Please help me! Cat peeing everywhere

[hypancistrus]

Hi folks,

I have two cats, a 3 year old silver tabby male and a 2 year old calico female. We also have two dogs-- a 3 year old Golden Retriever male and a new (came home in late April) chihuahua puppy.

Since the addition of the puppy, our female cat Evie has begin urinating EVERYWHERE. She is peeing on our rugs, on the dog beds, on our laundry (in baskets and if we leave it on the basement floor to do wash). Last weekend I used a carpet cleaner to clean all the rugs with special enzyme based cat cleaners. I spent $100 on the cleaner and Feliway cat spray and a plug in. We sprayed the beds with the Feliway. Put in the plugin. It seemed to work for a couple days and then last night she again peed on the dog bed and it soaked into the rug. The whole place smells like pee again. On Tuesday, she crawled into the dryer (I had accidentally left it open when getting my shirt that morning) and pooped on the clean clothes in there.

I have two litter boxes. I have seen her use them-- she just also goes elsewhere.

We got Evie from a "rescue" that had 14 cats in one small house. When we got her, her fur was matted, she had tons of worms (you could see them in her butt) and she looked God-awful. She is very healthy now. The vet says she does not have a URI (as of this summer when this began).

I am at my wits end. We cannot let her outside here. We live in the city and I am sure she would be killed. I am not sure we'd be able to find a new home for a cat that is peeing everywhere, though I wonder if she'd be better off with no dogs? I am hoping and praying someone can help me so that Evie can stay with us. She is a very loving cat and I don't want to give up on her.

Please, please help!!

 

[white cat lover]

One question before we all go too far, you said URI (upper respiratory infection), did you mean UTI (urinary tract infection)?

I'd have her tested for a UTI first & foremost. However, since she is peeing & pooping, that makes me inclined to think it's a behavioral issue, since the addition of the new puppy.

Does the puppy bother Evie? Try to play with her, "buzz her", etc?

Can you create a "kitty only zone", perhaps with a baby gate in one room so Evie has a safe place from the puppy?

I have one cat who would attack the other cats, urinate inappropriately, and a variety of other "undesirable" behaviors. She happily lives in my 800-900 sq foot office with a cat tree & windows to watch the birdies outside. Some may call it cruel to "lock her up" in the office, but she clearly was NOT happy in the living situation with the other cats, she is deaf so cannot survive outdoors, and no sane person would adopt her. And she's happy as she is in the office.

 

[hypancistrus]

I'm sorry, yes, I meant UTI. We are going to have the vet test her AGAIN this month when she gets her yearly shots.

The puppy does play with her, very rough and tumble. For a while we were concerned and would remove him from her and place him in his crate, but then we saw her stalking him and pouncing on him in a playful manner, innitiating play.

Does she want to play or not??

I am so unsure of how to proceed. I am considering all sorts of things... crating her like a dog when we're not home... finding her a home with no dogs... taking her to my mother-in-laws farm... if it keeps happening... euthanasia?? How can I find her a home with someone when I know she pees on things? What will happen to her if the next person doesn't care to try and fix things?

 

[carolina]

Originally Posted by white cat lover

Can you create a "kitty only zone", perhaps with a baby gate in one room so Evie has a safe place from the puppy?

I am bumping this up, as you didn't respond.... Can you create a dog-free room? With food, water, litter box, maybe a window sill, etc... A cat would be able to jump over the baby-gate, but a dog/puppy wouldn't... Are you able to do that?
Also, have you tried Cat Attract Litter?

 

[white cat lover]

You may also want to consider a complete re-introduction to the household. Confine her to a room, thoroughly clean everything. Slowly allow her more free/access to the house as long as she keeps using the litterbox well. Sometimes cats need to be confined to be "re-trained" to use the litterbox.

Cat attract litter can be very helpful in situations like this.

As far as playing with the puppy or not, I have a goofy Bichon. She's now almost 3 years old. Anyways, she "buzzes" the cats. Once in awhile, Molly will get buzzed, play with the puppy, then go pee somewhere inappropriately. She eventually gets agitated with the dog's rough play, thus causing her to urinate where she shouldn't.

 

[hypancistrus]

We are going to try and confine her for now. We need to first build doors to the back room of the basement (only non-carpet room in the house! D'oh!) but then we can pen her up in there.

Do you think it would help to get one of those auto-litter boxes? I scoop once a day, and we haven't noticed any change in the behavior regarding how "dirty" the box is... she'll pee on his bed right after I've pulled it out of the dryer and cleaned the box, right in front of me.

As far as a dog free room, we have a "sun porch" that the cats have access to year round and the dogs do not. The litter boxes aren't in there, though. Should I put a litter box in that room?

 

[stephanietx]

Add another box and get a Feliway diffuser. Sounds like she's stressed since this coincided with the introduction of a new dog.

 

[Anne]

I commend you for trying so hard to help her and working on so many possible solutions. Sounds like this is indeed behavioral. You got some very good advice here, and confinement and re-introduction may help. However, as long as the basic situation doesn't change, I think there will always be the risk of her reverting back to house soiling. In other words, you have to work on changing the initial setting.

I don't know much about dogs - but is there a way you can work on calming the pup? In the meantime, simply because it can't hurt and may possibly help, do add more litter boxes. Make sure that the litter boxes have a way for the cat to see all around her, as well as a good escape route in case she gets company. She should never ever get "cornered" in her litter box. This should apply to all of the litter boxes in the house. Covered boxes, for example, are problematic in that respect, as the cats can get trapped inside them. This doesn't have to actually happen - the potential is enough to drive some cats away from the box.

 

[hypancistrus]

Originally Posted by Anne

...confinement and re-introduction may help. However, as long as the basic situation doesn't change, I think there will always be the risk of her reverting back to house soiling. In other words, you have to work on changing the initial setting.

We feel like if we can just hold out for a couple of years, we will be moving to my in-laws farm property in Virginia. It's over 100 acres, very rural and safe, and we could keep her as an indoor/outdoor cat there. I have a friend at work who had this issue with one of her cats and that was her solution, and it worked. The cat will reliably meow at the door and go outside to use the potty, but was hit and miss with an indoor box.

As it stands, there's no way to safely keep her outside here. There's too many dangers-- cars, thugs, rats... Lord knows what else.

I don't know much about dogs - but is there a way you can work on calming the pup?

If there was a magical way to calm this lunatic down, we would absolutely try it. He's a maniac. I wish I had half his energy.

In the meantime, simply because it can't hurt and may possibly help, do add more litter boxes. Make sure that the litter boxes have a way for the cat to see all around her, as well as a good escape route in case she gets company. She should never ever get "cornered" in her litter box. This should apply to all of the litter boxes in the house. Covered boxes, for example, are problematic in that respect, as the cats can get trapped inside them. This doesn't have to actually happen - the potential is enough to drive some cats away from the box.

The boxes we have are the ones with the holes in the lid. We got those because my girl's silly whippets were munching cat turds before we could scoop them-- these boxes foiled even the clever hounds! They don't seem to mind the boxes, but I get what you are saying. We can try and uncovered box on the porch, and I'll see if I can get that litter.

As far as the Feliway, I spent $80 a month ago on a diffuser AND the spray. It worked at first, but eventually she went back to peeing on the dog beds, AND got it all the way through one of them and deep into the rug. I'm STILL trying to get the smell out.

Incidentally, I did find this really great stuff for cleaning up cat pee. It's called StinkFree. It is the only thing I found that works. Prior to that I tried two types of normal "pet enzyme cleaners," and failed to remove the smell. The stuff is pricey at approximately $25 per gallon, but it's saved our rugs and several loads of laundry that she "christened."

 

[Anne]

Cleaning is crucial, and Feliway can be a huge help too, but unless you change the set-up to something that works for her, she's going to keep at it.

Do try an uncovered box, preferably more than one those, as well as cleaning the stains and using Feliway. Let us know how it goes! Good luck!

 

[hypancistrus]

I wanted to take a minute to update this thread.

We had been having terrible troubles with our cat, Evie, peeing on our chihuahua's beds. We thought this was stemming from jealousy or irritation as the chi was young and would play with the cat, sometimes too roughly, but the cat showed no real sign of defending herself.

I am pleased to say that Evie's issues have more or less cleared up... and the secret was...

Getting another puppy!

We started looking for a new pup in September and brought a basset hound pup home in October. Since then Patch, the chi, has been playing with the new puppy and has left both of the cats alone. Evie has only had a handful of accidents since then, and most have been after Patch has jumped her or chased her-- she just gets very irritates by his antics! If we keep Patch occupied with the pup, Evie keeps her pee in the litter box.

Win win situation all around!

 

[feralvr]

Wow what a story!! Cats sure have their own agenda, don't they. This story is close to home for me. About three years ago, I fostered a chihuahua who LOVED cats and wanted to play with them. One of my cats at that time,

Potsie

would get the brunt of the chihuahua's attention. Don't know why. But my cat started peeing on the dog bed, cat beds, and blankets, laundry, etc. After three weeks, the chihuahua got adopted and went to her new family. And then the peeing stopped!!! Thank the Lord! I was so concerned that Potsie wouldn't stop the behavior, but he did because the stress of being played with by this cute little dog (the dog was smaller than the cat) was over. PHEW!!

I am glad that getting another puppy took the interest off of your cat Evie and onto the new puppy!!!!! Congrats,

sounds like your troubles are over.

 

[oliveandorange]

i can't really help, but only commiserate.  Our cats were the most amazing super heroes ever until we got a dog.  Then our male cat began urinating everywhere.  I love my animals...all of them....they all get along and I will love them forever.  I wish it was common knowledge that dogs make cats act weird.  I wish I could speak animal better and tell them how much I love them so the cats would stop acting so strange.  I am embarrassed when we have guests and family as company.  I don't know if there is a way to stop this...I don't think so.

 

[oliveandorange]

To add...I think the best thing we can do is replace the carpet with hard wood floors...but we don't have enough money yet,