# Relieves himself everywhere except the litter box



## puck1021 (Feb 28, 2015)

If you guys would like to read up on some background info here's a link to my previous post: https://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/update-of-the-last-few-years.523119/

Lucas, my SO and I's male cat has been peeing and pooing everywhere except in their litter boxes. He's particularly fond of relieving himself on my SO's bed. In mid-2019, my SO had to relocate to an apartment much closer to her campus and unfortunately, it's not as big as her previous apartment, but we still maintain 3 litter boxes: one in the bedroom, another in the living room, and the last one in the bathroom. At the old house, where we also maintained 3 boxes in the same places, he never had this problem; he would always use the litter box. There's nothing wrong with any of the boxes we spot clean all the time and we top off with new litter every few days and clean out the box every week. We're very surprised by his sudden change. We were thinking that it might just be the changes to his surroundings and to their home, but they've been living at the new house since May of 2019 and he only started behaving this way around October 2019.


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## Summercat (Oct 8, 2017)

Hi,
Can you think of any disruption that occurred around October? Are there cats outside that come near the house? That may result in scent marking if he is feeling insecure.
Also, has he been checked by the vet to rule out any physical causes?

That said, what I can think of is to clean each area with a good biological detergent or special pet enzymatic cleaner to fully remove any trace of scent.

Try if you do not, a diffuser such as Pet Remedy for calming or a spot on calmer such as Beaphar Spot On.
Zylkene is also good, I hear for calming, as a powder added to food.


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## puck1021 (Feb 28, 2015)

Could a pregnancy cause him to behave that way? October is right around the time we found out Crookshanks was pregnant.

The landlord does have a single stray that she feeds all the time, but that cat comes and goes and he hardly stays around the apartment complex.

We haven't ruled out any physical causes yet so we're definitely going to take him to the vet asap.


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## Summercat (Oct 8, 2017)

@puck1021 
I don't know about the pregnancy but suppose she may smell different to him if there are pregnancy hormones.
Is he the father and not neutered? Males and females as I understand, both may urinate and spray indoors, if not sterilized.
That may be the problem.
For defecating, it can be a way of marking territory as well. I am not sure but may occur more often again if the cats have not been sterilized.


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## puck1021 (Feb 28, 2015)

Summercat said:


> @puck1021
> I don't know about the pregnancy but suppose she may smell different to him if there are pregnancy hormones.
> Is he the father and not neutered? Males and females as I understand, both may urinate and spray indoors, if not sterilized.
> That may be the problem.
> For defecating, it can be a way of marking territory as well. I am not sure but may occur more often again if the cats have not been sterilized.


We had the mattress (as well as the apartment) professionally cleaned just this morning. Deep cleaned, steam cleaned, treated with detergent, etc., to erase any smells and odors from the mattress,but when we came home earlier this evening after the cleaning, we found that he had soiled the mattress again.

Yes, Luke is the father. Both he and Crookshanks are still intact, but we're considering having them both fixed since the kittens are a bit older now. Luke sooner rather than later.


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## Summercat (Oct 8, 2017)

@puck1021 
Hi,
Yes, I would get them sterilized sooner rather than later. It can take awhile for hormone levels to fall.
Also, I have heard spraying and marking territory can become habit if it goes on too long, and later sterilization may not help...
It is a pity but if related to them both being intact, which may or may not be, it might have been better to wait till after sterilization and the hormone drop a month or so later for the deep clean.
I had a female, foster cat who came from a hoarding situation. All non sterilized cats, a very large number in one flat and you can imagine the result....
In the shelter they did not seem to soil the room, the fifteen in the room I visited who were part of that particular situation. 
In my flat, she urinated on the couch and my bed a few times. I think it was a self comforting, scent mingling type of issue.
I did clean. I did get a mattress protector.
But for a period I did not allow access to the bedroom.
Once I did again a bit nervously, she did rest on the bed ok.
I also used calming sprays and diffusers quite extensively.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

@puck1021 - after having a deep clean of your home, including the mattresses it is advisable to immediately put washable waterproof protectors on the mattresses. These days they are cheap enough to buy and no longer rustle or make you sweat when you sleep on them, unlike the ones that were around years ago when I was a kid.

https://www.argos.co.uk/search/waterproof-mattress-protector/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/waterproof-mattress-protector/s?k=waterproof+mattress+protector

https://www.mattressprotectorsuk.co.uk/

I agree with Summercat, Lucas is definitely soiling the home to scent mark because he is not neutered. This is common behaviour from un-neutered cats of either gender and can involve the cta using their urine or faeces to scent mark. (if they use their faeces it is known as "middening:")

The urine of an entire male cat usually smells very pungent indeed, and I am surprised you have been able to live with the smell for so long, it is very unpleasant!

If Lucas is a pedigree cat and does the breeder know you were going to use him to breed when you adopted him?

I hope you are able to keep Lucas away from your female cat and her kittens, once the kittens are born. Or at least until the kittens are weaned. When are the kittens due?


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## puck1021 (Feb 28, 2015)

chillminx said:


> @puck1021 - after having a deep clean of your home, including the mattresses it is advisable to immediately put washable waterproof protectors on the mattresses. These days they are cheap enough to buy and no longer rustle or make you sweat when you sleep on them, like the ones that were around years ago when I was a kid.
> 
> https://www.argos.co.uk/search/waterproof-mattress-protector/
> 
> ...


Actually the smell of his urine isn't that strong at all. It's his change of behavior that really caught us off guard.

Unfortunately, where I'm from it's not common practice to have animals fixed before rehoming as a lot of people find the procedure very expensive. More often than not, the new owners always intend to breed the animal.

From the very beginning my SO and I really intended to have just a single litter from our cats. Now that the kittens have been born, Luke is on his way to getting fixed and once the kittens are weaned, we're going to be having Crookshanks fixed as well and later on when they're older the kittens too.


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## puck1021 (Feb 28, 2015)

I have a rather strange question: have any of guys kept or considered keeping the testicles of your cats after having them fixed? I know, it's very strange to ask.


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## BarneyBobCat (Feb 22, 2019)

:Wideyed

:Hilarious:Hilarious


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

puck1021 said:


> I have a rather strange question: have any of guys kept or considered keeping the testicles of your cats after having them fixed? I know, it's very strange to ask.


Not meaning to offend you, but is this really a serious question?  .

if you are serious, then "NO" it has never once crossed my mind in 50 years of having cat companions to consider keeping the removed testicles of my male cats. In fact the thought is quite horrible to me! :Yuck


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## puck1021 (Feb 28, 2015)

chillminx said:


> Not meaning to offend you, but is this really a serious question?  .
> 
> if you are serious, then "NO" it has never once crossed my mind in 50 years of having cat companions to consider keeping the removed testicles of my male cats. In fact the thought is quite horrible to me! :Yuck


It is serious apparently haha my SO being a scientist, was thinking of preserving the testicles :Facepalm "For the sake of science." is what she said :Hilarious


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

puck1021 said:


> It is serious apparently haha my SO being a scientist, was thinking of preserving the testicles :Facepalm "For the sake of science." is what she said :Hilarious


Well personally I think it's a revolting idea! :Yuck I can't imagine how "science" will benefit in any way whatsoever from your cat's testicles being pickled in preservatives. Bad enough that we need to remove testicles (and ovaries) of our pets and make them neuters in order for them to live with us as companion animals. But to pickle their removed parts seems psychologically unhealthy and creepy, (even for a scientist) as well as disrespectful to the cat.

I think I would be quite nervous of having a SO who wanted to do such a thing - I mean what is he/she going to want to preserve next, one wonders? For example if your beautiful cat were to die would your SO want the cat preserved by a taxidermist? if you yourself needed a body part removed ever in the future would your SO want that pickled too? :Wtf


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## Summercat (Oct 8, 2017)

I don't know exactly and maybe there are various ways vets do sterilization on male cats but my youngest was done, at home, as that is an option here and he still looks male.
The vet was using one room and my other cat was crying outside the door, so while seeing to him, I left the room and did not renter till the operation was complete, as I did not want to walk in mid op and disturb her.
From what I saw on the table after re entering, it appeared she removed small bits, somewhat like veins or tubes in appearance.
Jack, still has pouches that look male but he is castrated. There may be vets who remove the whole testicle but that is not always the case.
Maybe he would look bigger if the op was not done, I do not know, as most of my experience is with sterilized cats.
(And no, I never thought to keep anything from the op or request, though I am not a scientist, maybe they see things like that in a different way)


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## puck1021 (Feb 28, 2015)

So the date is set. We're getting Lucas neutered this weekend. So far he hasn't had any incidents since the one the other day. I was wondering with him neutered will he immediately stop marking and middening right away or will it take some time? I know that you guys have said that it will take around 8 weeks for his hormones to die down, so I'm presuming it would be after the 8 weeks?


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## puck1021 (Feb 28, 2015)

chillminx said:


> Well personally I think it's a revolting idea! :Yuck I can't imagine how "science" will benefit in any way whatsoever from your cat's testicles being pickled in preservatives. Bad enough that we need to remove testicles (and ovaries) of our pets and make them neuters in order for them to live with us as companion animals. But to pickle their removed parts seems psychologically unhealthy and creepy, (even for a scientist) as well as disrespectful to the cat.
> 
> I think I would be quite nervous of having a SO who wanted to do such a thing - I mean what is he/she going to want to preserve next, one wonders? For example if your beautiful cat were to die would your SO want the cat preserved by a taxidermist? if you yourself needed a body part removed ever in the future would your SO want that pickled too? :Wtf


I'm sure she doesn't mean anything by it :Hilarious she is a bit quirky at times and sometimes her ideas do seem a bit out there, but I think that's one of her endearing qualities :Hilarious:Hilarious and I think it's as @Summercat says, she might be seeing this differently, but who am I to know, I'm not a scientist myself hahaha


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

Summercat said:


> I don't know exactly and maybe there are various ways vets do sterilization on male cats but my youngest was done, at home, as that is an option here and he still looks male.
> The vet was using one room and my other cat was crying outside the door, so while seeing to him, I left the room and did not renter till the operation was complete, as I did not want to walk in mid op and disturb her.
> From what I saw on the table after re entering, it appeared she removed small bits, somewhat like veins or tubes in appearance.
> *Jack, still has pouches that look male but he is castrated. There may be vets who remove the whole testicle but that is not always the case.*
> ...


If the whole testicles are not removed the cat is not castrated and will continue to spray etc. The scrotum shrinks, often to nothing


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