Cats peeing EVERYWHERE

[Corrrk]

Hey, I'm new to this forum. My husband and I are trying everything to stop our cats from peeing literally everywhere.

We have two cats, around 13yrs old, one male one female. The female is brave and friendly, the male is, well, a scaredy cat.

We have two daughters age 5&2, they all get along great. We've had the cats since they were kittens.

We recently got a puppy, and understandably we figured the male cat would take some time adjusting to her. At first the dog was locked up in a crate for long enough periods of time that both cats could come downstairs and use the litter and eat. After a couple days we realized that wasn't working, and moved all the cat stuff upstairs. Now the cats have free reign of the upstairs and the dog is solely downstairs. The stairs wind around so they can't see eachother from the bottom or the top. The male cat has not left the upstairs in over 5 months. He seems happy up there. We're in&out of the rooms and bathrooms up there that he gets attention from all of us.

Except he started peeing on the dirty clothes on the rug in my bathroom. We then religiously kept our clothes off the floor. He peed straight on the rug the next day. We now have that door closed all the time. A couple days later I was taking our bags of clothes to donate out of our closet, and a whole pile of pee streamed off all over the carpet and it was most definitely inside the bag. So now our closet door is permanently closed. All our clothes clean or dirty get locked away in the closet now. Tonight, our 5 yr old has this creepy stuffy she loves that always lives on her bed. Reeked like pee. She has some other stuffies in a basket just outside her room, also been peed on. We keep the litter religiously clean. It's right outside our 3 bedrooms and I clean it at least twice a day, basically anytime I pass it.

We are this close to giving the cats up. We can't confirm its only the male but I caught him in my bathroom once in the middle of the night so I know he's for sure doing it. Not sure if the female is but we don't think so.

We don't know what else to do. We're not getting rid of the dog. She's friendly and we give the cats lots of attention. We spend a lot of time upstairs and the girls play with them all the time. But the cats peeing on every single thing up here.. it's draining and making us so mad. We've made their space up here super comfortable and private and this is still happening. What do we do?

 

[maggie101]

Can you put litter boxes in almost every room. Dont know how many rooms you have upstairs. My cats pee where ever I'm at so living room, bedroom, and bathroom. It could also be stress. Spending time with him should help

 

[maggie101]

My cats like soft music and one of my 3 cats will watch a DVD with birds. I assume he has widows to look out. Even a bird feeder

 

[Furballsmom]

Have you had him into the vet? If not he needs to be taken in immediately, peeing on soft things often is an indication of issues.

As mentioned cat music and calming products can help cats be more relaxed, and additional litter boxes, with a couple different types of litter in case he doesn't like the current litter.

Enzymatic cleaners are needed to fully clean the areas.

How To Get Cat Pee Smell Out Of Clothes And Linens – TheCatSite Articles

 

[Krienze]

If it's the elder cat, is it possible she's having a hard time getting into the box? We have an older cat and just bought a dome litter box for her and have few issues now because of it.

Also,if you aren't cleaning the spots/items with enyzmatic cleaner, the cat will always smell it and ALWAYS pee on those things. Even if you don't smell it, the cats do x.x I def second the idea of taking them both to the vet and making sure they are okay though.

If you have an echo, my cats seem to like when I play 'relax my cat' on it.

When you say you're spending time with the cats, what does that involve usually? I've read/watched a lot of behavioral specialists talk about the whole play/eat routine that helps get cats on a schedule so they don't have pent up energy and what not that comes out in bad ways.

It does sound like stress due to the dog, just reading everything. How many litter boxes do you have/is the dog invading them at all? If so maybe try moving litter boxes away from wherever the dog can get to them, assuming he's not still crated?

 

[Corrrk]

If it's the elder cat, is it possible she's having a hard time getting into the box? We have an older cat and just bought a dome litter box for her and have few issues now because of it.

Also,if you aren't cleaning the spots/items with enyzmatic cleaner, the cat will always smell it and ALWAYS pee on those things. Even if you don't smell it, the cats do x.x I def second the idea of taking them both to the vet and making sure they are okay though.

If you have an echo, my cats seem to like when I play 'relax my cat' on it.

When you say you're spending time with the cats, what does that involve usually? I've read/watched a lot of behavioral specialists talk about the whole play/eat routine that helps get cats on a schedule so they don't have pent up energy and what not that comes out in bad ways.

It does sound like stress due to the dog, just reading everything. How many litter boxes do you have/is the dog invading them at all? If so maybe try moving litter boxes away from wherever the dog can get to them, assuming he's not still crated?

All good suggestions. We have one box. We've had two before, and they would never use the 2nd so we got rid of it to make more space. The dog has zero access to the boxes. We had a front open one, a complete open one, and since moving it up by our bedrooms we got a top entry one to minimize the litter all over the floor ( doesn't work by the way). The cat we suspect of peeing everywhere poops in the litter, but never covers it up. After responses from varying forums we're strongly thinking it's a UTI. We're taking him this week. He's out and wandering around upstairs, no longer hiding under the bed. And for playing, it's mostly petting from the kids, and chasing/running around and some feather and crinkly toys, but the cats lose interest especially when an excited child is waiving stuff in their face.

 

[maggie101]

Have you watched how your kids play with him? He may not like being chased, especially because he is senior, no longer a kitten that likes to run around instead of hunt which he would like to do at his age and sleep more. Glad he is seeing a vet. Good luck!

 

[Krienze]

Have you watched how your kids play with him? He may not like being chased, especially because he is senior, no longer a kitten that likes to run around instead of hunt which he would like to do at his age and sleep more. Glad he is seeing a vet. Good luck!

This is a good point. Sometimes kids are inadvertently aggressive (or they seem aggressive to the cat) If you're waving the toy in his face, he might take off because something is being waved in his face. Try sweeping it in the air to encourage jumps and stuff. Kind of imagine ribbon dancers and stuff. My cats go CRAZY when I do that, including my 15 year old. She jumps and spins trying to catch it

 

[Furballsmom]

There are things in this, along with cat music to help your male cat, that you may find helpful.
Playing With Your Cat: 10 Things You Need To Know – TheCatSite Articles

 

[maggie101]

This is a good point. Sometimes kids are inadvertently aggressive (or they seem aggressive to the cat) If you're waving the toy in his face, he might take off because something is being waved in his face. Try sweeping it in the air to encourage jumps and stuff. Kind of imagine ribbon dancers and stuff. My cats go CRAZY when I do that, including my 15 year old. She jumps and spins trying to catch it

I remember my sisters toddler kept swatting at my cat with a wand so I shut her in my bedroom and said she's taking a nap

 

[The Goodbye Bird]

Except he started peeing on the dirty clothes on the rug in my bathroom. We then religiously kept our clothes off the floor. He peed straight on the rug the next day.

He learned to use that spot. In this situation an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure:

Always keep the catbox clean. The more you clean it the better.

Cats have to feel safe where they go. IMO puppy can NOT have access.

No piles. Cats like to piss on piles.

The thing is, once this starts it's really hard to stop it. I've been lucky and haven't ever really had it start even though I don't tend to get my cats spayed and it can apparently make them likely to start. I've had friends with houses that smelled like cat piss because somebody decided to start and it triggered all the other ones.

 

[cataholic07]

A vet check is for sure required, stress will cause UTIs. And a puppy, though cute, can be quite the jerk to cats with getting in their faces and wanting to play with them. He's 13 years old, he doesn't want to have to deal with a puppy. Make sure to NOT get mad at him, that is the most important thing. Getting mad will just make it worse. Remember your cat just lost half of his territory because of the dog, so make sure to add more with cat trees, litter boxes, or cat shelves. Giving up a cat you have had for 13 years because YOU decided on getting a puppy is extremely wrong and unfair to that cat. Get rid of the top entry litter box and add extra uncovered litter boxes. He feels threatened and afraid of the pup, he wont go in a litter box that he is enclosed and unable to not only see the pup but cant escape. Even with the pup being downstairs only, the idea alone is scary to him.

Make sure to teach the puppy the leave it command and even have a leash on the pup during interactions so you can quickly get the pup if he's too much. You can try adding tall cat trees downstairs and see if that makes him feel comfortable. Basically the cats being up high will make them feel safe. Hence why they stay upstairs all the time. But if they had more cat trees or cat shelves downstairs it could help them want to go downstairs and just use a babygate to keep the pup downstairs always.

 

[Chrissytine]

My two year old male cat, Memphis, started peeing a little bit in different areas out of no where. We took him to the vet and found out he had crystals. We were given a prescription for Royal Canin Urinary food and we have not had any issues with him peeing outside of the litter box since. We actually put our other cat, Edgar, on the same food just as a preventative. I also make sure I keep the litter boxes extra clean. I also used Nature's Miracle to clean the areas he peed on. Best of luck!