Somebody is peeing in the living room

Since we got the dog, we had to put gates up, one is at the entrance between the kitchen and living room; the other is at the entrance back to the hallway. Why? Because we can't break the dog from eating the cat poop in the litter boxes. Rather than constantly have to deal with the dog eating the cat poop, we put the gates up to stop her from going back to those areas. She can go into the kitchen because the bench-type litter box there, she can't get through to the litter box inside....it's impossible. We put the gate up to the kitchen so that when she drinks a lot of water, I can pen her in the kitchen until she either throws up or has spent enough time in the kitchen that I know she won't throw up. Plus, I'm not tripping over the dog when I'm trying to cook because then I can pen her in the living room.

I have one litter box in the kitchen, two in the bathroom, one in the bedroom, and two in the computer room. Muffin likes an open box; Mollipop got her cornered in an enclosed box one time and now she won't go near them.

Well, I've been smelling cat urine when I come in the front door. Rick kept saying it was my imagination. This morning, I was lying on the couch reading and the longer I lay there, the worse the smell got. I got up and starting checking things out. Somebody has been peeing in the corner of the room, behind the end table. 

I didn't think that one box in the kitchen would enough for the three elderly cats, even though Rick kept saying he thought everything was OK. I was right. Even though there are cat doors in the gates, the oldsters won't go through them to come back the hallway to use the other litter boxes. So the three of them are using one box. I've been scooping that box out three times a day, but it's still not working, since somebody's peeing in the living room. I brought a box out from the bathroom and put a lid on that one. Muffin still has the lidless box in the computer room, so hopefully that will work out for her. If it doesn't, I don't know what I'm going to do.

At this point, the dog can stick her head in the new kitchen litter box and eat the cat poop. I don't care anymore. Let her eat it.

The animals are destroying the house. The computer room floor is now ruined from Muffin peeing there that time when she got so stressed out. There are marks on the new bedroom floor from Muffin playing in the water bowl and from peeing on the bedroom floor that time. And now this on the living room floor. I don't think that's from Muffin; I really don't. I think it's from one of the old cats who's tired of dealing with one box, no matter how clean I try to keep it. So now I have two boxes in the kitchen and one box in the bathroom. I cleaned out boxes this morning and the new box in the kitchen....I keep paper towels at the end of the box because somebody (I think it's BooBoo) really hikes when peeing and it will spray out between the lid and the box. The paper towels help to catch the urine spraying out. The paper towels are bright yellow and saturated, so the new box is being used.

I give up. I don't know who's peeing in the living room. And I don't really care anymore. I'm just hoping that the new box in the kitchen will help. I cleaned the carpet as best I could and used enzyme cleaner and spray. 

I am so sorry, you are having so many issues since adding the dog to the mix.  Yeah 3 cats and one box probably would be an issue.  Hopefully another litter box will take care of it.

We're having a problem with that, too.  Our cat Zoe got into a fight with Hannah, the one we've been trying to integrate for so long.  It got Zoe upset and she started spraying on the new washer/dryer in the laundry room.  We thought it was a one time thing but then she started doing it again.  I've used a steam floor cleaner, enzyme cleaners, paper towels taped up over the front of the machines.  So frustrating.  I know it's territorial/behavioral since we just had Zoe at the vet's just last week for a check up including blood work and all is fine physically.

We're adding a box, and I'm thinking of experimenting with a different kind of litter.  Not sure what else to do.

I'm really sorry about your house, I know it's been frustrating for you having Jackie there now.  

I am thankful that whoever had been peeing in the living room seems to have stopped since I added an extra litter box in the kitchen.    The extra box is being used and used hard, so that's good.

We're pretty sure this is behavioral here, too, but with elderly cats it's difficult to say. Hopefully, we've gotten that under control.

I am going to buy a seventh litter box and put it in the bathroom; that way they'll have two boxes in there again. No lid, just to keep Muffin feeling more secure. She has her lidless box in the computer room, too, but if we can stop any issues before they start, that will work, too. I know she likes to use the litter box in the bathroom from time to time, too.

As far as I know, the dog is not eating the cat poop out of the second litter box, but who knows. I scoop what I see. If she wants to make herself sick, let her. I don't have time to deal with her anymore. Frustrating does not even begin to cover how I feel about that dog.

Betsy, I hope you can get your situation under control.

Are things still going OK, Pam? :cross:

No. Whoever it is has started to pee again. I can smell it. I cleaned the area again on Sunday morning. I've been putting newspaper down on the area and I can see where somebody is peeing there. I don't know who it is. Of course, Rick is blaming Muffin, but Muffin doesn't even come out to the rest of the house anymore. Ever. She won't because of the dog. So she stays in the bedrooms and the bathroom. I feed her meals in the bathroom and she lives in the computer room whenever we're at work. It's not Muffin and I don't care what Rick says. 

And really, it doesn't matter who it is.....it needs to stop.

What's happening is that when a cat tries to go through the cat door in the gate to the kitchen, the dog is laying right there and she won't let the cat through. We keep the whole gate completely open most of the time, other than for mealtimes, so the cats can eat in peace and when I'm preparing our meals. Other than those times, the gate is open. And it's open throughout the night and during the day when we're at work for everybody to come and go as they choose. But when it is closed, I've seen the dog lying right there at the gate and I've seen her stop the cats from trying to go through into the kitchen. When I see it, I tell the dog to "Go lay down" and she will. Then the cat will go through the door.

The gate in the hallway is closed all the time. When we're home, we open the cat door in the gate for the cats to come and go. But Jackie can't go back the hallway because of the litter boxes in the bathroom and in the bedrooms.

Anyway, the dog is definitely eating the poop from that second litter box I put in the kitchen. I scoop twice a day and never find any poop in that box; yet the cats are using it. Jackie has to be eating it.

And maybe by this time, whoever is peeing in the living room is so used to doing it that that's her new area now. It's definitely still going on. And I'm sick about it. For years, we had six, seven, eight cats and never had a peeing problem. Never. Then that blasted dog came into the house and Muffin started peeing back in the bedroom and in the computer room. We got that issue cleared up and she's been really good. Now this is going on and I can't find out who's doing it. Rick says that getting rid of the dog won't make any difference at this point and he's not getting rid of Jackie. 

I'm ready to take Mollipop and Muffin and just leave. I can't handle things anymore. I'm sorry, but I can't.

I know you don't want a litter box in the living room but maybe you could put one where the cat is peeing.  I know that is always Jackson Galaxy's initial thing he has people do when they have an issue like this.  I even seen him ask a couple to put one on their kitchen counter.  Eventually they were able to remove that litter box but I remember he was really impressed that they went along with it.

@Winchester   I don't any good advice, but I've been there, sending you hugs and good vibes  

I went through a similar situation several years ago, I tried the food additives for cat food that deters dogs from eating the poo, tried crating the dog when I wasn't there, training, etc. etc.  After living with the smell of cat pee in my sinuses, and being fed up with being on my hands and knees sniffing carpet, I gave up and made the decision to rehome the dog, sad as it was.  It created a living hell in our house.  I have the utmost sympathy for what you are going through.  My poor cats were living a nightmare, even though the dog really had no bad intentions towards them, he just liked "kitty snacks".

Oh no, I'm so sorry.

I've never dealt with this, so have no advice. Would Cat Attract litter or something like that help?

You sound like you're at the end of your rope. I'm sorry.

Jackie has blood in her stool, it's really bloody. We have no idea what's going on. Rick took a stool sample into the vet last night for testing. Jackie has a vet appt on Friday afternoon; they couldn't get her in today. She seems to be OK otherwise, maybe a little low-key.

We don't know if she got into something outside or what. We're pretty careful when we're out; we don't let her eat anything (she also loves to eat deer poop). She gets no table scraps, she gets no people or cat food at all (other than her pieces of apple when she comes back in the house from going out to pee). Only bottled water like what the cats drink. And she's on a special dietary food for bladder and kidney problems.

I hope the vet visit goes well. :cross:

Thanks, Karen. The dog is fine and her poop is back to normal. The tests didn't show anything weird. Probably just something she ate that didn't agree with her, but we have no idea what that something was. We're pretty strict with her diet, so it had to have been something she got into when Rick had her outside at night.

Denice, I did end up putting a litter box in that area where a cat was peeing and that has worked. Whoever it is is using the box, but we haven't actually seen a cat in it yet. We're thinking she is using it during the night (when she could be going out to the boxes in the kitchen!). Thank you. I honestly don't know why I didn't think of that; my only excuse is that I'm just not thinking clearly anymore when it comes to the animals.

That's good to hear.

I hope things continue to go well with the litter box issues. :cross: