someone please help!!

[faythe]

okay I need some advice from all of you fellow brilliant cat lovers!! Very recently I came to the realization that I am dealing with quite a few strays taking up at least part time residence in my detached garage. I'm a renter and I am just coming up on a year in my apartment. My landlord had mentioned before about all the cats always going to the bathroom in the one part of the garage which I don't have access to, but he had said that they were the people's who live below me. I am in a two family house.

Anyway I contacted all local no-kill shelters and was told they are all filled to maximum capacity so the one woman from one shelter was kind enough to work with me to do TRN and even pay the fee that I would be responsible for, lend me the trap, show me how to use it, etc. So far I was able to catch and release one adult male which is the one who I have mainly seen in my yard since the day I moved here and thought he belonged to my neighbor all along.

I only found out he was not my neighbors when last week a cat was in heat outside of my door for hours and finally I said something to the neighbors like you should really keep your cat inside while she is in heat if you are not going to get her fixed (my landlord has been battling with them for over a year about their cats and not taking proper care of them so I don't even bother anymore) and that's when I was told it was not their cat. Anyway when I caught the cat to bring it to the clinic I assumed I had the one who was in heat until I took one look at it and knew it was a male.

That is when I knew there was at least one more cat. So I knew I was going to be trying to trap more cats. Whatever this is all really unnecessary information really. I have yet to be able to catch the female, I have seen at least one more male in my yard that does not belong to my neighbors and im sure is a stray.

Okay now to my issue, Im sorry I ramble, I have two cats of my own if anyone remembers when I posted back when my female Mamma was sick and about Baby my male who is neurotic 

 They are both fine now by the way, except for my new "issue" although im not sure it is as dramatic as I am making it out to be.

So I trapped the male and I set him free and all was well until I noticed that Baby my male was acting very strange. Being very vocal. Whining, pacing, actually meowing which he never did, being downright annoying at times because I could not figure out what his problem was. But tonight I realized he kept trying to get out the door as I left and came back in which he never ever does either. Then I noticed him keep going down the stairs which is also odd behavior, so finally I followed him down the stairs and it hit me like a ton of bricks.

CAT PEE!!!! The bottom of my stairs stinks like it... my whole stairs are carpet along with at the bottom but its only at the right side and under the door kind of.. I just had a new door put on and im waiting for the contractor to come back and put the molding along the one side so right now its just stuffed with insulation and it stinks there at the bottom and when I opened the door it stinks outside along the bottom too.

So I guess my questions are first how do I really get rid of it?? And why is this happening?? Is it the stray male? Or is it my cat? My male is not even 2 years old yet and was fixed less than 6 months old and has never gone outside of the box. I have to assume this is spraying behavior which I know can be territorial, but my male did not even do this when I brought the female into the house. So how can I figure out who it is and how can I stop them from doing it???? Sorry so long!!

 

[bigperm20]

I'm sorry you are having to deal with neighbors who don't take care of their animals. I have a stray male who comes around and agitates my girls often.

As far as which cat is responsible, try a backlight to see if it's in or outside. Cat pee is incredibly iridescent in a black light. It may be both cats marking.

You can try Feliway to get the behavior to stop. That may help some but you really need to remove the offending stray. Since there are no no kill shelters in your area, I don't have any advice in that respect. Do try and trap the male to make sure he's fixed. If he's not neutering him might help.

As far as cat urine removal, there are many different sprays and cleaners specifically designed for that.

 

[bigperm20]

Oh, to get more responses you may want to try cutting the size of your post down. A lot of people tend to skip right over really long posts.

It's best to be short and concise with your question and back story. Just a thought...

 

[faythe]

Yeah I know thanks, I have always had a problem with condensing stories or explanations lol. Which probably explains how you misunderstood some of what I said .

I already trapped and fixed the male in my yard, that is when the problem started. I haven't used a black light but with my nose test I can smell it clearly very strong on both sides of the door. And as far as the feliway I do have them plugged in already in side of my apartment because my male cat is neurotic lol so they help calm him down. But he has never sprayed ever or had any litter box issues ever before.

 

[bigperm20]

I'm not sure what your asking then. Whether your cat has gone in tje house before is irrelevant. You said yourself that he's doing it now.

The cat outside is causing it. If you don't want to pay for new flooring in your apartment your going to have to clean thoroughly and remove the cat outside somehow.

 

[faythe]

No I said im not sure who is doing it, if it is the stray cat or my cat. I can smell the urine on both sides of the door but the stray cat could have sprayed right at the base of my door and now from me opening and closing my door and walking on it with my sneakers onto the carpet it smells inside too. Or my cat could have sprayed right at the bottom of the door, or they both could be doing it, I have no clue.

I need to find the exact source of the urine in order to clean it right? And figure out who is doing it in order to stop it. That was my question. And if anyone knew of the best way to clean up urine since its obviously on the concrete of my front steps, the wood paneling of my door, the rubber seal on the bottom of my door. I bought a blacklight today and ran it all over the inside of my door and on the floor and it did not show any stain. So that was obviously no help. It did not light up on the carpet or door frame whatsoever. Im not sure if it is because the stain is too old or if it is just not on the carpet and it doesn't work if it is not on a fabric surface.

And I also already tried to get the male to a shelter, as I previously stated al the no kill shelters are full and from what I was told by the spay clinic he is not adoptable because he was vicious when I took him to get surgery. They could not even get him out of the trap with out using one of those stupid pole things. So what am I supposed to do call animal control and have him put to sleep? I could never do that. There has to be something else I can do to get him to stop spraying by my door. He never did this before. Neither of them did this up until this past week and this cat has been in my yard since I moved here.

 

[furmonster mom]

Okay... what's the count?

1 male TNR

1 male still loose

1 female still loose

Is that right? 

I very much fear that your cats behavior is in correlation to the loose male/female.  He is spraying because he feels his territory is being threatened.  When there is no longer a threat, he should subside.

However, I fear you may have a bigger problem, in that you still have a female running around getting herself knocked up.  Soon enough, you'll have another batch of strays to deal with if she isn't caught and fixed.

Your cleanup project will take some serious measures. I recommend one of the many enzymatic urine cleaners and a handheld carpet cleaner (I believe Bissel & Dirt Devil have some). 

 

[faythe]

Yes this is what I am guessing, that there is still definitely 1 unspayed female and I caught a glimpse of a orange tabby that I have to assume was a tom. And yes the one male that I TNR. I know the female is my biggest concern and that is who I was hoping to trap when I caught the male. The last time I had the trap set up was Tuesday and I didn't catch anyone. I have not set it up again because the clinic only takes strays on Mon, Tues, and Wed. I was supposed to set it up today but I didn't because we are supposed to get a storm tonight and all day tomorrow and I did not want to risk the place being closed and her being stuck in the trap for 48 hours. So as long as I can shovel the snow out tomorrow I will set it up again tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday and go from there. Even if she does get pregnant if I can still catch her the clinic said they can abort the pregnancy as crappy as that sounds.

As for the spraying my problem is I don't know if it is the TNR male or my male as it is right at the base of my door and I can smell it as I walk up to my front door from the outside and I can smell it from the inside. It is possible it could be both like I stated in the last post. I have not actually seen either of them spraying I only noticed the smell the night before last. My cat just keeps going crazy sniffing it. Also like I said I bought the black like and did not see anything light up so I am truly confused,

it would also be nearly impossible to shampoo that carpet down there. its right at the foot of my staircase and probably about 1 1/2 ft sq. I can barely vacuum it. Its such a PITA!!!! This whole apartment set up is a PITA im pretty sure its an attic conversion. BLAHHH

 

[bigperm20]

What kind of backlight did you buy? One of tje long fluorescent kind hopefully. If it's just a "light bulb shape" it may not work.

Assuming you bought the long type of blacklight: Have you shined the light IN THE DARK over the suspected area? Over both areas, inside and out?

Cat urine will glow 100% of the time but it must be dark. I suggested this so you could see which cat was responsible and to help you in cleaning it.

You need an enzymatic type of cleaner for carpet. There are many different ones on the market. Check out reviews for them on Amazon if your not sure. For the sidewalk, bleach may work. A shampoo machine won't work. Elbow grease is your friend.