Multi-cat home...multi cats peeing around the home

[katsunami]

I have 22 cats in my house (thread posted explaining my situation in Cat SOS), 11 under 5 years old (all older than 3 years), and some of the young ones pee regularly around the house, including right next to (and even in) food bowls. 

I've done research online and the suggestions I've run across are thorough cleaning w/ enzyme cleaners, vinegar, soda water...putting up aluminum foil (b/c the cats hate the sound of it), putting up smells they hate (mentholatum and that orange oil spray were recommended), putting down that plastic floor runner w/ the spike side up...I even bought a couple of those really spikey mats (which don't deter them at all).  I've also put up all this stuff on the walls where they've scratched into the dry wall to try to keep them away...which has had limited success. 

But so far NOTHING has stopped them from peeing, and I'm beside myself.  Just tonight (new years eve) I went to pick up some food bowls and someone had peed in and under the bowl...so I spend my new years eve midnight cleaning up cat pee...this latest even just adds to my despair--I had all my tricks going, and still they peed...in food bowls!  I am at a complete loss.

I live in a rental so, I live in terror of ever having to call the landlord for a plumbing or electrical repair.

I have about 10 litter boxes scattered around my apartment that I clean 2x/day. Rarely do they ever pee/poop directly outside any of the boxes...instead the pee is on doors and walls around the house.  I have so much aluminum foil around the house, covered in mentholatum, I look like one of those alien conspiracy theorists!! 

All cats are fixed except 1 male.  6 of my cats are senior cats (12 to 19 years), 1 is 6 years, 4 are 5 years, and the rest are 3 & 4 years old.  None have any medical conditions that I'm aware of.

What have any of you found that works?? 

 

[red top rescue]

First, get the whole male fixed ASAP.  That will tone down the odor if nothing else.  As for the others, 22 cats in one space are bound to mark territory.  If there is any way you can separate them into groups that get along (i.e. in my rescue I have one group of five in the rescue area (the space that's supposed to be the master bedroom and bath in a normal home), I have a group of four that lives mostly in my bedroom -- that includes the two senior cats and the two young ones that used to be timid and that are bonded with each other -- and each of those rooms has three litter boxes.  There is no spraying and no peeing outside the box in those rooms.  The rest of the house is shared by the group, and yes, there is some marking, not pooping outside boxes, but spraying certain areas.  Mostly it's girls marking, as they are more territorial.  It has now settled down in the laundry room as three of them have pretty much claimed that space for sleeping.  NO ONE is allowed in my bathroom because everyone wants to spray in there.  Like you, I have too many cats for the space and in summer when they can go out, there is a lot less marking in the house (I have an acre with a 6-foot and higher fence all around).

Just know it is a normal cat thing, keep cleaning, try to find homes for some of the cats, and know they are making statements.  I had to laugh at the peeing in the food bowl because I do have one female who does that occasionally, and it reminds me of a professor in college who told the story of his two daughters.  One daughter peed in the other daughter's cereal bowl.  When asked why she did that, the little girl said, "I thought it was MY cereal bowl."  Logical, yes?  That's how cats think.

I must admit that one night I was personally sprayed by not one but TWO cats at different times, both possessive girls.  I threw that sweater in the washing machine and put on a change of shirt -- obviously someone had marked the sweater and those two were just staking their claim too.

Learn to laugh at your situation, it will help.  I too spent a lot of New Year's eve scrubbing litter boxes.  Cat rescue isn't a choice, it's a calling, so we do what we have to do.

 

[nansiludie]

Have you tried a feliway diffuser? Its a bit pricey but cheaper on amazon and it helps calm them and I've found reduces spraying.

 

[katsunami]

yeah, I've tried it.  I may even have a couple of refills stashed somewhere.  I can't really tell if it helps...I don't really notice much change for the month or so that the diffuser is going.  Maybe the cats are affected by it, but what I really need is some kind of Felliway for me!!

 

[katsunami]

I just wrote on another post that it's really mostly when I get ahead of myself...when I look ahead and see no end in sight to all these cats that their behavior and even their presence causes me the most distress.  Those times when I can just stay in the present moment and deal w/ what is--and ACCEPT what is, then I can usually stay more positive and I can find the humor (like all the aluminum foil around the house looking more like I'm hiding from aliens than that I'm trying to keep cats from peeing there!!). 

I am continually working on getting Obama neutered.  He chatters at me almost every night while I'm feeding them and he gets as close as he dares and he looks me in the eyes and chats away.  Once in a while he'll almost rub himself on my legs, and even more rarely, I can almost pet him.  But he will not let me grab him and get him into a carrier.  I have NOT given up!!  I figured that if I get his hormones out of the house it can only help.

But your explanation about the girls is informative!  I do have a couple of girls who spray.  And tonight just before bed I found one of my cats peeing in one of the plants I bring in every winter (I keep them outdoors until I absolutely have to bring them in...just to protect them as long as possible from the cats!  Once they come in, they're caged in chicken wire, but this girl found a way to sneak in!  I still wouldn't like it, but I wouldn't be as distressed about it if I wasn't living in a rental.  Getting Obama neutered and getting a house of my own (which I wasn't really interested so much in doing at this point in my life (in my 60s), but now I sorta feel like I have to w/ so many cats who are so destructive. 

I too have a "geriatric ward" in my bedroom w/ 5 cats (there were 6 but one 17 y-o recently had a bad stroke and I had to put her to sleep.  And then the other 17 share the rest of the townhouse, where they can spread out between my small living room and my upstairs spare bedroom.  But that's about all the space I have to give them.  I've spread out their feeding stations around the house as well.

So it's one day at a time doing the best we can, right?! 

Thanks for the helpful insights!  At least these forums remind us we're not alone...and that's half the battle!