sleeping anyway) and only let him out for supervised visits.  Another option is to try clicker training him to pee in the litter box.  Put him in the litter box and if he uses it, give him a treat.

cheetopuff said:

Thanks!! I don't want to euthanize him. I love him so much. Should I take him to a different vet? We have gone to the same one. Any thoughts on Valium?

He is on chicken soup for cats soul. Other food makes his poop smell

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Absolutely a second opinion would be in order. Bring copies of previous lab work if you can.

I don't recommend increasing fiber, a high fiber diet isn't really good for cats. I do strongly urge you to get him off the dry food. A dry diet isn't really good for any cat, especially a cat with possible urinary tract problems. Poop smell is not that big of a deal really, just scoop the poop out right away

I don't really like the idea of caging him either, cats need to run and play, but, sometimes a short period of...being kept in a small enclosed space (usually two weeks) for retraining is successful. Often Dr Elsey's Cat Attract litter[/URL ] is used.

However I do agree that an ultrasound is a very important diagnostic step for Cheeto at this point. Get a second opinion, get him on a canned diet, and make sure he gets plenty of exercise.

Interactive play sessions several times a day, lots of running and jumping. Exercise is always important, but especially beneficial for cats with urinary tract issues.

Have you tried Doxepin(anti-anxiety drug)?

Lets assume for a minute that there isn't anything physical causing this.  I have a cat that I adopted because he was being abused in the neighborhood my father lived in.  He was semi-feral, you could get close to him and give him food but if you attempted to touch he'd scratch you.  It was a bit of a contest getting him home.  I could go through a long story but the relevant facts are he wasn't going to have anything to do with being an inside cat and if you tried to force the issue he would pee all over everything in protest.  He is our 1 outside cat, we have 5 others.  We don't like having him outside because you always worry, but putting him down seemed worse.  Here is how we handle this after 7 years.  

We used a bell to train him to come to dinner.  Because of frequent fights with raccoons we built him a shelter on our front porch and put him in at night.  This keeps him separated from the raccoons and  keeps the food out of their reach, so they don't come around much anymore. 

To keep him comfortable in the winter we installed a cat carrier on the side of the  kennel,  we raised it on bricks and put an electric foot warmer/heater under it.  The bricks keep the carrier up off of the foot warmer.  We drape it with old blankets to keep the warmth inside and put the heater on a dusk to dawn timer.  The enclosure itself is a common, large, wire dog kennel,with two doors.  The heated carrier is attached to one doorway, the other provides access.  He has a litter box in there, that he actually uses.  His food and water is in there with him, and there is plenty of room for him to lie about if the carrier gets too warm.

When we get up in the morning and take the dog out we open his kennel and he is free to wander about.  We don't have to ring the bell very often, he's usually waiting at night.  Aside from protecting him, this allows us to rest easy at night knowing he is safe.

He's a very rewarding cat because we are the only people he will allow to touch him.  It feels special to have gained his trust. When he was hospitalized for a gall bladder attack they gave him I.V. fluids and he was too weak to resist.   The next morning the vets office called and told us "Come get your mean cat.". He was feeling better and nobody there could touch him.  We bathed him a couple of months latter, he lets us with only minor protest, no attempt to escape.  I taped it with my phone and showed it to Doc, just for a laugh.  By the way, we named him Rush, after Rush Limbaugh.  He's a big white fat cat who is full of hot air.

I hope you can find a medical answer to your problem, but I wanted you to know there are practical alternatives to putting him down

Crazy as this may sound, have you considered an animal communicator?

If I had enough money I would fly Jackson over here to help!

Thanks for all the advice. I can't euthanize him because he is my baby! I am going to the U of M vet center to see what they say. Lots of $$ but I wish he would stop this peeing stuff.

I just got the cat-attract litter.

I can't imagine confining him in a cage because he is such a social animal and loves humans (mostly me) and it's not much of a life for a cat. He doesn't like to go outside and I live in Minnesota so winters are cold.

I can change him to wet food but omg, both my cats drive me craaaazy with their begging for wet food.

Not sure how to edit, but what is a good and relatively inexpensive brand of wet food?

Sorry admins, I flagged a bunch of these posts instead of giving them a thumbs up! ack. I am such a newb.

The Friskies pates, Authority (Petsmart brand) pates and Fancy Feast pates are inexpensive but decent wet foods. Hound & Gatos in the larger cans is good per oz as well.

Just made me think, Jackson sells some holistic sprays that may be of help.  I know first hand how frustrating this can be.  Hope you find a solution soon. 

I don't like the increased risk outside either, but unless you don't think he can survive outside, making him to be an outside cat is far superior to putting him down. You can always bring him in for a visit when you have time to supervise.

p.s. I wasn't suggesting you keep him caged full time, just at night to avoid danger.  Rush had such frequent fights with the raccoons at night that the vet started giving us amoxicillin in advance so we could reconstitute it and begin treatment immediately.  His house is open in the daytime so if he wants heat and shelter it's available.  On the shelter I want to add that we have an old towel hanging in the door to the carrier.  That allows him to come and go but still hold the heat.