Cat peeing

Meg142!

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Hello all! So a few months ago I came here about my cat's pooping issue (not going in the litter box) which seems to be resolving? She's been good for two weeks now so I'm hopeful, but now, She's peed on the floor three times that I know of. I don't think it's a urinary issue because she is still using her litter boxes as well. I'm just worried that she replaced her pooping problem with a peeing problem. Does anyone have tips and tricks to prevent this and to also get the smell out of carpet? I have an enzyme cleaner but it's either not working or She's peed someplace I haven't found yet. Tomorrow I'm removing every piece of furniture and steam cleaning the carpet so hopefully I'll get it then. I also read about using black lights to find puddles but there's so many out there I'm not sure which one to get. Thank you in advance!
 

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Hi! How old is she? How was the pooping issue resolved? Does she mainly go in the same area when she pees outside the box?

I have used "The Equalizer" (see pic below) in the past with Feeby. It doesn't require saturating the carpet, hence less drying time. And, if there are specific areas that she pees in, you can try to cover those areas with puppy pee pads to help with future cleaning.

About the black lights - I have heard none of them are really effective as the light can also pick up on enzymatic cleaners as well as other types of cleaners - and other types of soils. Hopefully, another member will come along with one they have used that doesn't do this.

 
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Meg142!

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Hi! How old is she? How was the pooping issue resolved? Does she mainly go in the same area when she pees outside the box?

I have used "The Equalizer" (see pic below) in the past with Feeby. It doesn't require saturating the carpet, hence less drying time. And, if there are specific areas that she pees in, you can try to cover those areas with puppy pee pads to help with future cleaning.

About the black lights - I have heard none of them are really effective as the light can also pick up on enzymatic cleaners as well as other types of cleaners - and other types of soils. Hopefully, another member will come along with one they have used that doesn't do this.

Hello! She is about 3 years old and the pooping problem just kind of slowly got better. It went from once a day, to two or three times a week, to once a week, and now She's been clean for about 2 weeks. I tried everything from 5 different litter boxs, all with different types of litter, different types of boxes, and deterrent sprays. Nothing worked to stop it, she just slowly got better over time. She is now peeing in the exact same spots she would always go to poop, under my desk, in the corner right next to my bed, and behind a bookshelf. I moved a litter box to each of these areas (closed off the gap behind the shelf) and she peed in every box AND in her cat bed.
I do have a hedgehog and was wondering if maybe the smell of my hedgehog is making her want to mark her territory? Thank you for the cleaner suggestion!
 

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Blacklight is simply a frequency of light. As such a blacklight is not an overly complicated product, and any highly rated one on Amazon should do the trick as well as any other. They will highlight old spots, and not distinguish between different types of biologic accidents from cat vomit to spilled food. They may also continue highlighting cleaned up spots. Nonetheless, if you are prepared to get down on the carpet, press to feel for dampness, and if need be sniff, then blacklights are a good spotting tool. We owned one when we had problems, and it was somewhat useful. However, if the prior owner of your home had pets and the carpet is old...prepare to be horrified. In the human wolrd, there are medical tests that are not used because false positives can cause so much stress and lead to unnecessary medical procedures -- and blacklights are little bit like that. They are cheap and its worth getting one...just don't take it too seriously or you'll be spending thousands ripping up your carpet unnecessarily.

I'd like to see a forensic files type episode where they try to use a blacklight to find blood and go "oh right...pet owner, never mind."
 
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Meg142!

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Luckily we are the original owners of this house and my bedroom has been redone in the past 10 years so hopefully it isn't TOO gross :lol: I'm not too worried about being an insane neat freak and scrubbing every little thing I see because an old cat pee puddle should be pretty easy to spot based on just the size of the puddle.
 

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I went back to read your previous thread on her pooping issues - is she still on Prozac? Either way, I don't know why she would go from inappropriate pooping to inappropriate peeing, but it sure seems stress related. What about the cat attractant for the litter, are you still using that? Just throwing stuff out there...
 
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Meg142!

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I went back to read your previous thread on her pooping issues - is she still on Prozac? Either way, I don't know why she would go from inappropriate pooping to inappropriate peeing, but it sure seems stress related. What about the cat attractant for the litter, are you still using that? Just throwing stuff out there...
She is no longer on Prozac, it started giving her side affects almost right away and I wasn't comfortable continuing it to see if they would get better. I am still using the attractent litter. And I'm also not sure what kind of stress she is having. She does it while I'm at home and away so it's not separation, we have no other animals in the house except for two turtles and a hedgehog, both of which she loves watching, and there isn't any big life changes going on in the house either. I do know that she was previously living in a house with several other cats, could she be lonely?
 

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I don't know about lonely, but maybe she lacks stimulation. I don't remember if I read about entertainment for her - cat trees/perches, preferably by windows she can look out? I still think somehow this is stress related, but what amounts to stress in a cat can vary greatly for what us humans think of as stress. If you were able to use a process to get her to stop the inappropriate pooping, then it is worth a shot to try the same thing for the peeing issue. If not Prozac, maybe other OTC cat calming products - at least until you can get her stop. I know, I am not helping much, sorry. But, if no health issues are involved, the next 'culprit' is typically stress/anxiety.
 
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Meg142!

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She loves playing and we have two big bay windows she likes to sit in too. I don't have any real cat trees because the house is so small and I don't really have a good place to put one. I was trying to look into a motion activated toy to help keep her occupied while home alone because she doesn't initiate play on her own ( she has a ton of little balls but she doesn't bat them around until someone rolls it to her). The only way to stop her from pooping was to "cage" her at night and when no one was home because that's when she would usually poop. My vet suggested this after I tried everything else so I got a dog crate that I turned into a two level cat apartment for her. She has enough room for her bed, her food, a litter box, and to stand up, stretch, and groom in. She gets lots of treats and doesn't seem to mind being in there so that's what I've been sticking with for the past few months. What kind of OTC things can I give to her? I know there are calming cat collars that some people swear by, has anyone had experience with those?
 

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OTC cat calming products, one of which is called Bach Rescue Remedy that are drops you can rub into a cat's ear to help with calming, can be found by doing an internet search on "cat calming products". Not all work on all cats, so you might have to experiment with a few to find that might work for her. Feliway products are another type. Have you thought about cat nip too?

Interactive toys might be an idea, if you have space for them in her 'cage' - see if there are any in this TCS article (link below) that you might want to try. It's marked as being for lazy cats, but I think they can be used to help entice play in other cats that don't play well on their own. Some of them however might not be appropriate unsupervised. Also, if she likes the crinkle noise of paper, you could always take an old sock and stuff it with crunched up paper as a test to see if she might be intrigued by that - even add some cat nip inside it. There are 'kickaroo' toys you can buy that would be the same thing, but the sock would be a way to find out if this kind of toy would be worth investing in.

17 Best Toys For Lazy Cats – Cat Articles

Btw, is the hedgehog a newer addition to your home? If not, I am not sure if that would have anything to do with her inappropriate peeing. If so, you might want to consider keeping them completely separated as a test.
 
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Meg142!

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She isn't a new addition since I got my cat, I've had her for about a year and a half, and I got my cat about 5 months ago. She started her pooping issue about a week into coming home. At first I thought it was stress from moving to a new place Even though she seemed to adjust really well almost immediately. I'll have to try a few different toys out and see if that helps. My plan of action will be to completely scrub my room (which is the most frequently hit spot) just in case there's a hidden pee spot that's encouraging her to keep going, I'll get a few different toys to see if they will entice her to play on her own, and I'll do some research on over the counter medicine/supplements to help keep her as de-stressed as possible, and move the hedgehog just to see what happens. I also rearranged some furniture today and have a nice spot in front of the window ready to go for a cat tree. Fingers crossed that something works!
 
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Today was the big clean and there were A LOT off hidden pee puddles I couldn't see before moving everything out of my room. Everything has been sprayed with an enzyme cleaner and my room smells brand new which is one positive thing to come out of this:lol: I also blocked off the corner of the room she was going in and she sniffed around that area trying to get to it and eventually went to her litter box. I'm really hoping that she continues to choose her litter box over having to climb over a bunch of stuff. Only time will tell!
 
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Meg142!

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So far so good! This weekend was the big test, i was gone for 2 days (to see if me not being home caused stress which caused the peeing/pooping) and I left my sister with instructions to leave her out of the crate for the entire day and night, and no messes! I also got this little remote control ball that has a bell attached to it that rolls around if she bats at it. She was loving it last night so hopefully she continues to like it and that will help keep her entertained when she's home alone. Fingers crossed we can get to the one week mark without a mess!
 
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Meg142!

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So things were going really well until today. She was allowed to roam the house during the day and we had no problems for over a week. I come home today and she peed right behind her litter box on a wooden book shelf that I will hopefully be able to get the pee smell out of, and pooped under the desk in my bedroom. I'm not really sure why she will go a long period of time being absolutely fine and then out no where she will pee and/or poop several days in a row. This makes me think that it's definitely not a health problem, especially because she also uses her litter box. I think it may be time to see the vet again and see what she thinks. I know it sounds harsh but I'm almost hoping that it IS a UTI and this is a problem that can be fixed with some antibiotics and not a behavior I will have to deal with for the next several years.
 

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Yeah, you probably do need to rule out a UTI, but stress is more likely to be the issue - although that too can cause a UTI over time. Just make sure they do a urine culture along with the urinalysis to ensure the most appropriate antibiotic is found should there be a need for one. And, talk to the vet about bladder inflammation to see if they would want to check into that aspect - that is also typical of stressed cats, and is often labeled as idiopathic cystitis.

Now, I am wondering if there isn't something going on immediately outside your home that triggers some level of anxiety. Stray cats roaming, dogs, construction, someone with a loud car or motorcycle, etc... Might want to check with neighbors, or scope out what is going on around the outside of your home. You could also set up baby cams, or something similar, inside the house to see if you can catch what she is doing right before she uses something other than the litter box.
 
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Meg142!

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My neighbor does have two male cats who are indoor/outdoor and like cross our lawn a lot. This makes a lot of sense. If they can smell her and Mark their territory right outside my bedroom window (where I often spot kitty prints in the winter) she may be marking as well. She often does go in the corner right under my window. I've never noticed pee spots outside but maybe just the smell of them being there is agrivating her. Is there anyway I can prevent the cats from getting near the house without creating issues with my neighbors? I know there are cat deterrent sprays out there but I assume I'd have to reapply every day due to the elements washing it away.
 

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What is the area like outside your bedroom window - grass or a garden bed? If a garden bed you could try pine cones, pebbles, or sharp stones, maybe even gravel. It isn't going to hurt the cats, they just won't want to walk on it. I have also heard of laying chicken wire down, as it seems cats don't like to walk on that either. Motion detector sprinklers are another option, if at all possible, but a little less discrete. I have also heard of people planting plants that cats don't like - but, that one would have to looked up on the internet to find out which ones.
 
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