Feline Bladder Disease- nothing is stopping her from peeing on the floor!

[Brom’s Mom]

We’ve been taking a cat we found outside to the vet for years now because she refuses to use a litter box. I assume she was dumped because of this. We adopted her, she’s a beautiful white kitty we call Girlie.

A urinalysis test was done and showed TONS of blood in her bladder as well as a few lesions in her bladder on ultrasound. No bacteria.
I have the human equivalent of this disease but there’s nothing I can do to help her. I can barely help myself. There’s no cure.

She is on Amitriptyline daily and has improved greatly but still pees and poops on our carpet. She also eats Hill diet Urinary kibble.
I am at my wits end, it kills me that our house smells so bad of pee even though I’m always cleaning the carpets. We live in a rental too so It’s an awful situation. We’ve tried changing litter, litter boxes, calming collars, everything I can think of. PLEASE someone give me advice. I can’t stand living in a cat pee house.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I would try cardboard box lids with carpeting inside them, to mimic what she is used to using. You can buy carpet remnants, or perhaps even washable carpet tiles - whatever you can find similar to your own carpeting. I would also take her poop that is found on your floor and place it in the 'quasi' litter box. You can soak up her urine with paper towels to also add to this 'new' box. You might even place a few of these over her most common 'spots'.

You can also try using soil/mulch from outside in a similar set up to see if that might entice her to use a box.

In either case, if she were to use these, you could eventually add some litter to see if you could get her to realize that litter is for the same purpose.

Enzymatic cleaners are needed to remove the urine/poop smell from the carpeting, otherwise it is like an invitation to go there again and again. I've included a link below about them. If it has soaked through to the carpet padding or even to the flooring below, that will require some additional effort.

For her own sake, urinary care foods come in canned too - for the extra moisture, which helps flush out the bladder better. Somewhere in this process you might start giving her some canned food to see if she will eat it.

How To Get Cat Urine Smell Out Of Carpet: Effective, Non-toxic Solutions - TheCatSite Articles

 

[iPappy]

Nature's Miracle makes an enzymatic cleaner that has a repellent in it. I have used it, and it seems to work very well, however you do need to re-apply it every so often. Since this issue is rooted in medical problems, IDK if it will help or not I thought I'd mention it. Once cleaned, misting the areas with a spray bottle and leaving it to dry every so often might help.
No More Spraying - Just for Cats | Nature's Miracle

There are a few litters on the market that are considered "training" litters as they attract cats to use the litter. I've talked to several people who have tried this, and most say it works, and some say it doesn't, but it's worth a look.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O5JXKO/?tag=thecatsite

FeebysOwner mentioned seeing if she would eat the wet urinary food vs. the dry. Some cats (I have one of them) develop bladder inflammation if fed a diet of dry food, and wet food really helps this as the moisture helps keep the bladder flushed out. My cat, if fed too much dry food, will start leaving tiny little clumps of urine in the box, and if the dry food is fed continuously, will begin leaving small drops of urine elsewhere. It looks like a bladder infection, but it is just inflammation. I would seriously look into seeing if the switch could be made, it might help the situation tremendously.
Transitioning Your Cat From Kibble To A New Type Of Food - TheCatSite Articles

You are awesome for trying so hard to help her, and not giving up on this little cat.

 

[Alldara]

Thank you for caring for her. It's very difficult I'm sure. I had a cat for 17 years with FLUTD as well. You're right. It's not curable, but it is manageable once you find the right puzzle pieces for your cat.

You can also try using doggie pee pads as well.

I also want to share this as it was very helpful to me: Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD) | International Cat Care

If she doesn't have bacteria or stones, you can try the "over-the-counter" urinary food. I really recommend the Purina urinary wet food you get from the store. Add a tsp of extra water. It helped reduce Nobel's flare ups so much.

You mentioned trying different litters. I'll recommend you try something that is clay free and pine free. If you use pellets, you might try some dirt, or some wheat or corn litter on top of the pellets to cushion the feet.

does she have a spot she regularly goes in? You can temporarily move the litter (or a box you use as litter), to there.

Have you tried Feliway before? A stress reducing one might be helpful.

 

[GranolaLouise]

I would try extra large pee pads. They sell them for cats as well as dogs and they also have some with cat pheromones to attract the cat.
How about spreading these out in a large area on the rug and gradually making the area smaller?
There are also cat diapers, but if she is squirmy she would probably figure out how to get out of them. But it is a good try for a desperate situation.

 

[Jen Condit]

Thank you for not giving up, you must be so frustrated. Has she EVER used a litter box? This one is GREAT if you wanna try a very large box! It's expensive but has saved me from cleaning daily pee on the basement floor. I don't use the pan or the lid: https://www.chewy.com/frisco-multi-function-covered-cat/dp/285238

 

[Mac and Cats]

We’ve been taking a cat we found outside to the vet for years now because she refuses to use a litter box. I assume she was dumped because of this. We adopted her, she’s a beautiful white kitty we call Girlie.

A urinalysis test was done and showed TONS of blood in her bladder as well as a few lesions in her bladder on ultrasound. No bacteria.
I have the human equivalent of this disease but there’s nothing I can do to help her. I can barely help myself. There’s no cure.

She is on Amitriptyline daily and has improved greatly but still pees and poops on our carpet. She also eats Hill diet Urinary kibble.
I am at my wits end, it kills me that our house smells so bad of pee even though I’m always cleaning the carpets. We live in a rental too so It’s an awful situation. We’ve tried changing litter, litter boxes, calming collars, everything I can think of. PLEASE someone give me advice. I can’t stand living in a cat pee house.

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. I don't have any actual advice for the situation, but I will say that this cleaner has worked wonders for me. We had two cats that were constantly spraying and a third cat that was having what I call "scare pee". The other cats would surprise her and she would accidentally pee on the floor. I 100% got the smell out after a couple treatments on our new carpet. I know it worked because after the first treatment the cats still stopped to smell the area. I used a glove to massage the spray into our carpet two more times and used a steam cleaner after each treatment. After the third treatment the cats never stopped to smell the area again. It isn't cheap, but I swear it works and saved a lot of my sanity!

On a second note, I'm not sure if this is appropriate for your cat at all, so obviously you would have to talk to your vet, but when everything else failed with our cats, we put them on Prozac and they stopped urinating outside the box immidately. It doesn't work for every cat and like I said, I don't know if it will be appropriate for a cat like yours, but it doesn't hurt to ask your vet about it?

EDIT: I wanted to clarify that after the first treatment, I could not smell a thing. But I noticed the cats could still smell it, which is why I did two more treatments.

 

[catsknowme]

You are awesome for not giving up on poor Girlie! And DOUBLE APPLAUSE because not only are you dealing with a sick cat, you are marching on despite your own physical ailments!
You are getting excellent advice here in the previous responses. If you want to consider holistic options, you could consult a knowledgeable vet about adding marshmallow root to Girlie's treatment plan. For kitties, I make a decoction using cut&sifted herb (simmer, covered, for 10-15 minutes then remove from heat and cool, keeping covered). For humans, I use capsules, for all bladder irritation and sense of urgency (red raspberry leaf, german chamomile and/or slippery elm are additions to inquire about). Decoction can be made with the powdered herb from capsules - just make a paste and gradually add water. The decoction can be added to wet food or syringed into the mouth although some cats will drink the tea voluntarily.