Help, Recently Adopted A Barn Cat.

[Northernnature]

Hi everybody, I'm new to your forum and I'm a novice when it comes to cats. I have two cats and have recently adopted a barn cat. Well, to be honest he adopted us. He showed up on our property during a real cold snap, poor little guy had severe frost bite on his ears and toes. Turns out he walked almost three kilometres. We found the owners and he went home and two weeks later, he came back. The owner said we could keep him.

The problem that I'm having is he doesn't always use the litter box. I have him set up in a spare bedroom and when he's in there he always uses the box. But when I let him out, he will pee on the floor.

He has a vet appointment on the January 18th, to have his "dingle berries" plucked, vaccinations and all that good stuff. Will getting him fixed help with this problem or does anybody have any other ideas or solutions. Any and all suggestions are welcome, thanks.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. It might help some after he is neutered, but then again it might not. Your best bet is to set up multiple litter boxes - one for each area he is in. After all he is a barn cat, they go pretty much where they want to go. But, since he does use the one litter box, if he has more available to him in the other areas he is in, he will likely use those too. Once he is more used to his new environment and settles in, you will probably be able to remove some the boxes.

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS.

As FeebysOwner has posted, neutering may stop his peeing outside the litter box. Do you think it's spraying/territorial marking, or just normal bladder emptying. Since it happens outside of his safe room, it might be because he smells your other cats' scents.

Be sure you clean the areas where he's peed with an enzyme cleaner to totally remove the urine scent. You might also want to get a black light to ensure you've found all the places he's peed.

How To Remove Cat Urine
How To Remove Cat Urine Odor From Your Home

Has he met the other cats yet? Or is that waiting till he's neutered?

 

[FeebysOwner]

too!!

 

[Suru]

Mine was also a barn cat, he was very young (5mo) but he had already started peeing on things. The behavior stopped a couple of weeks after I got him neutered.

 

[Northernnature]

Hi. It might help some after he is neutered, but then again it might not. Your best bet is to set up multiple litter boxes - one for each area he is in. After all he is a barn cat, they go pretty much where they want to go. But, since he does use the one litter box, if he has more available to him in the other areas he is in, he will likely use those too. Once he is more used to his new environment and settles in, you will probably be able to remove some the boxes.

Thanks for the great advice. I'm going to add a few more litter boxes, hopefully that helps.

 

[Northernnature]

Hello and welcome to TCS.

As FeebysOwner has posted, neutering may stop his peeing outside the litter box. Do you think it's spraying/territorial marking, or just normal bladder emptying. Since it happens outside of his safe room, it might be because he smells your other cats' scents.

Be sure you clean the areas where he's peed with an enzyme cleaner to totally remove the urine scent. You might also want to get a black light to ensure you've found all the places he's peed.

How To Remove Cat Urine
How To Remove Cat Urine Odor From Your Home

Has he met the other cats yet? Or is that waiting till he's neutered?

Thanks so much for your response. I think it's just bladder emptying. He squats and pee's on the floor, not standing and spraying on things. The urine does not have a strong odor like marking urine.

The first time it happened, I had accidentally closed the door to his room when he was out socializing, my fault. I cleaned the area really good and all was well. The second time was about a week later, in a different spot in the living room. His litter box was about 12 feet away, down a hallway in front of his room.

He has met my female cat, she's spayed and they get along great. Well, except for the fact that "Miss Kitty Russell" is a bit of a diva and likes to hiss at him if she doesn't see him coming. But that's getting better. He has seen my neutered male cat, Dolce, from a short distance and they seem like they're going to be ok, no hissing or growling, just curious. I'm waiting until after the vet appointment to see how the two boys get along.

I'm going to get some enzyme spray, thanks for the idea.

 

[Northernnature]

Mine was also a barn cat, he was very young (5mo) but he had already started peeing on things. The behavior stopped a couple of weeks after I got him neutered.

I'm so happy to hear that neutering help your cat. We think he is quite young, around a year old, my vet will confirm approximately how old he is. You've given me hope that this problem will hopefully go away.

 

[rubysmama]

Good luck with him. Keep us posted on his progress. And post a picture of him, and your other cats, if you can.
How To Add A Picture To Your Forum Post

 

[Suru]

I think it's just bladder emptying. He squats and pee's on the floor, not standing and spraying on things. The urine does not have a strong odor like marking urine.

Yep that sounds exactly like what mine did, just randomly peeing, but no strong odor, not quite spraying, just peeing...and usually on new things I get him, like a new blanket etc.
If the vet can rule out uti problems then I think he may just need to be neutered.

The multiple litterbox idea also sounds great. My cat took to the house right away and didn't really need a safe room, but I still isolated him in a very small bathroom with his food and litterbox for a week or so, so that he can familiarize himself with the litter box.