Help! Peeing to Express Unhappiness and Stress

[karine]

I need help! I have 13 year old male cat that has had this pattern of behavior his whole life. Any time he gets unhappy or stressed about something he finds a spot in the house and pees on the carpet. I have spent countless hours and countless dollars on Nature's Miracle over the years to clean up after him and I just don't know what to do to get him to stop. There is absolutely no chance that he has a UTI or any medical condition because the only time he pees on the carpet is when he's unhappy or stressed - all of the rest of the time he pees in the cat box right where he should. The worst is when I travel and have to leave him and my other two cats home alone for a week with visits from my parents to feed them, etc. Basically I have two questions. One, how do I get him to stop peeing on the carpet when he's unhappy or stressed? Two, how do I get the old and new urine spots cleaned up once and for all? I've always used Nature's Miracle, but I'm not convinced it's doing the best possible job. I've seen people in this forum suggest Urine-Off and Vodka as well as other products. What's the absolute best thing to use.

 

[coaster]

Well, I've got a better use for vodka, I doubt it would be very effective against cat urine. As far as products, I'll defer to other members, because I've never had to use any. But I think you're on target with your observation that your cat pees in response to stress. You know your cat pretty well. So the question then, is how to either prevent the stress, or how to help him deal with it more appropriately. Two suggestions: look into Feliway....it's a product that's supposed to reduce stress levels. And try to anticipate what will stress your cat and defuse the stress with interactive play therapy.

I don't know if this is too basic for you, but here's a link to an article on the site about litterbox problems:
http://www.thecatsite.com/Cats/Cat_C..._Problems.html
And also another link to a thread about same:
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9563

 

[karine]

Thank you very much for the article links as there was some good information in them. Thank you especially for the information on Feliway - it looks like it might be exactly what I'm looking for and I'm excited to give it a try.

Now, if anyone could make suggestions on the absolute best product to use to clean up the old and new urine spots I'll be in business.