Hi everybody, hopefully somebody can help me with my last child...

 I've had a couple of cats for over 13 years now, the male of the house Lucky ,  who was found by my mom about 16 or 17 years ago (he was according to the vet back then about 1 or 2 y/o) left in an abandoned house; and Yanny , my baby girl who adopted me 13 years ago, she was the youngest kitten of my friend's cat litter. Instant bond! Never a single problem with my cats, they're my children, my babies, spoiled as they can be and as I said, never a problem. 

The story begins when my mom goes to Peru to take care of my grandpa on his last years, a good friend of mine gave my mom a Persian kitten as a present since she had to deal with lots of problems, my friend thought nothing more relaxing that a cat (which I agree). My grandpa passed away and it was time for my mom to comeback home I told her to bring Minu  (who was about a year old by then) with her. She's really sweet and pretty but... she peed everywhere, I tried extra litter boxes, different kind of litter, nothing! I had to take off all my bathroom's rugs, because she loved to pee on them. I ended up cutting a big towel in 4 and place it in the bathroom, she pees there and every morning I have to rinse the rug really well, add pinesol and soak it in downy, because she has to have her towels clean otherwise she will pee on my room, on my bed or on my mom's bed (or room). It's been 2 years like that. Now that Lucky is getting old of course if he smells the "towel" he will pee in there also, therefore Minu does not want to. I give ALL my cats lots of love. All of them are fixed. WHAT CAN I DO???? PLEASE HELP ME!!! 

 

 

 

  

Thank you 

 

Hi LuCatGirl.  Am I right in thinking this has been ongoing for 2 years, that Yanny toilets appropriately and Lucky will toilet appropriately unless he smells pee on the bathroom rug and when he does he will pee there too?

It would be useful to know a little more:

Did Minu pee outdoors or using litter when she was with your mum in Peru or did your mum have problems with this before she moved back?

What action did you you take to improve things and get Minu to toilet in the bathroom only, and stop in other areas?    

Is the whole bathroom floor covered by these bits of towel or does she select a bit of towel and pee on it?  Do you place anything under the towel to prevent the scent getting in to the flooring, or do you clean the flooring also?  

I imagine it is extremely difficult to remove all traces of odour from the floor but this will be very important in altering this behaviour further.

Do the 3 cats get along well generally or have there been other issues around behaviour sine they came together?  Any other signs of stress or territory marking in any way?  And have you ever used anything like Feliway to reduce any stress that  may be present?

Sorry it's a long list of questions but hopefully it will assist people thinking about solutions. Look forward to a little more information.

Hi MServant,

Thank you for answering to my  post. Once I found out the one piece of "towel" will do for Minu, pretty much "solved" the problem, of course the cleaning every morning is something I'm still would like not to do. Lucky's just starting to use Minu's towel, he's done it maybe 3 times in the past 2 weeks. Is only one piece of towel in the bathroom floor, and no, I don't place anything underneath, I just mop the floor every day.

During Minu's time in Peru, since we have a big house there with a backyard she got used to go outside, here in the US we have an apartment, and she is to pretty and sweet to let her go outside by herself.

If Minu has her towel in the main bathroom she won't go anywhere else, unless my bathroom is open then she will go there with or without rugs. I love her very much, but is too much time consuming. Now Lucky's getting old (about 18 y/o) and catching bad habits, therefore I have to keep changing towels 2 or 3 times a day. Last thing I need is Yanny copying them and I will go completely 

The three of them are very independent, they get along, but each one keep their own space until I go to sleep... one on each side of my face, and Minu next to my legs or as a hat.

I understand she's the baby of the group and sometimes she wants to play when the other 2 are old babes and not much into playing, once in a while one of "my" stray cats (I feed 3 strays that I got fixed already) come inside, she's about the same age of Minu and they play for a while, then she leaves.

Breads on my babies are: Lucky  is a Turkish Angora, Yanny  is a domestic short hair, and Minu  is a Persian. Don't know if it has anything to do with anything, but just in case...

Thank you

Have you ever tried her with puppy pads in stead of a bit of towel?  It might be a bit more expensive than washing a bit of towel but would save on a lot of cleaning of towels and floors if it worked, and the odour could be removed much more quickly once she's used it. If you haven't tried them and you're worried about the change in texture you could try it initially with her towel over the top?

It sounds very cute how they all sleep around you at night.  It sounds like they have settled well together

And yes, when my mom is away I have 3 cats sleeping with me, when my mom's here Minu sleep with her and Lucky of course depends on his moods, some nights with me, some nights with her. I would say he thinks he has an harem and has to pay attention to all "his women" lol. 

Yanny as I said is my baby girl, wherever I am, she is, wherever I go, she goes. She is a big time mommy's girl   

LuCatGirl said:

 
And yes, when my mom is away I have 3 cats sleeping with me, when my mom's here Minu sleep with her and Lucky of course depends on his moods, some nights with me, some nights with her. I would say he thinks he has an harem and has to pay attention to all "his women" lol. 

Click to expand...

  Never thought of that!  Next time I have a female friend staying in my guest room and Mouse is darting from one room to the other I'll know what he's up to!  There was me thinking he had sheep dog genes in his bloodline from way back and had a herding instinct!

UPDATE....

This morning the puppy pads were dry, I am very scared of WHERE I will find a "surprise" when I get home... 

   I hope not.....          Cats and change, wish it was easier sometimes.  Did you put the pad straight down or with her towel on top?

2nd UPDATE...

Last night I placed the puppy pads by themselves, but this morning I folded her "towel" and put it on top of one of the pads. I went home for lunch and.... Lucky was lying down on the "towel/pad"!!!!!! still the rest of them are dry. 

Sounds like the pad + towel is too nice to resist as a comfy bed.    Hope it was dry where he decided to sleep.....     If they know you've asked fpr help they might be worried about being on a last warning.  Ha ha.  Don' we wish.   I'll be here hoping you have another dry 24 hours.

I want to see those pads wet! not my bed, nor the rest of my furniture or my carpet. 

ps.- Just in case I covered my bed with a plastic shower curtain...

Good thinking!     I have 2 washable waterproof backed travel rugs I used to put on my bed and sofa when I had a cat that peed tiny bits at a time when her baldder was more acutely inflamed: it would come on very quickly and you never knew when it might happen so safe was preferable....

I hope your problem is resolved.  This is Snowi (FERAL CAT) -- I rescued him from the streets last August (2012).  He still does not let me touch him, but when he wants to play with the laser light he'll go on his back on the floor and look at me - that's when I know he wants to chase the light.  Whomever said that ferals cannot be tamed, they are wrong.  I have three domestic cats and I just rescued another feral, Ici.  She's two years old. 

With lots of love and patience feral behavior is fixable 

 My three feral and I have a special relationship, 2 of them let me pet them when I'm feeding them. The third one comes inside my house, flirts with Lucky, plays with Minu rubs my leg, but hey! no touchy! "you can see me, you can feed me, you cannot touch me", after a while she goes to the door and request me to open it for her to go out. They're fixed, fed and during winter time I made sure they're not cold outside, of course living in South Florida there's not much cold anyway. I want their trust because if I move (no plans yet) I'm taking them with me!  

OK 2nd day of updates...

i woke up this morning went to the bathroom and 2 pees on the pad (with the folded towel on top). The pad inside the shower 2 "presents", picked up everything, put it in a bag a threw it to the trash outside... hasn't been that easy in about 2 years!!!!!!! I was actually on time at work lol... lets keep our fingers crossed lol... 

 

That's great.  Snowi, my 4 year old feral, again, which I've had for a little over a year, does not give me any clue/sign that he wants to go back outside.  He's very happy, content.  Ici, on the other hand, she's 2, when I first got her, she would howl all night - i felt so bad.  But now, it's been three months and she barely howls any longer.  She loves the window.  It makes me feel so happy to look at them and say to them (even though I know they don't understand) - I tell them that they don't have to suffer any longer.  They are warm, they have food and a home.  I love them with all my heart.

My Lucky used to go out when he was younger, he's about 18 y/o now and his strength is not the same as it used to be; when I let him out I always tell him to stay in the porch, he's a good baby, he listens most of the times, but when he starts wandering around the 3 strays guard him, is so funny to watch them.

We lived in very quiet neighborhoods all his life, he's always been around the apartment, usually on top of a tree. Problem is that he always wanted to be the ONLY MALE around (yes he's neutered). I've seen him kick some feline's 'a s' but last year his age took a toll and a mean & big feral cat wandering around gave him a piece of his own. When he didn't come home I used to go around the building calling for him, and he would show up soon; this time he didn't show up and I knew something was wrong, I looked for him and found him lying down on the stairs next to my building, he looked at me and didn't move, bad sign! normal behavior would be "yes, I saw you, you saw me, now I'm getting upstairs by my own, don't embarrass me" attitude. He was hurt and had some blood, he's white so is easy to see blood. I cleaned him up (I worked at a vet for 4 years so I knew pretty much what I was doing) put some Neosporin on his wounds, some antibiotics that I had in case of emergency and waited for results. He had his vaccines up to date so nothing to worry on that end. 3 days only sleeping in the closet, I would bring food and water to him, he would eat and go back to sleep. My mom and I would look at each other, both thought he might not make it, but none of us wanted to actually say it. The 4th day I bought some "Argentinean grilled meat" and brought it home, ok, not for the cat, but for my mom and I, still, I opened the box close to Lucky (smelled yummy) and took the box with me back to the kitchen. Mom and I did not open our mouths, just waited...., waited.... and Lucky came to the kitchen to ask for some meat... ffffiiuuuuuu we finally breathed! cat saved! he ate a tiny bit and went back to the closet, but just by walking to the kitchen and ask for it told us he might have lost a life, but still have some lives left. No more going out unsupervised, by me, my mom, or even the strays.  ... Now, why did I tell all this story? can't remember... lol