Discouraged and upset

I am the happy owner of 3 cats, Gracie, Francie and CeeCee. We have recently begun to have issues with CeeCee (2yr old spayed female) peeing and spraying. It seemed to have started about a month ago when my neice was visiting and shut the door (though I told her not to) to our bedroom and CeeCee got locked in there. Well, she urinated on our bed, including our king sized feather duvet. We sent it to be dry cleaned the next morning and got it back about 3 weeks later (duvet is huge and dry clean only so it was a big deal to have it cleaned, luckily we have a water-proof cover on the feather mattress cover so that didn't get peed on).

We thought that her getting locked in there was the reason she did it, but just Monday I was making coffee and she jumped on the counter next to me and sprayed the wall under the cupboard!! I immediately cleaned it with an antibacterial cleaner, but couldn't understand why she did it. Well, early this morning, my hubby woke me asking me if the duvet smelled and it did!! There is another spot on it, though it was dry and we didn't notice it before.

I've never had a "dirty" cat before, and really don't know what to do. She's not a very loving cuddly cat, only with our daughter, who is 4. She adores our daughter and vice versa. We got her at 10 weeks from a friend who's cat had had a litter of kittens. She's always lived with the same 2 cats, but has moved 2 times in that last 8 months but has only exhibited this behavior in the last month or 2. I'd hate to give her away because my daughter would be devistated.

Angela

Take her to the vets to be tested before anything else! If it turns out she's perfectly healthy there are MANY things you can do to curb spraying and the likes! There is hope!

I get so attached to my cats, it terrible. And my daughter is the same way, she loves that cat so and talks about her all the time. It just seems so random. She did spray a couple plastic bags because she went into heat unexpectedly just before we had her spayed and when we were getting our new house ready and living at my parents house she peed on one of my mothers carpet (though because she didn't like where the litter box was, once it was moved she was fine).

I agree with Cinderelli - Your first response should be to schedule a trip to the vet and request they run a complete urinalysis to rule out a urinary tract infection.

Yep, it sounds like your cat got stressed out by being locked out of the bedroom. Stress can easily cause illness in cats and peeing on your bed is a way for your cat to get your attention.

One of the things that Feliway was originally designed to do was to inhibit the desire for inappropriate litterbox use and spraying. You may wish to pick up a room diffuser or two and give that a try as well as making sure she has a clean bill of health.

Kathryn

Just a question, will the process of dry cleaning remove the cat urine? I'm going to ask them when I take it in if they have an enzyme cleaner they can use, but was just curious if it was possible that it doesn't and that's why she peed on the duvet again? Otherwise I'll have to do 1 of 2 things: 1)Throw it/sell it and buy another (was a Xmas gift from the inlaws) or 2) have it drycleaned and then try and use an enzyme cleaner at home and run the risk of ruining it with the water.

Going to make an appointment today, but it'll probably be a week before I get her in. Until then, I'm keeping her out of the bedroom during the day (I figure she'll be OK with that cause it was her getting locked in their without access to her box that caused this in the first place)

I think it is unlikely that dry cleaning would remove all of the odour from the urine. It really does require a biological agent. Certainly, you can ask the dry cleaner about it. I would suggest that you try the enzyme cleaner before you take it in to be drycleaned. You will have to saturate the area as the urine will have gone through into the filling of the duvet. If you are handy with a needle and thread, you could open up the seam and stitching in the area she urinated, and check the filling - it would be a bit more work, but with care you may be able to salvage the duvet. The reason I suggest doing it before hand is that if it doesn't work, then you won't have the expense of drycleaning something that you won't be keeping. The drycleaner's in fact may even be able to 'repair' the stitching you remove for a fee.

Kathryn

how did you know she didn't like the litter box? my cat is having some problems peeing in the litterbox, and i was wondering if i should move it. any suggestions on what kind of places cats like?
thanks!
amy

Originally Posted by ajhewey76

I get so attached to my cats, it terrible. And my daughter is the same way, she loves that cat so and talks about her all the time. It just seems so random. She did spray a couple plastic bags because she went into heat unexpectedly just before we had her spayed and when we were getting our new house ready and living at my parents house she peed on one of my mothers carpet (though because she didn't like where the litter box was, once it was moved she was fine).

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Well, we had her litter box in a cubbie to keep my mothers dogs from eating out of it *gag*, and we noticed she wasn't using it and we found stuff behind a chair. It was really a random guess and we were right!!

Where do you all generally purchase your blacklights for checking for urine? I really want to make sure I've got this licked and exhaust all resources (that I can afford financially). I see they have them where you buy Urine Off, but they also have small ones on eBay for like $6.00 but I don't know if they would work as well. Thanks!!

Just a quick update: We've been trying to keep CeeCee out of the bedroom during the day when we are not home/can't keep track of her. She's taking that well (she just doesn't like being confined IN the bedroom). She has a vet appointment on Wednesday and I got Nature's Miracle to use on the duvet (I was sure I read about it on here, but I can't find it. Anyone know how well it works? It's the only Enzyme cleaner I could find in the 2 pet stores near here).