# Problems with cat peeing everywhere!



## susan_1981 (Sep 8, 2008)

I have 2 cats and one of them has always gone through phases of peeing in the house. They have a cat flap and we have now resorted to litter trays as well which isn't ideal as I have two young boys but both litter trays are on the other side of baby gates.

I have a feeling she may be doing it because she's scared of my two children. They don't touch her, let alone get near to her as she'll run off, but when they are downstairs making noise (they are 1 and 2), I will see that she wants to come downstairs but won't. So I'm thinking this could be the cause of her peeing maybe because she is stressed. Is there anything else I can do to try and deter her? I'm so absolutely fed up with it now that I'm so close to considering getting her re-homed but I know I couldn't actually bring myself to do that. But I really don't want a house that constantly smells of cat wee and it's also not good when I have two children crawling all over the floors. She goes upstairs outside the boys' bedrooms, she goes behind the tv which is a nightmare to get to, she goes in the hallway, in the kitchen. We can't have doormats because she'll pee on those. 

Now everytime I see her, I end up putting her out in the garden in the hope she'll do her business out there. Any advice? Is there a spray that exists to deter cats from peeing around the house? Also, I've heard there is a plug in thing that you can buy that is supposed to send off calming vibes to cats which my vet told me about. But they're quite expensive I think but then if it worked, I'd definitely get one.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Susan, I am sorry to hear of the soiling problems you're having with your cat.

As I am sure you realise it would be almost impossible to rehome her with these problems. If you were honest with potential adopters as to why you were rehoming the cat you would be most unlikely to have anyone interested.

But if you concealed the true reason, the soiling would undoubtedly reoccur at the new home, and the adopter would want to return the cat to you PDQ. If you were to refuse to take the cat back, the likelihood is the cat would be kicked out on to the street, or handed over to a Shelter. Note that some Shelters euthanise cats who are taken in with these kind of behavioural problems. 

So as you can see it is best not to think of rehoming as an option at this stage, and instead to concentrate on trying to find the cause of the soiling so it might be at least managed, if not resolved.

If I have understood right, it sounds as though it is a fairly recent thing for litter trays to be provided for your cats? The lack of litter trays may have in fact been the initial cause of the soiling. There are some cats (especially timid ones) who feel safer doing their toilet indoors in a litter tray instead of outdoors. Even though they may feel OK to pee outside sometimes, at other times, perhaps e.g. spooked by another cat, or the weather is bad, they will want a litter tray indoors.

Many cat owners prefer their cats to use litter trays because signs of ill health can be noted early on when the contents of the litter tray can be monitored daily. Also there is less likelihood of neighbours being upset because your cats are using their gardens. So you can see there are positive aspects to having litter trays indoors, especially if you can do as you are doing and keep them out of the way of your young children.

It does sound possible your cat is a bit wary of your children, perhaps just because in her eyes they are a bit noisy and unpredictable.  She may well be too nervous to run the gauntlet past them to the cat flap. Likewise if the litter trays are both placed together in a spot which she can't get to without passing the children, then this is going to put her off using them, and she is going to seek out a quieter place elsewhere in the house.

For this reason it is very important to make sure litter trays are placed around the house in quiet places where your cat can always get to one easily and use it undisturbed by any passing household traffic.

If you are concerned about having more trays when there are young children around, then buy a couple of these cat litter cupboards, and fit a microchip cat flap on the door, so the door will only open for the cat.

Multi Purpose Wooden Pet Den - White | Great deals at zooplus!

(Note: if you do buy these excellent litter tray concealers, you may need to fit a fixed window at the back of the box so the cat is not jumping into a dark cupboard (which some cats would hate). It is easy enough to cut out a rectangle of the wood with a jig-saw, and fix a piece of perspex over the hole. )

However you decide is the best way to do it, the fact is a timid cat with a tendency to house soil needs plenty of trays around and easy access to them.

I assume over the years you have had your cat investigated on occasions by the vet for intermittent FLUTD (cystitis)? And no evidence of crystals or infection in the bladder has been found?

Even if the vet found no evidence of anything wrong, it is possible there could be a mild problem cropping up now and then. For this reason I would feed your cat a wet diet, (no dry food at all) as a wet diet will reduce the risk of bladder and kidney-related health problems. A wet food diet will dilute the urine making it more comfortable to pee, and will also increase the volume of urine making it more likely the cat will empty her bladder more often, instead of 'hanging on'.

With regard to your cat having outdoor access, is there anywhere else on the GF you could put a cat-flap so she didn't have to get past the children to the flap in the back door? I have a cat-flap located in the side wall of the house, as well as at the back, so the cats have a choice of two points of entry. By doing this you would be giving her more autonomy to come and go when she likes, and and less reason to feel trapped indoors and fearful.

Finally I wanted to ask how she gets along with your other cat? If the other cat is bullying her, or there is often friction between the two of them, it could certainly be contributing (if not the main cause) to the house soiling.
If so, even more reason for plenty of litter trays, as well as water bowls, cat beds, and also feeding them separately, so there is not competition for resources.


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## Dally Banjo (Oct 22, 2009)

You could try one of these Plug in's, it worked for my old stress head cat & he was a stress head  I still use one now, to keep the peace  Its not as pricey as the one the vets sell to  [email protected] sell them for the same price as online if you cant wait for it to arrive & have a store near you.

Pet Remedy | Home Page


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## susan_1981 (Sep 8, 2008)

Thank you for the replies. We don't have anywhere else to put a catflap except the front door but this wouldn't be an option as I really wouldn't want a catflap there. 

I'm almost certain that there are no problems health wise with her. I see what happens with her. When we first started letting them out at 6 months old (they are about 9 years old now), she would go out in the garden (by this point, they were familiar enough with outside so we removed the litter trays), she would go outside, the wind would blow or something would frighten her (she's a very timid cat), then she would run back inside and find something to pee on - like a bag that might be on the floor. I think it's a combination of not wanting to go outside (especially as the weather is pretty awful at the moment - and it always gets worse at this time of year) and my kids. The litter tray upstairs is accessible to her without her having to be near the children as they are downstairs in the day and if they are upstairs in the day, they will be in their rooms having a nap so no noise to frighten her. 

We wouldn't re-home her and obviously I understand that the problem would likely continue were she to go elsewhere. It's literally something I think but obviously I love her and couldn't give her up. It's just very, very frustrating. The smell is ridiculous to get out, even off of wood flooring. 

With regards to our other cat, they are sisters and we have had them both since they were kittens. My other cat is definitely the more confident one and they do play fight sometimes which she doesn't always like (the more shy one - the one that pees everywhere!). The other problem that we've had is there is a stray that keeps coming into our garden. I noticed when he first came on the scene that the peeing on doormats started (which is why we then removed them) but he's such a regular occurrence that I don't think she's too bothered by him anymore as the peeing did stop. But the bad weather coming back hasn't helped. But then the other thing I think could be a possibility is we have a microchip cat flap but the battery went flat and as it's a bit of a faff to get them both together in order to re-programme, we taped down the lock part of the cat flap so that they could freely come in and out. But I think this stray may have been coming in for no other reason than some mornings I get up and their food bowls are completely licked clean. My cats never seem to do this. We've sorted this issue now so perhaps this will fix it?

Thank you for the plug in thing. I'm definitely going to look into getting one as my vet did recommend it.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

The first thing you need to do is take her to the vet. She is exhibiting a problem that is often medical based. Stress causes illness in cats and one of the biggest illnesses caused by stress is urinary tract disease. Left untreated it leads to kidney infection and kidney disease.

First a urine culture should be done, to determine any bacteria, crystals or other sediment in the urine that could be causing pain. Blood work should be done to evaluate organ health.

Once obvious, treatable health problems have been treated or ruled out, then you work on the premise this is stressed induced cystits, and take appropriate action to help her.

Reducing stress of course is the number one thing, but that is hard to do with two toddlers in the house! Feliway may help (I would use feliway, the brand name, not a lesser brand) If you are in the uK I hear many people recommend a product called Zyklene to help with anxious cats.

I would also put her on a glucosamine supplement of some kind, and include d-mannose, both are beneficial reducing inflammation and keeping the bladder healthy. And feed a wet, low carb diet.

But you really need to have the complete health check up with labs first. Because if there is an infection, or stones or crystals, none of the other stuff is going to help, until those are taken care of.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Pleased to hear you have now got the microchip cat flap working again. I am sure it will help but it will take time to restore your timid's cat confidence that she is safe indoors from strange cats. It will help if you clean floors and upright surfaces with an enzyme cleaner such as Simple Solution to remove the intruder's scent. I referring to the scent he will have rubbed from his cheeks on doorways, cupboard doors etc and above all on the catflap.

Re: cleaning wooden floors - the urine should not soak into the wood if the floors are sealed or waxed - essential with kids and cats in the house! 
I have found the best way to clean wooden floors is to scrub with hot water and household soap, next (keeping the cats and kids out of the room for safety) dab surgical spirit on the floor and leave it 5 minutes, then wipe up residue. Some people use vinegar but I prefer the smell of surgical spirit on my floors.

It sounds as though your timid cat does feel a bit bullied by her sister at times. Are there plenty of places the timid one can go to get away from her sister indoors if she wants to?

I agree with lorilu, a course of Zylkene would be worth a try for the timid one. The powder from a capsule can be mixed in her food.

Zylkene Capsules - Pack Of 100 - 75mg - Animed Direct


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## Jaf (Apr 17, 2014)

Just a thought...have you tried changing the type of litter you use? One of my cats was toileting behind the sofa, solved accidently with changing to clumping litter.


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

Having recently dealt with a cat peeing in my house I know how frustrating it feels and you have my sympathy.
Some excellent advice already given but I do have a little bit more.
The Zylkene that chillminx advises is excellent, but I find that a higher dose than 75mg is needed and that can start to get expensive. I buy the larger capsules of 450mg which are labelled as for a dog, and then split each capsule into approximately 3 daily doses.
Choice of litter is also important and you may have to try a few different options. I can highly recommend this stuff
Cat Attract Clumping Litter 18kg (40lbs) | eBay
It does look ridiculously expensive....but it will last for ages and it does work.

Choice of litter tray is also important for a scaredy cat and many of us have found that using something like this
80L BOX | Poundstretcher works well. You need to get a bit 'handy' and cut an access hole....either in one side of the box, or some people cut part of the lid away so the box is top entry.
If you prefer a more concealed box, then I have used the square version of this
HOL Storage table - IKEA which costs £16 and cut an access hole in the side (easy with a small saw blade) and then put a plastic box inside. This box is ideal to conceal the litter tray and yet allow the cat to see out of the box when inside.
I know all these options cost money, but am sure that you have a good chance of sorting this issue out.


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