Afraid of moving "Chessie-monster" into a new condo

hello, I have 3 cats who have all had their own little stories (all once stray now live safe with me). I am settling on a condo right now and I am bit worried about my tri-color kitty, "Chessie."

Chessie is a 5year old tri-color kitty who's moods swing very quickly. She is from a small town in TN and is very possibly an inbred kitty. She's not the smartest and sometimes i think she is borderline retarded (it took her a few years to realize when the food bag shakes its time to eat.) She can be really sweet in your lap one moment and the next moment she's bitten you for petting her.

My problem isn't her random bites, but the fact that my boyfriend and i are about to move into a condo together (within the next month).

Chessie has a past history or peeing on carpets (corners), peeing on the litter mat, pooping on the litter mat and doing both 1 and 2 in the shower stall (not so bad, easy to clean). She has also urinated on a small couch.

The place we are getting has new carpeting and will have alot of new things, I DO NOT want anything ruined.


We have tried many things in the past, spraying her with water when doing defecating/peeing on the floor, giving her a bath every time she does it, to installing a feliway unit in the previous house to deter her from peeing. None worked.

right now she is currently not peeing on anything b/c she is living in ym bedroom (with the other 2 cats). this bedroom is where she grew up as a kitten.

I do have one cat that will pick on her, its a 12year old big male cat (15lbs, and it's mostly length trust me) and my boyfriend might be bringing in a new cat to the condo, one that the other 3 have never met. The new cat is a little aggressive and is young so I can see some trouble happening.

Right now since the three have been crammed in a room together they are getting along pretty well, but i am unsure how they will act when they have space to be territorial about.

I was thinking about keeping her in a kitty condo during the day and letting her out only when i was around at home. This cuts down on the quality of her life just b/c she can't roam around... but I'm not having the cat ruin my new place with stinky cat pee.

any suggestions are welcomed!!!! thanks for your time and effort

How many litterboxes do the cats currently have access to?

Three. They're kept clean.

I've taken her to a vet about her peeing issues, she's fine, she's just... a prick.

You might have to retrain her to use a litter box.
I this new place hasn't had cats-there shouldn't be smells associated with the new place. After you move I would confine your cats to one room that contains items with your scent on them. After a few days when they seem more comfortable you could expand their range.
The strange cat should have the same treatment. You should also have things with your scent for the new cat and vice versa.
Feliway spray or plug-ins should help the situation too.

Have you tried a Feliway diffuser? That has helped me with my psychogenic aolpecia kitty SO MUCH (it's a disorder caused by stress, and it causes a cat to overgroom itself, pull hair out, have mood swings, etc.)

Yup, I did feliway, both the spray (where you spray on the corners of the furnature) and the disfuser. It seemed to work for a week, and then the got into the habit of doing it again.

does the cage idea seem like a good idea?

bump

Here are some things to try for stopping the inappropriate urination

Stopping Inappropriate Urination

First, we need to know for sure that the problem is urinating rather than spraying. If the cat is standing and the urine shoots straight back so that he/she is aiming high on the wall or side of the couch, it is spraying. If the cat squats while urinating, it is normal urination. This hand-out is for urination problems rather than for spraying.

The first and most important thing to do is to take the cat to the vet! You need to specify that the cat is urinating outside the box so that the vet knows what to look for. Urinating outside the litter box is the #1 symptom of urinary tract problems! A urinary blockage can quickly kill a cat!


If the vet says she is okay, then consider making a few changes:

• If you use a covered litter box, take off the lid. Many cats refuse to use covered boxes.

• Most cats prefer fine-grained unscented litter. So, try changing litter even if she liked this litter in the past.

• Most cats prefer to poop in a different box than the one in which they pee. So have at least two boxes for one cat.

• If you have more than one cat, make sure you have at least one litter box per cat PLUS one extra box. So, if you have two cats, three litter boxes is ideal. Do not place the boxes right next to each other. Two boxes that are together is the same as just one box in the catâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s mind!

• Make sure you scoop the litter box daily, and with multiple cats, scoop twice daily. Cats often refuse to use dirty boxes. Most of us avoid toilets that are full of pee and poop. Cats are even more fastidious than us humans and certainly have more delicate senses of smell, so of course they do not want to step in a box full of old feces and urine! A clean rug is much more attractive than a dirty box!

• If your litter boxes are old, they may have absorbed odors even if you regularly clean them. So, try buying new boxes.

• Make sure your litter boxes are in a place where the cat feels safe while going potty. If she is disturbed by you or your kids or another cat or dog while she is trying to potty, she will choose to use a safer location. So, move the litter box to a location where she can see the comings and goings of the other people and animals in the house. You can set up the box in the corner of a room, then surround the box with nice house plants. It will be attractive and open enough for the cat to feel safe!

• Put a litter box on each level (floor) of the house.

• Make sure you thoroughly clean all old urine spots on the rug and elsewhere. If she can smell the old urine she will think that place is a good place to potty. Use a flourescent black light to find old urine and treat all old spots with an enzymatic cleanser.


• Try putting a plastic carpet runner upside down on the places she likes to urinate....most cats don't like to walk on the "spikes" so they will avoid the covered spots.

• Put something real smelly where she likes to urinate...most cats hate the smell of citrus, so try putting citrus scented air freshener or orange peels or citrus potpourri where she urinates.

• According to Cat Behaviorist Amy Shojai- if your cat is peeing on personal items the cat is probably stressed out over something. Urinating on some object that holds your scent is calming to him. If you can eliminate the stressor, chances are good that the potty problem will end.

• If your cat is standing inside the litter box and aiming outside the box, you simply need a larger box! Try a Rubbermaid under-bed storage container as a litter box instead of the typical small box.

Rather than locking her in a cage, it would be better to lock her in the bathroom (no bathmats on the floor) and keeping her in there until she is using the litter box 100% of the time.

Also, you might try some of the Flower Essences from www.catfaeries.com. These really do work for some cats with the problems you are describing.

Finally, please do not punish your cat for peeing or pooping in inappropriate places. This stresses them out and makes them even more likely to potty where they are not supposed to.

Oh...and because you have multiple cats, make sure Chessie is able to use the litter box without being attacked by the other cats. This is a common problem in multicat households and most definitely leads to inappropriate pottying.

the new place we'll have a small storage room in our unit with a cat door that will have litterboxes/food available. i think that'll be a better situation so if a cat is trapping her, she can atleast go to the room and be safe.

I don't want to keep her locked in a bathroom,then she'll get really angry for being "excluded." And it'll be really boring for her, nto saying a cage won't but I just don't want her in my bathroom


Plus i can't see my boyfriend being very keen on the idea.

Do they sell the cat faeries stuff at a chain pet store, like petsmart or petco? Just seeing if i can save shipping costs.


Can someone reccomend a really good super strength pee-stain-smell remover?