will she stop???

help!!!!!!!!! i have a major problem!
i have seven cats in my house the youngest is a little over 1y/o female. she, tiger, has started peeing outside of the litter box (at least we are pretty sure it's her). here's what has happened in the house lately. i temporally switched from working day shift to night shift shortly before my boyfriend left town for business. he was gone for a month. while he was gone, i found a litter of kittens that had upper resp. infections and i took them in for medicine. they stayed in the bathroom away from the others. this is not new for me. i've taken in many litters and treated them. none of my cats has ever had any problems with the foster kitties. this is tiger's first experience with the babies. she just hissed at them, but was curious at the same time.

tiger is best friends with my second youngest, harley (2y/o male). harley has a special place he sleeps in the formal living room. he is the only one that sleeps there. one morning i came home from work and found poop in his spot. i never smelled pee. the second time i found poop was after i woke up in the evening after work, no pee. every time thereafter there has been pee and poop. i've been cleaning the spots with petzyme and nature's miracle (which isn't working). i thought is was harley at first, because it was his special place. he went to the vet and was cleared medically. i think it might be tiger now, and attributed the "accidents" to the kittens being in the house. my boyfriend came home a week ago and the kittens left the day after he got back, but there are still potty problems!!!

the litter boxes are cleaned regularly and the litter brand has not changed (although, i think the litter looks different, like tidy cats has changed the formula...maybe it's just me.) i've seen both of my suspects using the litter box as well. we've had to cut the carpet out of that spot and have bleached the place, so we can't smell any pee. what do i do??? my boyfriend wants to get rid of the cat if she doesn't stop. i really want to fix the problem not just get rid of the cat. do you think there were too many changes at once? will she stop now that everything is back to normal? should we just give it more time? the vet suggested we put her in the laundry room for a week to see if she stops, like she needs some space from the others. will that work? please help! i don't want to get rid of my cat!!!!!

thanks! rei

Did the vet test her urine to see whether she has a urinary tract infection? Stress will cause UTI's and your cat has experienced a series of stressors recently. So, I strongly suggest having the vet specifically test her urine for signs of infection or blockage before you even start thinking about anything else.

If the vet finds that she is healthy, please click here to read how to stop inappropriate urination. But note that if it is a medical problem, you can make all of the changes noted in this thread, but she won't stop until the illness is cured!

Good luck and let us know what the vet finds.

Too many cats, not enough 'territory'? I think someone's making a statement.

Definitely get her to the vet. Also, don't clean the spot with bleach because bleach has ammonia in it, and while it doesn't smell like urine to our noses it does smell like urine to cats' much more sensitive noses. Using bleach to clean the spot will encourage the cat to eliminate there again because to her it smells like urine.

We have already cleaned the area with bleach, I had to cut out the carpet because non of the cleaning agents even fazed the odor. what should we do now if anything.