Peeing cat, Owners at wit's end.

Our cat Maxi is driving us nuts.

She is almost 2 years old now (born around july 1st), and we've had her sense she was 4wk's old.

Back in... december (long time ago, can't really remember the date, somewhere around december) she pee'd on the couch. We took her to a vet, and she was diagnosed with a UTI. Got the med's, was cleared up, thought everything was fine. She didn't pee on anything for awhile after the medication was done, but then we went away for the weekend skiing and left her alone in the apartment... and yup, she peed on the couch agian. Took her back to the vet, another UTI, got the med's, it cleared up and everything was ok... for awhile... then she started peeing on the couch alot. We put plastic on the couch (carpet runner with the bumpy part's sticking up) when we were out, and it was ok.

We replaced the couch because we couldn't completely get the smell out, and it was just to badly stained (didn't want any of our friends, it was pretty gross).

All this time we would have the door open, and she wouldn't pee on it (or anything else for that matter). But a couple of weekends ago we went away for our anniversery, left the door open, and she peed on the bed. Now we bought more Nok'Out, soaked the bed, both top and bottem of mattress, washed the sheets (after spraying them with yet more Nok'Out), and when ever we are away the door is closed. But what she has started to do now is pee on the bed when we are home but not in the room.

We are at our wits end, Shes going back to the vet this weekend to get checked out for a UTI and she had better have one...

We love this thing, shes our baby, but we can't keep living like this. Having to make sure every door is closed when we go to work, make sure plastic is on couch. We're students and can't offord to have to replace all these things all the time if she keeps peeing on them...

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE can someone help us, any advice will be welcome.

I am thinking that i am gettin to the point that we will just get the stuff to make her avoid area's. We don't want that, we love it when she sleeps on the bed with us, or when she cuddles up with us on the couch, but i just don't know what else to do anymore...

please... help.

first question, is she spayed?

first suggestion, go and buy some Feliway plug ins immediately from PetSmart or Petco or somewhere like that. They are a bit pricey but they work miracles and are for just this problem.

second suggestion, ask the vet about a prescription or recommended cat food for urinary problems and add a LOT of water to her wet food or completely switch her over to wet food and add water to it. but DEFNATELY increase her water intake.

Maybe pick up Feliway spray too and spray it directly on the things she is peeing on.
Actually yes definately do that. Couldn't hurt and wil probably work. And I forgot to say, throw away her current litter box and get a new one, she will be associating the litterbox with her UTI pain and won't go in there much anymore.

Soak some rags in Vinegar and put THEM next to where she pees! Cats do not like vinegar.

Also make sure her litterbox is cleaned. IF it has a cover over it take the cover off. Move the litterbox to different locations and try different litters (cat attract WILL get her to use the litterbox but it is a bit expensive).

Make sure the BOX ITSELF is clean and has no smell, also!

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.

Check out my thread about Feliway. It's really working for us!

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86138

I can't add much to the good advice you've already been given but thought it worth pointing out that stress can cause cystitis in cats. The fact that the peeing problems tend to happen when you go away and leave her indicates it could be stress related. I second (or third or whatever!) the feliway. The spray is more concentrated than the diffusers and will kick in sooner so I'd try to get some of that to start with as the diffusers can take up to a week for the feliway to take effect. You may also be stressing her a bit if you are impatient with her (I know you aren't doing that deliberately but she's probably picking up on your frustration with the situation).

"we love this thing?" She is not a thing, she is a cat. Chances are good she has reoccuring UTI's some cats are unfortunate enough to get these. They sometimes get them because their home life is stressful which may be the case here based on your posting about her. Perhaps your home is not the one best suited for her? Perhaps you might think about rehoming her? When a cat is stressed, their targeted organ is their bladder. You may need to change something in her life to make her life seem less threatening to her. Your post has a lot of anger in it. Calm down and understand that if she is peeing inappropriately, it is for a reason.Not to get you upset, angry or frustrated. Cats are fastidious creatures, they do not pee out of the box for no reason. They are not set up as we are, capable of revenge or reasoning things out. I feel for this cat and I hope you get her the proper help.

Yes, there was anger in the post. We've replaced a couch already, spent hundreds on cleaners (4 or 5 bottles of Nok'Out at $40 each and a jug of the stuff for about $70) and on vet bills.

We love our cat, shes our baby, and it was just a sense of frustration that came out there.

I had left the door to the bedroom closed all day, opened it to get changed after work, forgot to close the door, and she pee'd on it agian... so was upset.

Thanks for all the other responses.

We had gotten a covered litter-box from my parents about the time this all started (she had been using a uncovered one for the year and a bit before hand without any problems), so we are going to use her old one agian. ITs not covered and is fairly new.

Also going to try and pick up some of that feliway stuff as well.

There shouldn't really be any new stressors for her. We moved into our apartment last may and there was no problems until the december time.

the litter we use is the Maxx scoop, or Maxx cat... something like that, and have always used the same one, so should we try out something different?

As well, would this be something that she might do if she was bored? Not lonely, but just had nothing else to do so she did it? I mean if we were to just never leave her alone and be playing with her all the time would that help?

And yes, she is spayed.

Also, we want to get another cat someday. We both work so sometimes shes home alone all day from 8am-6pm, so would having another cat around help her? Shes good with other cats, so bonding wouldn't be a problem, but would that be another idea to try and stop her from doing this, or would the other cat just develop the same habits as well?

Thanks agian for all the support so far

Forgot to mention - if the cystitis is stress related have you tried cystaid or something similar? Not sure what's available where you are (this is a UK site) http://www.vetuk.co.uk/index.php?mai...products_id=41 I've heard good things about this product although I've never had to use it myself.