Hi everyone! I'm new to these forums. I'm hoping some of you might have ideas to help me out - I'm absolutely stumped at the moment. I have three cats. One is an elderly, darling domestic longhair who spends much of her time napping in a sunny window and avoids the other two like the plague; she's an angel and is the only one that I'm quite sure has nothing to do with this. The other two are male shorthairs named Magic and Claude. Magic is approximately 12 years old and Claude is about 7. They get along fairly well, I think - they will sleep curled up together and groom each other. Sometimes they do wrestle and chase one another around, but I've monitored that behavior carefully, and it really does seem to be playful rather than aggressive; there is never any hissing or yowling or puffy tails or anything. We have owned both of them since they were kittens. Both are declawed in front, and both were neutered as soon as they were old enough for the procedure. They are indoor cats. Both cats have always used the boxes appropriately, so it was kind of a mystery when Claude started to urinate elsewhere.
He's peeing in the kitchen against the sliding glass door leading out to our deck, on the carpet in the dining room, against the couch in the living room, and in the bathtub in the unused basement bathroom. We've since shut the door to the basement bathroom so he no longer has access, and we are using Nature's Miracle everywhere else with an industrial carpet cleaner. He has been to the vet, who has ruled out medical causes, and who prescribed a calming food for us to try. This was about six weeks ago, so it doesn't seem to be helping. We have also tried Feliway diffusers and laying tin foil in his preferred areas, as I've read that cats don't like that sound or texture - but that just seemed to cause him to pick a new spot. When this behavior began, we had three litter boxes, but we have since added a fourth, and also tried a second type of litter. Our boxes are cleaned twice a day. I called the vet again, and am waiting to hear back from her, but she's on vacation. We're really at our wits' end, as last night he urinated on my father, who is his favorite person - while he was asleep in bed. He's a bit of a high strung, nervous personality type, but I just don't know what started this behavior, or what we should do. There were no drastic changes in the household, there don't SEEM to be territory issues with Magic... but maybe he thinks that there are? I don't think that there are any feral cats in our neighborhood that he could be seeing through the windows. I've read so many articles and I'm not sure where to go from here. Any input would be much appreciated.
He's peeing in the kitchen against the sliding glass door leading out to our deck, on the carpet in the dining room, against the couch in the living room, and in the bathtub in the unused basement bathroom. We've since shut the door to the basement bathroom so he no longer has access, and we are using Nature's Miracle everywhere else with an industrial carpet cleaner. He has been to the vet, who has ruled out medical causes, and who prescribed a calming food for us to try. This was about six weeks ago, so it doesn't seem to be helping. We have also tried Feliway diffusers and laying tin foil in his preferred areas, as I've read that cats don't like that sound or texture - but that just seemed to cause him to pick a new spot. When this behavior began, we had three litter boxes, but we have since added a fourth, and also tried a second type of litter. Our boxes are cleaned twice a day. I called the vet again, and am waiting to hear back from her, but she's on vacation. We're really at our wits' end, as last night he urinated on my father, who is his favorite person - while he was asleep in bed. He's a bit of a high strung, nervous personality type, but I just don't know what started this behavior, or what we should do. There were no drastic changes in the household, there don't SEEM to be territory issues with Magic... but maybe he thinks that there are? I don't think that there are any feral cats in our neighborhood that he could be seeing through the windows. I've read so many articles and I'm not sure where to go from here. Any input would be much appreciated.
