Adopted 6 year old shelter cat won't stop peeing everywhere - really need advice

[mmcharboneau]

We have two cats, a 2 year old polydactyl kitten named Zoey (who has her own issues but is on Prozac and we're working on it) and a 6 year old tabby named Milo who we adopted on Valentine's Day of this year. Milo was taken back to the shelter twice and didn't give us much reasoning why. He was very sweet and a total lap cat so we didn't think twice about taking him home with us. When we brought him home we left him in the guest bedroom before we slowly started introducing him to Zoey. After they slowly started meeting and he realized there was more to the house than his small room he started peeing outside the litter box. We thought maybe it was because he didn't like being trapped and we just cleaned it up. After he was able to roam about the house freely he started peeing on the mats in our bathroom and the downstairs bathroom. We added an enormous litter box (totaling 3) thinking that the other ones were too small for him - and we clean all 3 every single day. We've tried everything, changing the litter, adding more litter to the boxes thinking it would be softer on his little declawed paws, taking off the tops, leaving them on, putting pheromone collars on both of them, putting a Feliway diffuser in pretty much every outlet in the house and still nothing. Since the mat he pees on in our bathroom is the one leading out of the shower we can't get rid of it indefinitely but have to fold it up after each time we use but if we leave it out by accident he's right back to peeing on it. He used to pee on the door leading into the garage but stopped for a while and has now started doing it again. His newest thing is peeing in the shower - which is much better than peeing on our rugs but when I happen to walk in on him doing it he knows he's doing something wrong because he immediately runs away.

We had a full set of blood and urine work done on him and the vet found nothing extraordinary. I'm not sure if he has some form of PTSD from the shelter and/or being declawed at a later age or if he has serious separation anxiety (which I'm not sure of considering he pees when we're there and when we're not there) because he always has to be around/sitting on someone. Taking him back to the shelter is not an option but we are getting tired of buying special spray to clean up animal urine by the gallon. 

We are looking for any and all suggestions! Please help, we're so tired of the pee and just want to know what's wrong with him so we can help!

 

[mani]

Hi @mmcharboneau and welcome to TCS!

This is such a difficult problem and I do feel your anxiety about it.. I don't know anything at all about declawed cats except from what I've read on the site, but I'm thinking that is the issue. 

This is from one of our articles on declawed cats:

Grainy litter will hurt a sensitive paw, so substitute torn, not cut, strips of newspaper or other soft materials instead.

I know you've tried all different litters, but perhaps there is one that will just right for Milo.  

I had a cat who used to wee in the shower until I realised she needed two litterboxes (she wouldn't wee where she pooed).  I know that's not helpful to you, but, to be honest I was OK with it as I could just wash it away.

I don't know what else to suggest, but others may be able to help.  It's wonderful that you have given this boy a home and I'm sure there'll be some kind of solution.

 

[nora1]

I've heard of some people using doggie "pee pads" as litter box inserts. No litter, just the pee pad so it feels like they are peeing on a flat surface which is easier to their paws.

It's worth a shot!

Best of luck! Thank you for adopting him into your home. There has to be a solution - hang in there

 

[walkingrock]

From my experience with declawed cats, I don't think that would be the cause of this issue. It sounds more like a behavioral problem to me. 

 

[mmcharboneau]

Thank you all for the advice and suggestions! I have no idea when he was declawed so I'm not sure if it's because of that or if it's behavioral, but I'm going to try to newspaper and the pee pads and see what happens.

I really appreciate the quick replies and hope to have good news next time I post [emoji]9786[/emoji]️

 

[LotsOfFur]

Welcome to TCS

Oh cat pee... Probably the #1 reason people surrender their cats, in my experience. This boy is so lucky to have have you [emoji]128149[/emoji]

Have you tried cat attract litter? I've heard great things about it. I have no other advice as what you've been given and what you are doing is good.

Please update, we are here for you and most have known this frustration and understand

Glad you are here, can we see some pics of your kitties?

 

[dlkhain]

Are your three litter boxes next to each other?

One thing you can try is to move the big one apart, and try and make that "his" one.

If it was due to the declawing, I think he would have just found one spot that feels comfy enough (shower mat, for example) and would just keep going back to that. The fact that he seems to do it all over the place makes me think he's got more of a stress/behavioural issue.

That being said, it's worth trying every kind of litter you can find: the wood chips, the less grainy stuff, the pads... It could well be that *something* will work, and so far he hasn't been lucky enough to find a human ready to go through all the trials.

 

[mmcharboneau]

We initially had two boxes upstairs but because we spend most of our time downstairs we only have one upstairs now and we tried to keep them pretty spread apart so neither cat has to go very far to use a litter box. We got the extra large one because we thought the other one was too small for him but Zoey the little one kind of took over it but now he has claimed the other two for himself.

He does tend to pee in the same areas but I've had the same thought, if it's because of his paws you'd think he'd just pee in one spot constantly but he has about 5-7 spots that he'd pee on - 3 off which have been closed off.

I think we've gone through about 4 different kinds of litter and he was doing pretty well for a while then he started peeing again....I guess we'll have to try some different stuff.

 

[mmcharboneau]

@LotsofFur

The support on this forum is incredible! This is the first time I've ever posted on a forum but we were so desperate I thought this would be a good place to see if anyone was having the same problems.

It is sad how many cats get taken to shelters because of peeing but I firmly believe that cats don't do things out of spite, I always think there's a reason why they do everything - even if they do act like little jerks sometimes

Photo Apr 12, 3 27 04 PM.jpg

• mmcharboneau
• Sep 20, 2015

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• mmcharboneau
• Sep 20, 2015

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• mmcharboneau
• Sep 20, 2015

 

[mani]

@mmcharboneau such gorgeous photos.. I love the anticipation in the last one.. 

We just never know what our cats are going to be like, do we?  And you're doing your very best for your two.

 

[LotsOfFur]

Those kitties are very cute! That hamburger bun [emoji]128514[/emoji]
Very nice photos

How's everything going with your kitties?

 

[crazy4strays]

OP, how are your kitties doing?