How to prevent cat from re-marking a spot she urinated on

[lajgojgoj]

Hey there. I have a 12 year old cat who is very neat and likes her litterbox very clean. When I bought and moved to my house almost 2 years ago, everything got so busy that I forgot to clean her litterbox for a few days and between that and the stress of the move she peed in a spot on my carpet in the living room. I've done my best to clean it, I've used various enzyme cleaners, got the carpet steam cleaned, ripped up the corner and cleaned underneath and replaced the padding but it still smells faintly (I'm sure stronger to her, obviously). My carpet is very thick and shaggy and I feel like it's been harder to clean it due to this. But since this incident, I added another box and cleaned both at least once a day, and she did not pee in the same spot again. The other day, I caught her squatting and about to pee in this spot and scooped her up and dropped her off at the litterbox. I panicked and bought a ton of puppy pads and laid down them all around the spot in the living room, and when I came home the next day from work, there was pee on the puppy pad. I recently took her to the vet in January and all of her labwork and exams came back normal. She is acting normally otherwise, and there's no new stressors in the house. She is an only cat, and I have no kids. What can I do to keep her from going in this spot? I feel like I've tried everything. I almost want to just rip up and replace the carpet entirely now but I'm worried that since she is old she might have another accident in the future if she gets sick even if it's unrelated to this. There's unfortunately no way with the layout of my house to keep her out of the room. Thanks for your time!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. What is the sub-flooring beneath the carpeting and mat? It might have soaked into that. You may have to repeat what you did, but also treat the sub-flooring. There are treatments for both concrete and wood, so that might be the way you have to go. If you think it still might be in the carpet fibers, you could try Vetoquinol "The Equalizer" - it doesn't require soaking the carpeting to be effective. Not saying an old spot like that can be cleared with this product, but I have used it with success on some accidents my cat had years ago.

The thing is if she hasn't been trying to pee in that location for a long time now, it would seem logical something is going on that caused her to do so now. Were you gone a long time and didn't have the chance to clean the litter boxes? Or something like that? There must have been some sort of trigger. And tbh, cats that age can have a health issue crop up pretty quickly, so you may not be able to rule that out entirely, especially if other 'odd' changes occur in her.

I gather this spot must be close to a corner? If so, you might want to move a piece of furniture - or some other type obstacle - over that spot to help discourage her from trying again in that area.

The pee pads might have actually encouraged her to go there - some cats when they are not entirely 'up to par' seem to like to pee on soft things. I would refrain from using the pads again, until and/or unless you have more accidents. At that time, I would place a litter box with pee pads in that spot.

 

[lajgojgoj]

Hi. What is the sub-flooring beneath the carpeting and mat? It might have soaked into that. You may have to repeat what you did, but also treat the sub-flooring. There are treatments for both concrete and wood, so that might be the way you have to go. If you think it still might be in the carpet fibers, you could try Vetoquinol "The Equalizer" - it doesn't require soaking the carpeting to be effective. Not saying an old spot like that can be cleared with this product, but I have used it with success on some accidents my cat had years ago.

The thing is if she hasn't been trying to pee in that location for a long time now, it would seem logical something is going on that caused her to do so now. Were you gone a long time and didn't have the chance to clean the litter boxes? Or something like that? There must have been some sort of trigger. And tbh, cats that age can have a health issue crop up pretty quickly, so you may not be able to rule that out entirely, especially if other 'odd' changes occur in her.

I gather this spot must be close to a corner? If so, you might want to move a piece of furniture - or some other type obstacle - over that spot to help discourage her from trying again in that area.

The pee pads might have actually encouraged her to go there - some cats when they are not entirely 'up to par' seem to like to pee on soft things. I would refrain from using the pads again, until and/or unless you have more accidents. At that time, I would place a litter box with pee pads in that spot.

I ripped up the subflooring under the effected area (it was like, very thin hard wood tiles), and sprayed the concrete that was underneath with odor blocking primer. It seems like the carpet itself is the part that is the issue, but I can try again. It is in a corner - I placed the pee pads with aluminum foil around it and a laundry basket over it to try to deter her from getting over there at all - I had put the pee pads down as a just in case because I don't want more urine on the carpet, but that is a good point.

As for the trigger, I have not been gone in some time and have been keeping up with her boxes as usual. I agree, she is certainly older, but I'm just surprised to see this so soon after the vet. I'm keeping a close eye on her but she seems happy, is eating and drinking normally, and playing. I'm certainly taking her in again if she pees again outside of the box. I just can't figure out how to eliminate the smell to keep her from being tempted in any type of stress that may come up again

 

[sunny578]

Hello! Have you tried just placing a litter box on the spot?

For me, baking soda and vinegar have been the best option for eliminating the urine odor.

 

[syzygycat]

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I ripped up the subflooring under the effected area (it was like, very thin hard wood tiles), and sprayed the concrete that was underneath with odor blocking primer. It seems like the carpet itself is the part that is the issue, but I can try again. It is in a corner - I placed the pee pads with aluminum foil around it and a laundry basket over it to try to deter her from getting over there at all - I had put the pee pads down as a just in case because I don't want more urine on the carpet, but that is a good point.

As for the trigger, I have not been gone in some time and have been keeping up with her boxes as usual. I agree, she is certainly older, but I'm just surprised to see this so soon after the vet. I'm keeping a close eye on her but she seems happy, is eating and drinking normally, and playing. I'm certainly taking her in again if she pees again outside of the box. I just can't figure out how to eliminate the smell to keep her from being tempted in any type of stress that may come up again

Ive been dealing with one of my cats paing on the floor. 5-10 times a week for 8 years he will be on the wall/floor. ceramic tile, grout, linolium, carpet, hardwood, drywall, concrete, etc. Ive tried every solution. Once I figured out how to completely get rid of it, hed pee n a brand new spot. We now have strategic spots we trick him into peeing on (puppy pads over acrylic sheets in the basement). A normal cat won't mark the spot again if its gone.
Enzyme carpet shampoos are ok for fresh surface stains and thin office carpetting not much else. Regular carpet shampoo and steam are going to make older or just deeper urine stains worse.

My understanding is the location is: shag carpet, carpet pad, parquet (wood tiles), then Concrete?
so...is this a basement?

Is the concrete a foundation floor? You don't want to be applying paint or primer to the inside of concrete, cinderblock foundations.

How far is the urine from the drywall and trim... drywall, wood trim, the wood framing between drwall panels, and insulation in the wall are all porous.


Getting rid of urine and making sure the spot isnt reused isn't that difficult or expensive, if you want detailed advice let me know more about the area.

 

[segelkatt]

The thing is to discourage the cat from going anywhere near the spot. Anything citrus will keep the cat away, they hate that smell. My Chamouti recently decided that every once in a while he will go on the tile floor right next to the LitterRobot and leave a puddle there, then scratch madly on the tile. He usually does that just as I am waking up and I hear the scratching. So I clean that up with lots of water and then a wet Swiffer. After that I spray the whole area but not right in front of the LitterRobot, with an Orange cleaner, leaving a path without an orange smell and let that dry. He will then do his business where he is supposed to. I keep spraying the area twice a day for several more days (it must really insult his nose) and he won't do his evil deed for several weeks. It may stink to him but I hardly smell it , and once it is dry I do not smell it at all, but I am sure he does.
Maybe if you practically soak that spot with anything orange or lemon it will give your cat the idea that this is not a good spot to be.