My cat peed on me!!!/ My living room is covered in plastic

[crittergirl]

Is your cat fixed? If not, I would get an appointment!

 

[lamiatron]

wow. i'm so sorry that you're going through this with your kitty. how old is he and how long has he been spraying for?

like @crittergirl  girl said, if your little guy is not fixed, you might want to do that as soon as possible. if money is an issue, try to get in touch with a local shelter or human society, and explain to them the issues you're having with your cat, and they maybe able to help you get your cat fixed for really cheap.

somethings to try in the mean time:

1) if you have not taken kitty to the vet in a long time, i would suggest taking him in to rule out any medical issues that could be causing him to spray around your living room

2) invest in a good enzyme cleaner to remove and thoroughly clean any surface where kitty has sprayed, so that he does not spray there again

3) invest in some cat calming products. the #1 recommended product that i've seen on this site is the feliway diffuser. you can also buy calming sprays and oils and treats (sold at petsmart. check out their website and you'll see) . If your cat is stressed out by the presence of other cats, then these calming treats could help support a balanced behavior so he doesn't freak out and spray

4) for the time being try to keep the curtains closed so kitty doesn't see outside cats that are stressing him out.

 

[heavenskitty]

Call Cat Alliance in your area. They are going to neuter my cat microchip, shots all for free.

Believe me I got a spray bottle and filled up with hot water bakibg soda and Downey softner...I spray it all over the place but not before I spray some vinagre..cats hate vinagre..its working for me..good luck

 

[jordand3]

Hi Sara,

I've been dealing with the same problem with my cat Jasper for the past few months, and I know how absolutely frustrating and demoralizing it can be. We still don't know exactly what caused it to start happening all of a sudden, but our best guess is that he was also stressed from outdoor cats. I understand that sense of paranoia that you describe because you care about having a nice home and you love you cat. I lost 20 lbs in about a month and a half from the stress of dealing with this. I've chronicled all of the ups and downs here in hopes that it will help others:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/265577/working-with-a-spraying-kitty-am-i-doing-everything-right/60

In short, our cat went from spraying nearly every day in different spots to twice in the past 100 days or so. The #1 thing we did was get in touch with a cat behaviorist. Sounds a bit extreme, but it made all the difference in helping us develop a plan for what to do (I describe this in the thread). We got the referral from our vet. I would encourage you to ask your vet about this. Also, if you're reading the thread I attached and have any questions, please feel free to PM me!

 

[sara457]

Thanks Jordand3, I actually followed your thread, I found it very interesting indeed! I remembered that you had kept him in a separate room for a while but eventually integrated him back into the house. You were very lucky to have found a pet behaviourist, and I don't think it's extreme in the slightest! After I read your thread I looked online to see if there were any near me, and so far I've had no luck.

I'll go back and read your thread to see what your pet behaviourist said, as I can't remember all the details. I'm really glad you managed to get the situation under control, and that obviously Jasper is happier. It does give me hope.

Lamiatron he went to the vet last June, so not super long ago. He had a urinary blockage two years ago, but since then he only eats canned foot and I'm meticulous about keeping the litter clean and monitoring that he pees a normal flow. He's fixed. I've used a bottle and a half of Nature's Miracle (enzyme cleaner) and completely saturated all of my living room furniture. The curtains get doused with it too before putting it in the wash. He still sprays the plastic covered furniture. He also takes a natural calming pill every day, it's called Zylkene and it's milk based. I also give him lot's of love and attention, and have daily play time with him. I'm loathe to try Feliway as I've read a lot of negative reviews on it, and it's not cheap at all.

I adore Gayden, and I wish there was an easy answer.

 

[jordand3]

Yeah, that's the problem with this stuff. There doesn't seem to be any easy answers. The cost of Feliway isn't cheap (although you can get it on Amazon for MUCH cheaper than in the store), but I figure that it has saved me money in other costs (cleaners; new furniture, etc.) and not to mention my sanity. We have four difusers going 24/7 (our bedroom, living room, and two in the basement - where most of the spraying was happening) and I spray areas where we want him to facially mark twice each day

The other main changes we've made are:

- Jasper now takes a fluoxetine (Prozac) pill four times per week

- We dedicate time (10-15 mins) every morning and evening to play with him and give him attention

- He gets cat grass for a few minutes every day (along with the pill on the days when he gets a pill)

- We added a couple extra litter boxes

- Every Saturday morning, I spray a solution around my house and yard (especially in areas where I see outside cats travel). I make it by mixing 20 drops of orange oil, 20 drops of lemon oil, 20 drops of eucalyptus oil with water in a full spray bottle. I found the recipe online and bought the oils at Whole Foods. It seems to be working since I see fewer cats around. We'll see what it looks like this Spring!

 

[sara457]

Thanks so much sharing what has worked for you! I suspect I will have to go down the medication route with Gayden. But perhaps to start with I will give the Feliway a try. It obviously works for some people, maybe I'll be one of the lucky people. I will get some cat grass too. I'd really like to try the eucalyptus solution too. I have some (I make my own cleaners) and lemon oil. No orange though. Only thing is that it's about -10 C every day. I wonder if the smell would remain despite being frozen?

Thanks again for being so kind to share! I'll keep you all updated

 

[jordand3]

Sara,

I live in the Detroit area, so it's frozen here as well. I just put the sprayer on "jet" instead of "mist" and hit all of vertical surfaces where cats walk by (on a tree, the corners of garage, a specific area of fence, along windows, etc.). I still spray it every week even in the cold and I can smell it. I also keep the oils in my unheated, unattached garage and they're never frozen.

 

[sara457]

Oh that's great to hear! I'm going to give it a try then, I keep my oils in the fridge. I hadn't thought of the fact that oils freeze at different temps than water, so that makes sense. I'll make do with the lemon and eucalyptus for now. It will be very interesting to see how the neighbourhood cats react!

Thanks so much!

 

[sara457]

Well, I removed the plastic off all our furniture. It's pretty hard to vacuum when there are garbage bags covering the bottom of furniture down to the floor. Plus it looked gawd awful! I bought some cat grass, which both cats enjoy. I also planted  some cat grass seeds in a pot of soil, so they will have an ongoing supply.

I have resigned myself to trying Feliway. Looking at Amazon reviews, it looks like just a little more than half of the people using it are satisfied. So, a 60% chance of it working is better than the 0% right now, as I don't have it! I'll get two plug ins and the spray

Question! For the spray - 1. What is the difference between the "Comfort Zone" brand and the "Feliway" brand, or are the same? 2. Do I spray it over all the things he sprays? I.e - the entire bottom half of our couch and recliner chair, and the curtains?

I also took your advice jordand3 and made the special spray (minus orange oil for now) and completely saturated the front of my house, and most of the back deck area - the fence mostly. I actually have a garden sprayer so I will use that next time as my hand was getting sore constantly spraying from the bottle! I used 3/4 a bottle.

The other reason I had to take the garbage bags off the furniture, is that Gayden was often licking them! He is obviously attracted to some chemical that is in the plastic. He likes to lick photo paper as well.

I have taken him off the calming pill. It was $30 a month, and not working to stop the spraying.

I am trying to play with him more. I don't think 10-15 minutes a day was enough. He needs at least a half an hour in the evening in order to be a bit more calm and stop pacing. When he starts pacing, spraying will follow soon there after.

Thanks again for all the tips! I will keep you posted

 

[sara457]

Well, I spent almost an hour playing with Gayden last night. He's 6, but shows no signs of slowing down. He can just keep going. At one point he was panting so I told him we needed a break lol. But he was far from being done. I locked our other kitty in the basement and brought Gayden upstairs so we play without being distracted. Gayden doesn't really like to play with me when Calvin is around, at least not for long. Plus, Calvin likes to play too! Very tricky situation.

After our extended play session, he still seemed easily startled, but was lying on his back looking content. I took him off his calming pills, and now think that was a mistake. I think they do calm him a bit, they just don't stop him spraying!

So after all that we went back downstairs and I looked out the front door window. Sure enough, there was a cat sitting there. Shortly after, Gayden was backing up to all our furniture. So I had to cover it all with garbage bags and this morning it's evident he's peed on them. Less clean up at least.

So if the solution of essential oils works, it's only for a very short time. Or, it didn't work because I didn't add the orange oil in.

I ordered the Feliway, but in the mean time there doesn't seem to be a solution to this problem. So frustrating

 

[jordand3]

Sorry to hear about the continuing problem. I know how frustrating it can be!

It's a bummer that the oils didn't work. It can be difficult sometimes to determine what exactly is creating the change when you're trying so many different things. Another thing I've done ( on the advice of my vet ), is to scare the living crap out of any cat that I see near my house. If I see a cat in my yard, I will literally run out yelling and chase the cat off. I also have a Watergun that I've used. I just keep it filled and ready at my front door. Once, when I was coming home I saw a big old tomcat just sitting on my porch. I acted friendly as I approached him and then started yelling and chasing him. Obviously, I don't condone abusing animals, but I want the cats in my neighborhood to associate my house with a negative reaction. That is exactly what my vet said to do.

You mentioned taking your cat off of it's calming pills because they weren't working. One thing the cat behaviorist advised me to do is not to think of each intervention as something that will turn the spraying on or off. Instead, she said that cats basically spray in these situations when they've reached a tipping point in terms of stress. In other words, the calming pills might help a little, playing might help a little, and so on. You just want to decrease the overall amount of stress through a bunch of different things. That's part of what makes it so frustrating.

In terms of the feliway, the spray is meant to mimic pheromones left by a cat when it rubs its face against an object. You basically want to encourage the cat to mark its territory by rubbing its face rather than spraying. The feliway is meant to trigger this behavior. Comfort zone is just the name that is used to market feliway in the United States. They are the same identical product. When thinking of areas to spray, just consider where your cat spends most of its time. In those rooms, Mark corners where the cats could rub its face. For example, in my house, the cat spend a lot of time in the living room and our bedroom, so In the living room, I spray the corners of our couches and chairs. In the bedroom, I spray the corners of our dresser and our bed. I spray each area once in the morning and once in the evening. I spray each area about 8 inches off of the floor, which is the height where my cat would rub its head. Put the diffusers in the room where the cat spends most of its time.
And a couple of quick tips from the behaviorist: don't spray feliway on an area that you have just cleaned with a stain remover. The reaction between the two chemicals makes the feliway ineffective. Also, don't spray it anywhere near his litter box.

A couple other things that I've done:
- instead of garbage bags, I've used aluminum foil in areas where he sprayed in the past. It's easy to clean, and I curl up the bottom of the foil so that it doesn't drip on the floor.
- when you play with the cat, play with him near the areas where he sprays. A cat won't spray in areas that he associates with other things, like playing, eating, etc. you may actually want to put a food dish near an area where he is consistently spring.

Finally, just stay strong. You'll figure out a solution of eventually. I can tell you that there were times when I came very close to wanting to give our cat away because of these behaviors. It caused a significant strain on my family. We are not entirely out of the weeds yet, but things have improved dramatically. I'm sure they will for you too!

 

[sara457]

Thank you so much for the kind words of support jordand3. You have done so much to help your cat, and your persistence and patience have paid off. It's really reassuring to read about the various things you have done. You are absolutely right, no one thing can fix it (as great as that would be)...it's changing many things that will fix it and I'll have to force myself to remember that and not to give up!

Great idea about scaring the stray cat. We have a small super soaker water gun, so I will keep it ready at all times. I too wouldn't want to hurt the animal, but he needs to find a new spot to hang out in for sure. I actually wanted to build a scare crow or some kind of noise maker, but my boyfriend says we can't have anything unsightly due to condo rules.

I'm not 100% sure the oils aren't working. I filled up a garden sprayer the other day with the water and oil solution (including the orange oil). I completely saturated the whole front path of my house and the door and window, then went out back and saturated the entire fence and walk way.

I don't actually think he's sprayed in a couple of days. He's phantom spraying...which I find really weird. My other cat has been phantom spraying him since we got him (5 years!) but not once has ever sprayed anything.

I think the stray cat comes mostly in the evenings, and that might be why Gayden is most anxious in the evenings. He paces all around the windows, I think anxiously looking/waiting for the cat. We now keep the front door to the lobby closed at night. This way our cats can't see the stray cat if he comes to our door.

I also ordered the Feliway plug in, and the spray. I hope that 1 diffuser is enough. He spends most of his time in the living room, and it's not a huge room (15X11 Feet). I also put him back on the calming pills. After a day and bit not being on them I noticed he was vocalizing a bit more.

I had initially put aluminum foil on the furniture and curtains. The bags work well too, except that he tries to play with them and lick them! lol. So yeah, I guess the foil will be best moving forward...plus it's much less ugly!!!

Oh and I'm growing cat grass, plus I bought them two small containers of it. So they enjoy that too.

I find playing with them quite challenging though! I have an entire drawer full of toys (mice, balls, several wand toys, cat dancer, etc.) and they seem bored of it all. I bought a food puzzle toy which they like...but I'd love it if they were more interested in toys rather than food all the time!

 

[sara457]

*** UPDATE ***

Hi everyone!

Well, things have been going MUCH better lately. I have to give a lot of the credit to Feliway! Honestly, Gayden seems much more relaxed since we plugged it in 3 weeks ago. During this time I have only noticed a few tiny spots on the recliner chair. He hasn't sprayed the curtains in 3 weeks! I also finally got the Feliway spray, but I hate using it because I have to spray so many places through out the living room, and at $30 a bottle (yes we get seriously ripped off in Canada!) I can't see that lasting very long at all! Such a tiny bottle! But anyway, I've still used it and and he hasn't sprayed since I used it.

I also went back to giving him the calming pill. Like Jordand3 said, it's the combination of many things that contribute to a cats well being. So I think it does help, even if just in a small way.

I also bought a couple of new wand toys which he seems to LOVE. Both cats get so tired of their toys, so it's challenging to mix it up. I have to play different games regularly or else they won't engage.

Anyway, just wanted to send out HUGE thanks to all of you who offered kind words of support and advice. It really helped prevent me from losing my mind over it!

 

[jordand3]

Congrats! It's exciting to hear this good news

 

[therese]

I am not sure how the currency exchange works, from CN to the US, but if you go to  Amazon.com  you can usually find the Feliway Spray for $15    

I know its about $26-30 a bottle locally in the stores here in Florida, too, if you get it over the counter.  

You can always try  Drs. Foster and Smith  ( www.drsfosterandsmith.com )   They have sales often and once you buy a box or two, be it spray or plug ins, there is a $5 off coupon, that will be honored at Drs. Foster and Smith.  I usually save up a few coupons, mail them into Foster and Smith and they set up a credit account...for example, I have a $15 credit there now.  Then, if I can, I wait for a sale and buy my Feliway at that time.  Its still not cheap, but its about half what you would pay in the local stores. 

Not sure about the merchants on Amazon honoring the coupon, but I have gottten it much cheaper on the internet.  

Spraying that stuff all over the pee carpet or pee couch, in conjuction especially with the plug ins, has changed our lives.  At times, my neutered boy 'marks' on area rug by the back of the house, where, just past the glass slider, the neighborhood cats do their thing at night, during 'queening season,' late winter and early spring.  This feliway spray has helped because it literally stopps him from peeing in that spot, but indeed, it is not cheap.

I have also found that the Natures Miracle FOR CATS, eliminates the smell in about two hours....I usually do that first, let it dry and then wait a few hours, then spray the rugs with feliway at night.  We have had very good luck because they defintiely don't pee if that area is sprayed with the feliway.

 

[sara457]

I ordered the products from Amazon.ca because after shipping it wasn't that much more expensive than if I bought if from Amazon.com. Unfortunately, the US amazon won't ship the feliway spray to Canada So I had no choice but to pay the inflated price.

I checked out the link above for Drs Foster and sadly this is what it says for delivery: "Canada Rates & Restrictions:
Flat rate fee ($19.99 US) plus 22% International Surcharge based on merchandise value apply."

I have a couple of friends in the US so I might see if they will ship it to me. I've done that before and it does save a lot of money!

I can't believe I waited so long to try Feliway, just because a few people said it was crap! I'm so happy it works!!!

 

[therese]

I am so sorry that you have to pay those Canadian  rates......I agree with you, though, that I can't believe it took so long for ME to try it either.

I think its because the market is flooded with products for humans AND pets that don't work in the end we have become jaded and distrustful.....and this stuff works so well, its hard to believe.  

However, my vet said that there are a few cats here and there, that aren't affected by it, but its like 5% of all cats so maybe those peple who said it didn't work, were in that minority of cats.  

I think that Feliway actually said that in their ads, and website that it works on 95% of cats..   But I was DESPERATE on  the occasions when I started using the plug ins and later the spray ( on the rugs)  so I had come to the end of my rope and was ready to try or buy anything.  I rent my house, so having the landlord come into a pee-smell was NOT an option.  I would never give up my cats but I was really getting freaked out.

On my one cat, a few years ago when I started the feliway plug ins, n the end,  it turned out that she had problems with her ANAL glands and the regular vet I was using treated her for a urinary tract infection, her urine became clear and she was still peeing.  It took the cat doctor I went to after the first doctor,  to discover the anal glands that needed to be expressed. ( who knew they had anal glands?  I did not and apparently my original vet didn't either .

                                        But the plug ins calmed her down, even after her anal glands were fine again, and no peeing,  so I kept using them for a while.  

Then I stopped using the Feliway for about three months..... and we started doing  some re-decorating in a room in the house, new furniture, strange smells, etc. and workmen in and out.  I kept her in a small out of the way bathroom while the men were there delivering furniture, painting, etc. but I think that whole month, new rug smells,etc. and all the commotion, she started peeing again outside the box.  I bought Feliway again, and ALL WAS CALM and no peeing anymore.

After this, I continued to use the plug ins regularly.  All was well for a few years, then my other cat, a neutered male,  started peeing suddenly, more like MARKING by the glass door wall that overlooks the backyard.  Turns out there were ferals mating out there and peeing at night in the backyard.    This time, I went back to the Feliway website and they said, in this type of MARKING situation,  to SPRAY the entire area rugs, both of them, with the spray every 12 hours and keep it up for 30 days ( yeah, expensive, right ? )  I did this and in 24 hours, he stopped peeing !  I thought, this can't work this fast, well, it did......I kept up the every 12 hours spraying the rugs for about 10 days and then stopped, ( still use the plug ins though ) and its been a month and no pee on those rugs. 

 

[sara457]

Wow, what a great success story! I can't imagine the frustration of having to worry about urine on rugs all the time. It was bad enough having to take my curtains down every day to put in the wash, and then having to saturate half our furniture with Nature's Miracle. Not fun.

At least the refills for Feliway are pretty affordable, in that you can buy them in bulk at Amazon. If they don't ship to Canada then I'll get a friend to send them, because the savings in buying 12 at a time instead of 1, is huge.

 

[therese]

I didn't know that, about buying it in bulk, I will check that out on amazon.  You do realize that we all need to buy stock in that company and also in the Natures Miracle companies?