FINALLY found a solution to peeing outside the box. Wanted to share.

sharra13

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We have had Midge, a de-clawed cat, for about seven years and the occasional peeing started shortly after her arrival.  It started off VERY infrequently and tended to be on my husband's clothes pile that he left on our bedroom floor.  For some reason (I think we saw her looking very suspicious around a spot early on) we attributed it to the older cat for being mad at us about the new kitten and then later to her just being mad for some reason or another.  Which in hindsight makes no sense, since SHE never did it before and the two got along so well. :(

Anyway, the peeing got worse and more frequent, especially over the last couple of years.  It moved on to our bed and then a particular spot of the dining room carpet.  On rare occasions it would be on the little cat mat right outside the littler box.

Unfortunately we only really found out it was Midge doing it all shortly before the sudden death of our older cat last year, and then it got worse and worse.  We moved to a new house and she immediately started the dining room thing again and got REALLY bad on the carpet outside the box in my office (such a fun smell to work in--yuck).  I finally noticed that she never pees on HARD surfaces.

We did try different litters and she has had check-ups with the vet (no UTI), even tried Felaway--didn't make a dent.  We have 3 boxes in the house (two closed, one open) and only 2 cats (got another kitten a while after the older cat died to help with Midges depression over losing her best friend). We tried putting a large crate line tray under the cat boxes with a puppy pad on it and that seemed to work for a while (for some reason she has never pooped outside the box and still doesn't--weird!).  The motion sensor sprays also worked to keep her out of the dining room, but it just made her REALLY focus on my office just to the side of the tray liner on the carpet.  I was cleaning it every day.

Finally, as a last resort (hubby had decided he had enough and that she would be banished to her own kitty room if it continued), I wanted to try something OTHER than littler to see if it really is a texture thing with her.  None of the options in the cat isle seemed "soft" enough, so I went to the small critter isle and bought a bag of the unscented pet bedding (Kaytee Clean and Cozy).  I put a fine layer of litter in the box (to soak up the pee smell and attract her to the box--seems to work better than just the bedding for smell) and then break up a nice fluffy layer of the bedding over it.  We just take out the liner and toss the whole thing every week and do a fresh liner and layers.

It works WONDERS!!!  It's been a month now and NO peeing at all!!!  I still can't believe it and I am crossing my fingers that it continues, but it seems like she took to it right away and was really happy about the option.  She also seems in a much better mood and a happier cat over all.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give out the details in case anyone is in a similar situation.  I research online a ton over the past couple years and never came across this idea (everyone says UTI or clean the box a lot).
 

momto3cats

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That's wonderful! I think quite a few cats would benefit from their owners being willing to get creative like you did.
 

catsallaround

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Great that is working but I would consider xrays to see if there is nail regrowth or anything going on from the declaw.  I have used this in boxes for my one cat who was an oddball about boxes.  Only issue is I have alot of cats and the others would sleep in the box if it was clean:S 
 

di and bob

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Thank you so much fro sharing! I'm always happy to hear when someone finds a solution to a peeing problem, more cats are sent to the shelter for this then just about any other problem. Once again thank you and bless you for not giving up on her!
 
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sharra13

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Thanks, guys!  It really is amazing what a turnaround she made.  We even chanced leaving our bedroom open while we were away on vacation for 10 days (both cats sleep with us at night but we have been locking them out during the day to prevent her peeing on the bed) and NO PEE.  It's amazing.  The funny thing is, she still poops in the regular litter box.  Weird.  Anyway, needless to say, hubby and I are MUCH happier with Midge and feel a lot more loving to her now that she isn't ruining the house.  She is also more loving and sweet and less on edge (probably because we aren't yelling at her anymore or giving her death glares as we clean the carpet, lol).
 
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