1 Year Old Kitten Fear Peeing Everywhere

[Fluffhead24]

Hello,

Our 1 year old Tela is fear/submissive peeing all over the house. It seems to happen by certain triggers, and only with me, not my girlfriend.

She is so extremely scared of me that at this point if I look at her wrong she will pee on the spot. Most of the day she is fine and will sleep next to me in my office, rub her head on my hand asking for food / treats. She was a feral kitten when we got her and she had a history of being scared. She did fine for awhile until this behavior started. But it seems to be getting worse and worse and unfortunately I can't avoid her 24/7. I try to avoid eye contact and I do not pick her up.

Any tips/help would be appreciated.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Try playing low volume classical harp music, it's known to relax cats. --you've had her to the vet just to be sure it isn't something physical related? Is she spayed?

If you haven't already, pick up an enzymatic cleaner for those spots.

Add more litter boxes and try a couple different litters, there's one called Cat Attract that could help.

Try spraying your clothing with a calming product, there are a lot of products on the market with different ingredients like casein, tryptophan, valerian, chamomile... feliway is just one of them and there are a lot of fake feliway products out there now.

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[maggiedemi]

Sounds like it could be a UTI. Is she eating a lot of dry food? Can you increase her canned food?

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. Also wondering if she's been spayed? And had a vet checkup to ensure she doesn't have an UTI.

 

[Jem]

You say she is fine with you most of the day and rubs against you. So I wonder if she is trying to blend scents WITH YOU, which is why is seems to be getting worse the more you try to avoid her.
When ever she is calm, try to get her attention by sitting on the floor and coax her over to you with a wand toy and have some treats ready for when she is tired and done playing. Then wait for her to leave you, and calmly get up and walk away.
Whenever you are around her, but not "interacting" with her (ex: your making a sandwich in the kitchen and she's in the room), talk to her (in a soothing tone), so she gets used to you and your voice always being there.
I would also take over caring for her, do her litter boxes, give her all her meals, schedule more play time with her. Something else, whenever she is relaxing, walk over to her with a treat in hand, give it to her then walk away. That will show her that if you approach her or "cross paths", you're not dangerous and even give her gifts! Let her see that YOU are her "bringer of all good things". Hopefully in time she will either not feel the need to blend scents with you anymore, if that is the case, or she will no longer fear you.

 

[Fluffhead24]

Definitely doesn't appear to be a UTI according to the vet last time we were there. She eats a mix of dry and wet. She loves her wet. This is a submissive/fear urination problem. She literally will piss herself and lay in it and not move. Completely frozen from fear. She will not move for wet food, tasty fish treats, turkey, or wand toys. Her body language when it happens is complete fear/shutdown.

Example: Last night I got home from work around 9pm and she greeted me at the door. Played the rest of the night, jumped into bed with us for a goodnight treat like usual. 7 hours later when I woke up, she was in my office where she usually sleeps/hangs. I know by now she is scared so I avoid her. I put out her and the other cat's wet food and she would not come. This is not like her and I know she's in "fear" mode. So I went into the other room to hang out and my girlfriend called her out in the kitchen and she came to eat. Now she is setting next to me at the computer, looking out the window, happy.

I spent 8 hours at work and came home and she was not scared. I slept for 7 hours and I wake up and she is in extreme fear of me. Doesn't quite make sense to me.

 

[Fluffhead24]

She seems to snap out of the "fear mode" pretty quickly. But if I approach her or look at her the wrong way during this time, she will urinate almost instantly.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi again, try music and especially a calming calling spray as I mentioned above.
You're starting to make me think she's hearing or smelling something, more or less unrelated to you, that you can't.
In any case, are you bathing her after this happens-she could get scalded from the urine.

What if you actually approach her and speak to her/touch her when this is going on? I don't know, but the more I think about this as I'm typing this post, it almost sounds like a form of a seizure.

 

[Jem]

I know by now she is scared so I avoid her.

So, going by what you said, does it seem she is only afraid first thing in the morning, when you get out of bed? Or does it happen randomly throughout the day too?
Maybe something at night (or while you're sleeping) scares her and she associates it with you? IDK.

I also wonder, like Furballsmom said, about the possibility of seizures. I know it may seem like it only happens with you, but have you ever found pee in the house when you weren't there to witness or "trigger her"? I would go on the hunt for pee stains with a black light around the house, just to make sure.

"Submission urination" is a real thing although mostly in dogs. And what they suggest is to build confidence in your pet. To build confidence in a cat. Create a routine, cats LOVEroutine, and stick to it as much as you can like feeding times, bed time, play time...etc. A new play and feeding time routine, so she can use her hunt, catch, eat, groom, sleep (in that order) instincts, would probably help a lot.
A lot of vertical/high places to hang out on and get around on without having to use the floor as much, (strategically placed cat trees, furniture and shelving in between) can help as well. That way if she is feeling scared she has an "escape route" and she may not feel the need to "shut down".
And as I mentioned before, as much as you can, make yourself the "bringer of awesome"
Sometimes too, what a cat or animal in general perceives, is not what we think we are giving off. Maybe you have a deep booming voice, or you snore really loud at night, or if you are in a hurry, it comes across as threatening. Really pay attention to your body language, tone of voice and facial expressions. I'm not "blaming" you in any way but just that your cat might see something as simple as pushing your hair out of eyes as scary. Or if you're like me, I find my voice is raspy and deeper in the morning, maybe it's something like that? And seeing on how, IF your voice is already low and loud naturally, the mornings could be more so. I'm just throwing out some examples but keep in mind that it can be the SILLIEST, most INSIGNIFICANT thing, that can upset a cat. Maybe she doesn't like your foot ware? My cat is terrified of one of my pairs of slippers LOL! Think outside the box on this one.