Cat peeing in the house getting worse...

[chloe92us]

Well, we have determined it is our new rescue cat peeing in the house. We caught him yesterday. I am truly at a loss for what to do.

Unfortunately, he has selected the sofa as his preferred spot. The cushions cannot be washed, so the smell is still there although we wash the cushion covers after each time and keep a blanket on the sofa. I don't know what to do.

Any advice?

I should add that he also pees in his box, but in 2 weeks, he has peed on the sofa 4 times, and twice on the bed where he hangs out! I'm taking him to the vet this week to rule out any infection, but I think at this point he is just going back to the same spot b/c he still smells the pee. Should I get rid of the sofa? It was $3000!

[Daisy's Mom]

Ouch! I would worry if you get a new sofa, it will start over again. (Maybe leather would be less appealing, though?) Don't know what to recommend but I will say you are an angel to keep this cat in your house after this. I don't think there is a worse smell in the world than cat pee!

I hope the vet has a solution for the problem! Good luck!

[Ste]

The most important thing is to get him to a vet asap.

Do you have more than one cat? If so, and as he is new, did you give him his own litter tray or is sharing one with your existing cats? Has he been stalked at the tray by either another cat or a dog? The tray should ideally be somewhere quiet where dogs simply cannot gain access to.

I wouldn't get rid of the sofa, but I would absolutely soak the area he's using with a good Enzyme cleaner, enough so that it soaks deeper into the fabric than his pee did As it is quite likely a habit at this stage you'll also need to ban him from the room for quite a while until he is back to using his tray reliably or at least make it so that he can't settle on the sofa, even a couple of sealed empty cardboard boxes (I say sealed so that he can't get into them and pee in them)

I'm going through the exact same thing at the moment. Our Buffy cat is peeing everytime I turn my back on him the last two weeks

[chloe92us]

Stephen, We have two cats, but we keep 3 litter boxes throughout the house, all in locations where the dogs cannot get to. We've only had Benson (the peeing cat) for a little over a month, but this really just started in the last 2 weeks after we brought another dog home. I don't know if it has to do with the new dog, or if this was the reason he was given to the shelter (I know we are *least* his 3rd home) in the first place. I feel terrible keeping him isolated b/c he is such a people cat! He loves to be wherever we are. He and the other animals get along great.

I was reading online where some cats make a sudden change in selection of their preferred potty spot, whether it's an area or a surface type. He seems to prefer soft places (sofa & bed) so it suggested for that I use a super-fine scoopable litter and put area rugs around the litter box to see if he will use it more regularly.

[leesanlucie]

Hi there
My cat did this on beds :O.....took him to vet and he had crystals in his urine.
We got him treated with meds and special food.The crystals continued and took about a yr for his bladder to be normal again and we eventually weaned him from his food and he was fine.
I would get the cat to a vet incase of a medical problem....then if its behavioural seek help from a behaviourist. Its a frustrating thing.

Maybe in the meantime make sure there are plently litter trays about and dont allow the cat unsupervised when in the same room as the sofa.
We had to ensure all bedroom doors were closed....it became habit to close them after a while.
Hope u get this sorted soon. I know how frustrating it can be.

[Karlin]

A medical problem or high level of anxiety is almost always the reason for this type of behaviour (either could be present in a new rescue cat). But consider that cats do not always like company and can find both a new house and the resident cats plus dogs very stressful. One way cats relieve stress is by peeing and marking. It can take time -- usually does -- for anxiety to subside.

I would not allow any new cat to have the run of the house to start with (I confine new cats or foster cats to a single room as they feel safer, generally, and you can manage initial toiletting etc), and you definitely now need to keep that room completely off bounds. The best way to manage toilet problems is to confine the cat to a more restricted area -- exactly as with a dog -- and give him his own, clean, new litter box. He may dislike your litter or the smell of the existing cats on the old boxes.

I would confine to a single room for the next week or two, perhaps longer. If you are sure he is using the liter box, expand his territory. If he isn't, it may be necessary to confine to even a smaller area (bathroom or even, a large crate with litter box).

If males have toilet problems it is always urgent to get them to a vet because males get blockages more commonly than females and along with being painful they can be fatal within hours or days of being diagnosed.

This is one of the best websites out there for advice on cats:

http://www.messybeast.com/catarchive.htm

See:

http://www.messybeast.com/toileting-problem.htm

PS I have one big male with on and off peeing problems. Fortunately he mostly just goes on the bathroom floor. Finding him a large storage box as a litter box has definitely helped -- normal boxes were too hard for him to get in and out of with only three legs so I am guessing he often peed outside them for that reason).

Also consider getting some Feliway plug-ins and the spray for around your sofa -- this hormone spray can make a huge difference. It will help relax existing cats and newcomers.

[JeanKC]

It has been my experience with both male and female cats, altered and not, that once they start peeing on a certain item or in a certain place, they will NEVER reliably quit doing it on that certain item or certain place.