Training to "urp" elsewhere?

Have any of you ever heard of training your kitties to throw up on certain surfaces?

A friend of mine asks me:

"We have 4 cats, one of whom has epilepsy, and one of whom has a 'sensitive tummy,' and a third of which is a long-hair, and gets hairballs, and HATES/will not lick the hairball remedy stuff. (All are strictly-indoor cats.)
The ones I've specifcally mentioned have a habit of vomiting on the rug...the epileptic one will sometimes wolf her food after a seizure, and have it bounce right back up...often into the food dish. But the other ones....hairball, or whatever...
Is there any way to teach them that if they are going to "urp," to do it in the litter box, or at least on a hard surface floor, instead of the carpet???? The problem is trying to catch them at it! It will happen when we are not home, or overnight,....seldom right in front of us. If we DO see them, we snatch them up and toss them into the bathroom & shut the door...
We "inherited" this carpet when we bought the house, and it needs to last a few more years before we can afford to get new flooring, probably hardwood instead...for just this reason!"

Do any of you have any suggestions, or ideas that might help her?

I'm curious to know if any of you have done this, or whatever advice you may have for her. I'm home most of the time, so I'm able to catch them with a piece of paper under their nose, or some such.

Thanks guys!!

I don't think you can train your cat to vomit in the most convenient place but when my Magpie started to make those unmistakeable retching noises that preceded bringing up a hairball I'd follow him around with a piece of newspaper and try to get him to bring it up on the paper. It actually worked some of the time. I actually preferred him to vomit on the carpet to the kitchen floor as the one time Magpie did it in the kitchen it left a mark that is still there several years later! I manage to get the stains out of the carpet ok.

I have the same problem with my one cat, Max, he has a sensitive stomach and used to throw up a lot (2x a day) until we started giving him petro-malt which is awesome because now he only throws up about once every two weeks. I use an enzyme cleaner and that seems to do the trick as far as getting the stain out of the carpet.

As far as training them to throw up somewhere specifically, good luck. We tried it for about 6 months and gave up because it wasn't working.

However, if you do find a way to do it, please post it!

Zissou pukes in her litterbox... Is that not normal? I never trained her to do that.

Once when she was little she puked in the toilet too because my roommate saw her heaving and held her over it. Not sure what possessed him to do that!

Originally Posted by Zissou'sMom

Zissou pukes in her litterbox... Is that not normal? I never trained her to do that.

Once when she was little she puked in the toilet too because my roommate saw her heaving and held her over it. Not sure what possessed him to do that!

Click to expand...

You are so very lucky!!!

When it's coming it's coming - don't think you can redirect....

I just clean my carpet after an "urp" with Target carpet cleaner. It sprays on and wipes up with a rag. I have not had any discoloring or bleaching with this product as I have with others.

Spaz actually keeps all of those on the kitchen tile.
Never taught to, just something she's always done.

Wish the other 5 would take some lessons from her.
I just let them finish their retching and break out a rag and some simple green afterwards.

Okay, other than you two lucky duckies that have kitties that urp on hard floors......

What's your suggestion on the best product my friend can use to clean up the "urp spots"?

So far, I've read three suggestions:

- an enzyme based cleaner (which I was going to suggest)
- Target brand carpet cleaner
and
- Simple Green

What color of carpet do each of you have?

I know one of those martha-stewart types who uses all-purpose flour to clean up most of it (kids or dogs or cats), cause it dries it up and sort of makes it clump. Sort of like your janitor in grade school putting sawdust on the mess.

Then she'd get it with a paper towel and wait for it to dry and then vacuum it, and stain left was gotten with Fantastik (also my mother's old standby, but you can use any cleaner you'd like-- my favorite is the Resolve carpet foam and upholstery cleaner, cause you don't have to scrub it in with a toothbrush as much as other stuff)

As far as "urp" (we call them "oops" ) stains, check and see what the kitties are eating. When we fed them (gulp) Meow Mix (before TCS!), the red dye in the food mixed with stomach acid would invariably stain. However, since we've switched to a better food without red dye (Authority Lamb and Rice - it's the only food we could find without Chicken or Corn, both of which Trent is sensative to), I haven't had a problem with staining.

Mine have lately been good, though this weekend I stepped in one right at the top of the stairs, that was rather unpleasant. (that was hardwood). Also on the linoleum in the basement. If they do have a problem on the carpet I use either resolve cleaner for petstains or woolite cleaner for petstains. Most of my carpets, which are only in the bedroom are green.

My RB kitty Leo, would puke in the litterbox or the shower.
Perarl has a nervous tummy and will do it anywhere. I rescued a shoe just before she threw up in it a few days ago. She has also done it while laying on top of my dresser into a slightly open sock drawer. I had to wash all my socks that were in the drawer. I try to catch her, but she hides under the bed now, so I have to move the bed and go in search of hairballs. What a fun way to spend my day off!

I have a very light beige carpet and I definitly need to be careful to use a cleaner that doesn't stain my carpet.

The Enzyme cleaner I use is called Pet-Zyme which I get from Pet Smart. It's been the only one I ever used because it works.

I also use a carpet cleaning machine at least once a year and I just put some bissel solution in it- that's safe for animals and helps get out stains that animals leave behind. It seems to work well to get the stuff out that you can't see very well.

Originally Posted by Zissou'sMom

Zissou pukes in her litterbox... Is that not normal? I never trained her to do that.

Click to expand...

stop bragging that is SO cool

One solution, get rid of the carpets??? We had a couple of cats that would throw up (also shed) and we finally just tore up the carpeting--we were lucky in that we have hard wood floors underneath. Also one of ours will now occaisionally attempt to throw up while on the bed. if I hear her making those 'noises', I just lift her up and place her on the floor. Usually its just a hairball.

My mum's siamese cats throw up all the time. She feeds them cat food with no dye and a light colour so when they do throw up it doesn't leave a stain. This sounds wierd but what she does is use a very thin metal spatula to pick it up. It seems to get it all off the carpet. So instead of picking it up with paper towel etc, which will sort of squish it in, she just slides the spatula under it.