# Please HELP!



## Nandan (Dec 29, 2012)

Morning all! Please could you help me with a problem I'm having with my 15 month old cat, Lola? :001_wub:

SHE KEEPS WEEING BY THE FRONT DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad5:

There is a bit of a history to this so please bear with me. We moved into our new house in June 2013 (it's rented) it did have an in buit coir mat which Lola began using as a scratching post and then started to pee on daily. I washed it with Enzyme cleaner, I put rosemary down, I put lemon down, I tried that apple stuff, I had her bladder checked at the vets, I used that ridicuolously expensive and useless calms stuff, I moved the litter tray - NOTHING WORKED! I put food there... I eventually pulled up the coir mat and fed her there exclusively.

She stopped going! :thumbup1:

Cut to now... I moved her food to a different place as it was right by the front door and in the way and it's been 6 months since her last incident and I wanted to attempt actually putting carpet back down as at the moment we all walk in to the house on bare concrete (it doesn't look nice and in the winter it's cold!) So as you can guess... SHE'S DOING IT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad5:

So I've tried everything again, including putting an airwick spray there that goes off intermittently because she's scared of them (she peed on it!) Even the food doesn't work anymore. It's been a week of her doing it nightly (always at night when we're asleep) I need to nip this in the bud quickly!

The one thing I can't stop her doing is accessing the front door as it's a thoroughfare for the whole house.

I'm at a loss! I just don't know what to do next! HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many Thanks

Nicole


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## Jansheff (Jan 31, 2011)

My sister had this problem a few years ago with a Persian, so I can let you know what was causing the problem in her case and see if something similar might be happening in yours. 

It turned out that a neighbour's cat was weeing right outside the front door. Her Persian was an indoor cat, but could still smell it from the inside. It made him feel nervous in his own home and to put his own smell there, and to get the message to the other cat to keep out, he piddled on his side - which, like you was on a doormat. Then, of course, the neighbour's cat came back and piddled, until they had got a piddling battle going on between them. 

Once my sister had discovered this she was able to go out, give around the outside a good clean down to get rid of the smell and do the same on the inside. You need the stuff that will completely break down the enzymes like you used before or your cat will still be able to detect it and will keep piddling there. 

She discouraged the neighbour's cat from coming back by using a deterrent outside and temporarily taped tin foil over the mat, until her own cat had got out of the habit. Apparently cats don't like standing on tin foil, and they can't do the usual back foot scraping thing when it's there, which also puts them off. 

Hope that helps.


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## Nandan (Dec 29, 2012)

Hi Jan

It could very well be a cat outside as she keeps being attacked by the next doors cat, he's a Tom and roams out the front of the house a lot... she only ever does it at night though and I know he's locked in by my neighbour from 6pm.
I'll do everything I've been doing inside outside as well as doing it inside, I'll try anything! In fact I'll try variations on multiple peices of advice if it'll make her stop!

Thanks

Nicole


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## ForeverHome (Jan 14, 2014)

Aw Nicole. Lola is so pretty! 

I am not so sure, for this simple reason - if Lola never peed there while the mat was gone, and if she ate there perfectly happily, then I don't think it can be that. I'd want to investigate whether she's got an issue with the mat itself. Can you put the mat down somewhere else to check this out? Maybe in the bathroom or something, just to see if she widdles on it. If she does, she just doesn't like the mat.

You could also try leaving the mat there and putting her food next to it, see which impulse is stronger, the need to keep her food area clean or the urge to pee on the mat.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

There is something about the smell of coir mats that makes some cats want to scent-mark them. I had the same problem with a senior cat (RIP) I adopted from Rescue. He would not stop spraying on the front door mat. So I did away with the coir mat and replaced it with one of those machine washable door mats - John Lewis sells them. 

I bought two of these mats and and at times had to wash one every day. 
But it cut down dramatically on my cat's spraying. 

Maybe it was strange scents we humans brought into the house on our shoes and wiped onto the mat. With no mat there we had nothing to wipe our shoes on so the strange scents didn't get all concentrated on the mat. But, as you say it's not nice to have no door mat, so the washable door mats were the best compromise. 

Also, at night time I would put a small litter tray on the new style door mat. This was intended as a deterrent. Scent-marking with urine and toiletting are two different instincts for a cat, and I was fairly sure my cat would not use the litter tray to wee in, but would be deterred from spraying. So it turned out to be. :thumbup1:

Of course it is not very convenient to leave a litter tray on the door mat all day, but when you are off to bed for the night you could place one on the mat.


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

If you have an entire tom roaming my solution would include getting him neutered. In my first house I caught a couple of them in the house (different times) and each found itself at the vets PDQ for neutering.


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## LeaderOfThePack (Nov 11, 2013)

I am having a similar problem with my cat. He does wee in his litter tray but he always poos on the floor next to the tray instead of in it.

My advice is move the mat and put the tray next to the front door but not infront of it.

Maybe in the beginning you could put the tray where the mat was and then when she gets the hang of it, move the tray further away closer to a place that is more ideal


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## koekemakranka (Aug 2, 2010)

My guess is that you have a visiting tomcat who sprays the door. She is marking the door to say "stay away!". As suggested above, find out about neutering these little beggars.


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## Kotanushka (Oct 25, 2013)

OrientalSlave said:


> If you have an entire tom roaming my solution would include getting him neutered. In my first house I caught a couple of them in the house (different times) and each found itself at the vets PDQ for neutering.


Totally support the idea, but is it allowed? Could the owners of those toms cause you grief? :confused5:


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## ForeverHome (Jan 14, 2014)

koekemakranka said:


> My guess is that you have a visiting tomcat who sprays the door. She is marking the door to say "stay away!". As suggested above, find out about neutering these little beggars.


If that was true the cat would never feel comfortable eating there when the mat was taken away.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

I really do think it's the actual mat itself that's the problem. I have heard of quite a few cats who dislike coir mats and scent-mark them. Maybe the strong smelling plastic backing smells like cat urine to a cat.


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