Feral peeing on my clothes

[peacesad]

Thank you for reading this and any suggestions.
We have 3 feral cats. One male and two female. The male lees outside somewhere. One female does also but has used a litter box before.
The other female, who just started warming up to us and not running, has started peeing upstairs in my room on any clothes on the floor. Why? Anyone know? Is she marking territory?
This female has been afraid to come in since the other female is very domineering and will go after her.
The cats have been here for like 8 years now. Only now has the one female who has peed on my clothes started coming in and even sleeping inside.

 

[Norachan]

It sounds like she's marking her territory. She's trying to combine your scent, which is strongest on your clothes, with hers. This will increase her sense of being part of the family. I guess this is even more important to her if she is being bullied by the other female.

Are the cats all spayed and neutered? Unfixed cats tend to do this kind of marking a lot more than fixed cats do.

How many litter boxes do you have inside?

As a rule you need one for each cat plus one spare, but cats can be fussy about the type of litter they use and the position of their litter boxes.

You could try putting a litter box in your room. You can get litter that contains an attractant to encourage cats to use it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PKUUU0/?tag=thecatsite

Try not to leave clothes or towels on the floor. For some reason lots of cats find them tempting to pee on.

 

[peacesad]

It sounds like she's marking her territory. She's trying to combine your scent, which is strongest on your clothes, with hers. This will increase her sense of being part of the family. I guess this is even more important to her if she is being bullied by the other female.

Are the cats all spayed and neutered? Unfixed cats tend to do this kind of marking a lot more than fixed cats do.

How many litter boxes do you have inside?

As a rule you need one for each cat plus one spare, but cats can be fussy about the type of litter they use and the position of their litter boxes.

You could try putting a litter box in your room. You can get litter that contains an attractant to encourage cats to use it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PKUUU0/?tag=thecatsite

Try not to leave clothes or towels on the floor. For some reason lots of cats find them tempting to pee on.

Thank you for reading this and any suggestions.
We have 3 feral cats. One male and two female. The male lees outside somewhere. One female does also but has used a litter box before.
The other female, who just started warming up to us and not running, has started peeing upstairs in my room on any clothes on the floor. Why? Anyone know? Is she marking territory?
This female has been afraid to come in since the other female is very domineering and will go after her.
The cats have been here for like 8 years now. Only now has the one female who has peed on my clothes started coming in and even sleeping inside.

That is great insightful information. They are all fixed. There is only the one litter box that I did put up in the room but she peed on the clothes instead. I will get two more now that you mentioned it.

 

[Norachan]

Some cats don't understand what a litter box is for at first. You could try putting some of the dirt and dry leaves from outside on top of the litter so she is encouraged to dig there. If you have a piece of clothing she's already peed on and you are willing to sacrifice you could put that in the litter box with some cat litter sprinkled on top of it.

If she pees outside the box again clean up with a piece of tissue and then put that in the litter box. Once the litter smells of her pee she'll probably get the idea.

I don't know why clothes on the floor are so tempting to cats but my lot helped me to train my husband, so I'm not complaining.

 

[peacesad]

Some cats don't understand what a litter box is for at first. You could try putting some of the dirt and dry leaves from outside on top of the litter so she is encouraged to dig there. If you have a piece of clothing she's already peed on and you are willing to sacrifice you could put that in the litter box with some cat litter sprinkled on top of it.

If she pees outside the box again clean up with a piece of tissue and then put that in the litter box. Once the litter smells of her pee she'll probably get the idea.

I don't know why clothes on the floor are so tempting to cats but my lot helped me to train my husband, so I'm not complaining.

Lol. The new box is in the room. She hasn’t peed inside since. I do hope she will learn to use it. I’ve heard about putting some leaves on it and I’ll try the peed on paper towel too. Thanks.

 

[di and bob]

The solution is simple for your clothes, keep them picked up. After finding a big spider in my pants. I sure do! I agree with the above, she is claiming you as hers, she is getting closer to you. You are her 'territory.

 

[peacesad]

The standoff. Black one is the pee kitty. The calico is the domineer. I’ll try keeping clothes off the ground.

 

[peacesad]

Hi again. It seems another of our 3 feral inside/outside cats has made the house smell like pee. I don’t know if it’s one spot, many spots, marking squirts or whatever. Do the UV lights work? It’s a male cat, so I suspect he may have squirted in more than one place. He never used a box. This cold snowy weather is making him stay inside more. How to I find and clean the spot(s)? Thanks

 

[daftcat75]

Yes. The UV lights work. Any pet supply store, Amazon, or Chewy should have the UV lights. They should also have an enzyme cleaner to bust up the pee you can't smell so your boys don't smell it either. If he's going to be spending time inside, I would get a large dog crate or play pen to keep him in when you can't supervise him. Perhaps being confined with a litterbox might teach him some manners. But mostly you're confining him so he doesn't continue to use your house as his personal bathroom.

 

[dalya]

Hello there,

Yes, they do work. I have got one that I bought from Amazon even before I adopted my cats. the minute I have decided to adopt I got my self a UV light first. you just have to understand that they help you spot all dried liquids. This means that it's not necessary that everything you find is pee. It could be food or drink spills or anything at all. I also happened to find this detergent extremely strong on pee smell. I spray it everywhere my cats go and I spray it on pee spots and on the places they sleep in so it gets rid of the odor too.

Good luck

 

[T.O.]

Oh yes. They are wonderful. They have those UV flashlights at many box stores. Your usually aiming for about cat butt height around the walls and furniture. I use a combination approach to cleaning: use the best enzyme cleaner I can get my hands on, and white vinegar and sometimes leave baking soda on it to pull smells out of porous materials. Or use vinegar and baking soda together to work into fabrics like carpeting. I’ve also used the plug in pheromones to help relax cats and break the stress spraying habit. Which I was surprised worked. Place in areas where the spraying is happening.

 

[peacesad]

Such great advice!

 

[T.O.]

Such great advice!

“They” say that the vinegar mimics the spray smell to cats and will trigger spraying... I’ve never found this to be true. But you should know that.

 

[neely]

TCS has a great Article about how to get the urine smell out using non-toxic solutions:
How To Get Cat Urine Smell Out Of Carpet: Effective, Non-toxic Solutions – TheCatSite Articles

 

[peacesad]

Cat owners are really the best! Seriously. Thanks