# Advice desperately needed



## KittyKatLuver (Jun 5, 2008)

Hi,

I really need some advice about my cat.
He is about 2 years old and is a feral that we took in when he was a baby. We got him in Spain and he also lived in France for about 8 months with my family until he could come to England on the pet passport.
We have always had a problem with him weeing in strange places, in Spain it was the sofa, in France my Mum got so fed up with him weeing on washing / bed / carpet that she couldnt wait to get rid of him, and now in England he has a spot on the carpet and ALWAYS on the bed.
This is happening at least once a week now. we have tried all the home remedies like orange peel on the bed and tea tree oil but nothing seems to stop him.
He is neutered although he still humps my other cat all the time, as well as biting anyone that goes near him.
All the minor things i can handle - but i cant keep having the duvet and mattress cleaned every week. i really am at the end of my tether.
I've had some long talks with my partner and my mum about this and have come to realise that i cant keep putting up with this every week for the rest of him life.
I assume that he is the way that he is because he is Feral and they seem to be wired differently even if brought up by people from an early age.
If anybody can think of anything that could help PLEASE let me know.
I'm going to see a vet on saturday to discuss my options, at the moment i am wondering if it would be best to rehome him to somewhere like a farm where he can live outdoors with someone to put food down for him, as i live so close to a road i keep him indoors.
What do you think i should do?
I dont think the RSPCA would take him because of his aggression - and i would hate to have to have him put down.
Do you think i am being fair to him? i feel so terrible thinking like this but what other choice do i have?


----------



## Guest (Jun 5, 2008)

Apart from keeping bedroom/lounge door shut im not sure what you can do.You could try a feliway plug in to see if this will settle him.does he use his litter box?also try using simple solution on soiled areas this neautralizes smells,you can get this from petshops,it may be called something else though,basically it contains the bacteria to neautralize smells of wee and poo.


----------



## PoppyLily (Jan 8, 2008)

i have never had this problem but have been told by a few people that Bicarbonate of Soda is very good for neutralizing the smell and stopping them going back to that same place. Good Luck!


----------



## KittyKatLuver (Jun 5, 2008)

thanks for your help, he uses his box most of the time so he knows what its for. I have just ordered some feliway off the internet although i am sceptical as it says that it stops "urine marking" caused by stress but hes not actually marking, just squatting and weeing! but ill give it a go.
Ill try the smell neutraliser too, i went out and bought new mattress / duvet / pillows / bed sheets everything the other day in the hope that he wouldnt do it again but it didnt stop him.


----------



## Selk67U2 (May 5, 2008)

*I honestly don't know what to advise. You seem to have tried lots of things. The only thing I could suggest is to go back to basics. Confine him in one room with a litter tray, food, water ect and go from there. *


----------



## Emstarz (May 20, 2008)

PoppyLily said:


> i have never had this problem but have been told by a few people that Bicarbonate of Soda is very good for neutralizing the smell and stopping them going back to that same place. Good Luck!


I have tried this and unfortunately it doesn't work - good on sick though


----------



## Saikou (Apr 2, 2008)

How long has he been in England? He does seem to have moved around quite a bit in his short life, and from being a feral to an indoor pet thats alot in 2 short years.

As has already been suggested, keeping bedroom doors shut so he doesn't have access may help break the habit. Urine Off R & L Pet Products - cats, breeders, shows, litter, food, and accessories. is another good product you could try to remove any smell on your bedding and the carpet.

The spot on the carpet he frequents you could try putting his litter tray over it. The same place that sells the urine off also sells Cat Attract a cat litter with "additives" that is supposed to encourage a cat to use it R & L Pet Products - cats, breeders, shows, litter, food, and accessories.

If you are seeing your vet anyway, I would ask him about possible low grade urinary infection. He may have a chronic condition that can be caused by stress. Some times inappropriate weeing as opposed to scent marking are an indication of this even if there are no other discernable symptoms. The cat feels uncomfortable weeing which they end up associating with the tray, so find somewhere softer to try. If it is something like that then treatment and maybe changing the tray and litter so there are no old reminders could help sort the problem.


----------



## KittyKatLuver (Jun 5, 2008)

thankyou Saikou,

There is a small part of me which is hoping that it is a urinary problem that can be fixed by pills or even surgery so that we can get it sorted. he has been in England since about November, he has endured a lot of moving around poor little thing but he adapts very well which is good. 
unfortunately i cant put the tray on the spot on the carpet as it would be completely in the way.
I've tried to confine him to the living room before but he howls a lot and scratches at the door, although perhaps if i put my other cats in with him he would be ok as he would have company.
I'm going to stock up on some of these sprays as well as putting a couple of extra trays around to try to encourage him and hopefully (im praying) that will do the job.
We took him when he was 2 weeks old and had been badly beaten in the street and nursed him back to health - it was touch and go wether he would make it through the first night but he took well to the bottle feeding so hes still here with us today! I wondered that maybe because he didn't have his mother there to show him how to do things that he may be a bit confused. 
He thought he was a dog for a while as he had never seen another cat until he came to England!
I will try that cat litter aswell, anythings worth a go at the moment.
thankyou again


----------



## Saikou (Apr 2, 2008)

Wow well done you for getting him through all that. What sick ****** would beat a 2 week old kitten  I hope you do find a solution to his problems, after all you have been through together it would be awful to have to give him up. 

Even if the tray over his favourite pee spot is in the way, it might be worth trying for a bit, just to see if you can break the habit, it doesn't have to be long term.


----------



## Blue Paw Senior (May 27, 2008)

I swear by Cat Attract litter and now use nothing else. We have a cat who wees on the bed and a daughter who is incapable of shutting doors! Although she (the cat, not my daughter  ) is not allowed access to the bedrooms any more, we have found that since we have been using the litter, the problem has virtually gone. She will still do it, on the odd occasion, but I think that is because she can!  We get ours from R @ L Pet Products too, and they are incredibly efficient and do deliver. The initial outlay is expensive, but it clumps beautifully, so it is very easy to remove soiled litter and we have found that overall, it is very economical. Also, we have 3 cats and 4 trays, and that seems to help, as well. 

I do hope that you manage to solve this problem. It is soul destroying and it did get so bad, at one point, we bought Duvets in bulk, in the January sales, because it was cheaper that having them cleaned and the double ones wouldn't fit in the washing machine! We still have about 6 brand new Duvets in the loft!


----------



## Schimmel (May 17, 2008)

Blue Paw Senior said:


> We still have about 6 brand new Duvets in the loft!


If they're kingsize can I buy a couple off ya'


----------



## Blue Paw Senior (May 27, 2008)

Sorry no! Doubles and singles!  You shoulda gone when I told ya about them. I told you they had kingsize ones!


----------



## Boleyn (Feb 1, 2008)

I have read before that Biological washing powder, white vinegar, spirts such as gin, brandy etc and white spirit are good to use on cat pee, I have only used the washing powder myself though.

What a hard situation to be in and I really do feel for you, i had the same with my cat in the end we got rid of the carpet and rugs and the problem stopped, but from reading your post Kittykatluver I dont think that doing that the problem will stop, I agree that it could be because mummy cat didnt teach him the basics. I think that if I were you I would speak to the vet and maybe cat rescue centres for advice on how to deal with the problem as the cat centres will have probably dealt with this sort of problem before.

Good luck.


----------



## amanda138a (Jun 9, 2008)

i read soomewhere that the calculation for litter trays should be 1 per cat plus one, as one cat is ALWASY dominant and this can make the less domionanit cats afraid to wee in the box, perhaps this is the problem? especially as he has been moved about, he will not know his place in society, i put tin foil over the place in the carpet my cat used to wee, and it worked not sure if thats better than putting the litter tray in the place?
( another silly thought maybe you need to speak spainsh to him????)


----------



## Saynamore (Feb 28, 2008)

One litter tray per cat plus one! That means I would need 18 boxes. Sorry but no, I think 7 is quite sufficient thanks, lol


----------



## Emstarz (May 20, 2008)

Boleyn said:


> I have read before that Biological washing powder, white vinegar, spirts such as gin, brandy etc and white spirit are good to use on cat pee, I have only used the washing powder myself though.
> 
> Good luck.


Biological washing powder of liquid is great for getting rid of smell however if the problem is not sorted it is not strong enough to get the cat to forget it used that spot and it will go there again. Once the problem is sorted this of Zoflora should remove the smell for you


----------



## Angeli (Jun 2, 2008)

Saynamore said:


> One litter tray per cat plus one! That means I would need 18 boxes. Sorry but no, I think 7 is quite sufficient thanks, lol


I agree ... not very practical 

However many litter trays you put out for them anyway they still all queue up for the same one.


----------



## may (Nov 2, 2007)

I had a girl that weed on my bed I got a picnic blanket (with a plastic back)
and covered my bed with it she soon stopped doing it as the wee just stayed on the top of the blanket,
it was no fun if it didn't soak into my bed


----------



## Emstarz (May 20, 2008)

may said:


> I had a girl that weed on my bed I got a picnic blanket (with a plastic back)
> and covered my bed with it she soon stopped doing it as the wee just stayed on the top of the blanket,
> it was no fun if it didn't soak into my bed


LOL...........
Cheeky Kitty - they do have funny little ways don't they


----------



## Selk67U2 (May 5, 2008)

> I had a girl that weed on my bed I got a picnic blanket (with a plastic back)
> and covered my bed with it she soon stopped doing it as the wee just stayed on the top of the blanket,
> it was no fun if it didn't soak into my bed


*Hahaha, thats funny May*


----------



## KittyKatLuver (Jun 5, 2008)

Thankyou for all your help everybody.
We've since been out and bought just about every product going and also added an extra litter tray which seems to have sorted the problem (so far so good anyway!) The urine-off spray is really good - can squirt it on a wee stain and it goes! 
Hopefully he can be a good boy now - i'll have to try speaking to him in spanish maybe he will listen for once!
p.s. thanks for the picnic rug tip, i was going to try bin liners but thought that would be a bit weird!
thanks again everyone i will keep u updated!


----------



## Saikou (Apr 2, 2008)

Fingers firmly crossed here that everything is sorted. It would be awful to have to rehome him after all you have been through together.


----------



## Many Paws (Jun 11, 2008)

I'm new to these forums, but I wanted to jump in here real quick, in case your kitty decides to resort to his old ways...

As far as the carpet issue goes, is he urinating or defecating? If it is urine, you can get the smell out of the carpet by mixing 8 oz hydrogen peroxide, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp lemon scented dishwashing soap. Cat urine is one of the most difficult and nasty smells to try to get rid of, and when I tried this mixture, I was skeptical. But it worked! I poured it on the carpet, scrubbed the area real well, and within a days time, the smell was gone!

Also, just something to keep in mind in case it is ever needed... 
You *CAN* purchase pet diapers for him to wear... They are made for handicapped pets, but I keep some on hand, *just in case*.

Best of luck to you.


----------

