My cat is peeing all over my house. What should I do?

I've had my cat Pretty Kitty for 12 years. And she has been peeing outside of the litter box for 12 years, off and on. I've had months go by with no problems, but usually we have an episode lasting one week about once a month. I have had her regularly checked by three vets plus two emergency vets and one animal hospital over the years and she has no kidney or bladder problems. She has always had clean urine tests and blood tests. She has been on Prozac, a tricyclic when she has been exposed to environmental changes (new baby in house, moving from an apartment to our current house), and is currently on amitriptyline. None of the them has worked well. I have also tried using Feliway spray and diffuser, Cat attract litter, giving her plenty of attention, good natural food, and several 'cat areas' that are free of meddlesome children and adults. Over the years, we have tried two litter boxes, and three litter boxes, with the third having a new type of litter in case she like it better. Nothing has worked. She has ruined two antique carpets and several other carpets, my husband's computer, a couch, two chairs (not to mention that in between, I have reupholstered and restuffed the furniture) both of our children's mattresses, our mattress, and the list goes on. That is the past.

Now for the current problem. We are renovating the entire first floor of our home. What was supposed to be a kitchen makeover has turned into much more because Pretty Kitty has peed so much on the hardwood floors, they are damaged down to the under flooring. We have decided to make a fresh start of it as we have in the past and also get new clean furniture as there are only so many times you can douse your upholstery in cat pee spray before they are ruined. We are currently in a bad period for Kitty as she has been peeing daily all over since Christmas. Christmas stresses her out because we buy a Christmas tree and often have family or guests visit. She does not like guests or family and will claw at them, growl at them and lunge when they are in the same room as her. I was hoping she'd recover by now, but she hasn't. I know that the remodeling will really put her over the edge, and I'm afraid for her. In the past when she has gotten really stressed, she has ended up hospitalized for vomiting leading to dehydration and breathing issues (she is a Persian and vomit gets stuck in her nose). This has happened nine times, sometimes just for an overnight, but others it has taken her three days to recover.

Does anyone have any idea what to do with her? The renovation will take four months and I'm not sure she will be able to handle it. As an added difficulty, I would like to know that once our new floors are in, that they are safe from cat pee. So basically I have four months to get my stressed out Pretty Kitty calmed down for good. Please help!
Jennifer

Hi Jennifer.

Aw the poor girl, and poor you, this sounds like a stressful situation all around.

lt sounds like you've tried a lot of the right things so l won't have many more suggestions.

lt's not always the case, but is quite often that kitties will pee all over the house looking for a "safe" spot when they're experiencing pain. What is her current diet? lt would go along with the growling at people and stress too - my kitties don't like guests so they remove themselves until the guests are gone, as an outsider looking in my first impression is that this litter avoidance, stress, and growly behaviour might be linked.

Have you tried Cosequin daily? She might have bladder inflammation enough to cause pain but wouldn't show up in a urine sample.

Hopefully others will see this and offer more suggestions.

Welcome to the site. Sending vibes that this turns around for you  

Sounds like a really stressful time for you and your kitty, hope you can sort this situation out.
We had 3 kitties and lost one to an illness last month, our older head tom, started spraying around the house during the illness of our passed kitty, he had never done this before,.
As home owners this was really stressful as we love a clean home.
He picked certain areas for spraying and upstairs was his main target, behind doors, clothing on floors, washing baskets. When we sat back and looked at the areas he sprayed we noticed a pattern. He hated change in his environment is furniture moved or things were left out, these were the areas he peed.
It's taken us a month but thus has now stopped. He is only allowed in 1 downstairs room, garden and kitchen, and he seems fine with this, we have reduced his domain and he seems less stressed, we only have a feliway plug.in and we have used specialist urine cleaners in the Areas he has targeted to rid the smell. I think with all the changes in the home if you can limited his stress by reducing the places in your home he sees as his teritory you may start to sort the issue, we also have a dedicated hour with him where we play fuss and just sit with him, this has made him more secure.

Best of luck

Kim

Thanks for posting. I'm at my wits end trying to figure out what to do. I have not tried Cosequin. Does in come in transdermal lotion? That is the only way I have been able to medicate her. There was a time when I could hide the tiniest of pills in her food, but eventually that led to a hunger strike and to this day, she will not eat any treats or soft food. More recently when I tried pills when she was so stressed that she had to be hospitalized, she began vomiting frequently and ended up back at the vet. But I have been able to successfully give her medication via a gel to her ear. It costs a lot more, but it's worth it to know that it doesn't cause greater stress. Thanks for the Cosequin idea and any others you may have. I'm hoping that someone out there will have had a similar experience as my vet is out of solutions for me.
Jennifer

Yes, I've tried Prozac prescribed by my vet and also two other SSRIs (Zoloft and Paxil) because my vet said sometimes one will work when another doesn't. Currently I have her on a different type of anti-anxiety medicine called a TCA (amitriptyline). The only thing I haven't tried is a benzodiazepine, but those can 1) have the reverse effect and 2) have side effects like disorientation. My vet explained it as sort of like being drunk. Maybe someone has info on a medicine I haven't tried? I did see a behavioral veterinarian back in 2008, who changed her medicine around a few times, but I don't think he was an actual animal psychologist.

Over the years, I have limited her living quarters gradually and she now lives only on the first floor of our house, mostly because it's easier to control the damage when there is limited space to pee. However, I still have to mop the floors, spray areas of the upholstered furniture that she has been able to sneak to pee on, and the remaining carpet we have. At this point, I am using approximately two quarts of spray a day, and order it online because I'm embarrassed to buy it in a store.

Thank you everyone for posting suggestions... keep them coming! I will try anything at this point! My biggest fear is that she will end up hospitalized again once construction begins in two weeks.
Jennifer

l've never tried one myself, but l have read posts by others on this site that they've had good outcomes from consults with a cat behaviourist.

To answer your previous question re the Cosequin: it comes in chicken and tuna flavoured sprinkle capsules which are meant to be appealing to cats. You'd just sprinkle it on her food.

l found a link that might help some:

http://www.icatcare.org/advice/problem-behaviour/soiling-indoors