Inappropriate Peeing

[Cwissinie]

HELP! I was almost at my wit's end, and this latest incident with my older cat really puts me there. She's heading towards 16 years old; I just took her to the vet two weeks ago, where he ran blood tests, etc., and she got pretty much a clean bill of health -- other than the fact that she has neurological problems that he thinks would be too costly to deal with at her age. The main issue she has is that she has "forgotten" how to use her litter boxes. I can't remember the last time that she's peed in one of them, although she frequently does poop in them. Okay, so I put down pee pee pads in the areas where I had seen her peeing, and she started using those. Fine. Last night she decided she wanted to start spending her time in my bedroom, which is fine, too. There's a litter box right next door in the bathroom, but rather than going in there to use the box, she peed on my bed. I pulled off all the sheets and washed everything, and when I returned this afternoon from running errands, she had peed on the mattress cover. I sleep in that bed every night, and I really don't want to wake up to pee on the covers and sheets, but Budjr (my cat) is beginning to make the bed her litter box. And I don't have a clue as to what to do. Does anyone know of something I could use to keep Budjr from peeing on the bed, to make it less "attractive" to her? Warren Eckstein says if you put some of their food near the area where they're peeing, they won't pee there, but I can't cover my bed with food. If I put some food in a couple of spots, she'll just move to another area of the bed -- probably one of the pillows will be next -- and pee there.

If anyone has any thoughts or advice, I would love to hear them. Thank you!

 

[danteshuman]

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Can you put a tarp over the bed during the day or a shower curtain (that's already been taken out of the package so it doesn't still have the fumes) or keep her out of your bedroom? Also, try a litter called Cat Attract, it may help

 

[Cara80]

I'm not sure what's going on, but at her age she could have arthritis and associates squatting in the litterbox with pain. I know sometimes cats will pee outside the litterbox when they're stressed too, you could try out a prescription for gabapentin which would help with both pain and stress. If she has a weak bladder, i'm not sure what you could do beyond helping her to the litterbox every 3-5 hours

 

[Cwissinie]

Thanks, but she doesn't have arthritis; in fact, according to the vet, she doesn't "have" anything. He thinks her in appropriate peeing is a combination of age (primarily) and possibly her neurological issues. Even if I take her to the litter box and put her in there, she jumps out immediately. It's just not her thing anymore. Really frustrating.

 

[Cwissinie]

Thanks, Furballsmom. I did think of the tarp over the bed, but what happens when I GO to bed? She already peed in the bed while I was sleeping in it. I did cover it, and I'm going to sleep in the other bedroom tonight (I go to bed rather late), just so I can get some sleep. (With my luck, she'll come in that bedroom and pee on that bed, but we'll see.) I've tried Cat Attract before, and it didn't work. I don't really think the cat litter is the issue, since she does occasionally use the litter box to poop. She just doesn't seem to realize that she's doing anything "wrong."

 

[Furballsmom]

You could try cat diapers, or try putting unfertilized potting soil in a box to see if she likes that. You could also try putting just puppy pee pads in a box, sometimes cats like that

 

[danteshuman]

If it is neurological then she has no control over when & how she does it. I would suggest you take her to a neurologist for cats. There are medications for humans to help rebuild nerves & have more bladder control. There are probably medications you can give your kitty to help if she does in fact have a neurological issue. You can go to a special (human) pharmecy where they can break up human medication into cat aproved doses/pills so you can give her newer human medication your vet prescribes. I have MS and it SUCKS when your body won’t do what it is supposed to do. So please be patient with your kitty. If it isn’t neurological then because you might be at the end of your rope, you can talk to your vet about something like Prozac.

In the meantime I would pee proof your bedroom (using a tarp with junk towels or a blanket you don’t mind pee placed on top of the tarp.) I would try cat attract litter; because it couldn’t hurt. Meanwhile get a black light and clean everything that glows with an enzyme cleaner.

*If you put her in diapers (maybe to sleep with you) please be aware ideally you would rinse/hose down her back half for 5 minutes (or a hose off soak in warm water for 5 minutes) then towel dry her. Why? Pee has acid in it that if left in her skin to long can give her mild ulcers on her private bits. It might be possible to just use baby wipes on her between diaper changes and I would research this if you go that route.

*Sarah broke her spin right above her tail. She lost the ability to move her tail, pee & poop on her own for awhile and a year later when she slowly got better she peed every time she fell asleep. My mom’s solution? Waterproof mattress liners, waterproof pillowcases, a tarp over the bed before she left with towels/cat beds on top of the tarp covered bed, towels in cat beds (wrapped in a garbage bag, towels on top) for her to use everywhere she liked to be, plus the baths I mentioned at least every other day but done most days. Cat diapers might have been less effects. Then at least twice a week, wash the ‘Sarah towels’ on sanitize with a box of arm & hammer in each load (to get out the smell.)

 

[danteshuman]

*I meant cat diaper might have been more effective/a better option.

Yes they sell diapers for cats.

 

[Cwissinie]

You could try cat diapers, or try putting unfertilized potting soil in a box to see if she likes that. You could also try putting just puppy pee pads in a box, sometimes cats like that

Budjr is a unique cat (but then I imagine most of our fur babies are unique). She would NEVER allow me to put cat diapers on her. When I first got her, I wanted to put a collar w/a bell on her in case she went outside. OMG, you'd think I was trying to scalp her. She would have none of it. Even now, after all these years, it's a terrible experience just to try to get her drops of Advantage II or whatever on her. After saving her from a shelter, the vet who checked her over told me she was allergic to fleas, so to make sure I put drops on her every month, regularly. I thought it would be a cinch, but nothing has been easy with her. Anyway, I did put some pee pee pads in a litter box, so thanks for that suggestion. Since she and I spent a good part of the day outside and since I closed the door to my bedroom, she hasn't been in there today, but if she sneaks in tonight, I'll see if that might work. (BTW, the tarp did no good...she just walked on it and peed on it in three different spots.)

 

[Cwissinie]

If it is neurological then she has no control over when & how she does it. I would suggest you take her to a neurologist for cats. There are medications for humans to help rebuild nerves & have more bladder control. There are probably medications you can give your kitty to help if she does in fact have a neurological issue. You can go to a special (human) pharmecy where they can break up human medication into cat aproved doses/pills so you can give her newer human medication your vet prescribes. I have MS and it SUCKS when your body won’t do what it is supposed to do. So please be patient with your kitty. If it isn’t neurological then because you might be at the end of your rope, you can talk to your vet about something like Prozac.

In the meantime I would pee proof your bedroom (using a tarp with junk towels or a blanket you don’t mind pee placed on top of the tarp.) I would try cat attract litter; because it couldn’t hurt. Meanwhile get a black light and clean everything that glows with an enzyme cleaner.

*If you put her in diapers (maybe to sleep with you) please be aware ideally you would rinse/hose down her back half for 5 minutes (or a hose off soak in warm water for 5 minutes) then towel dry her. Why? Pee has acid in it that if left in her skin to long can give her mild ulcers on her private bits. It might be possible to just use baby wipes on her between diaper changes and I would research this if you go that route.

*Sarah broke her spin right above her tail. She lost the ability to move her tail, pee & poop on her own for awhile and a year later when she slowly got better she peed every time she fell asleep. My mom’s solution? Waterproof mattress liners, waterproof pillowcases, a tarp over the bed before she left with towels/cat beds on top of the tarp covered bed, towels in cat beds (wrapped in a garbage bag, towels on top) for her to use everywhere she liked to be, plus the baths I mentioned at least every other day but done most days. Cat diapers might have been less effects. Then at least twice a week, wash the ‘Sarah towels’ on sanitize with a box of arm & hammer in each load (to get out the smell.)

Aw, I'm so sorry you have to deal with MS. My sister-in-law had that, so I'm familiar with the body not cooperating. I am patient with Budjr, but it gets to be so frustrating. As I told furballsmom, I wouldn't be able to put diapers on her -- and I certainly wouldn't be able to use baby wipes on her. I've had some cats that were very docile and cooperative, but Budjr is not one of them.

Is the Prozac for me or for the cat? ;-)

I may try the tarp on the bed, with towels and cat beds on top, but my concern is that I'd like to use my own bed for sleeping, and all of that has to come off when I go to bed. Since Budjr won't wear diapers, and she has decided that the bed is for peeing, I don't want to wake up every day to bed clothes that have been peed on and need to be washed. And I'm not going to sleep in the other bedroom or on the couch every night, so...

Someone suggested keeping her out of the bedroom, which I could do, but I don't really want to do that, because it seems like punishment to me, and I want her to be able to enjoy what life she has left. Plus one of the litter boxes (that she hasn't used for a long time, but my second cat uses it) is in my bathroom, which is connected to my bedroom, so if I close my door, there's no access to the litter box.

Thanks for all your input. I'm hoping that something works out.

 

[Talien]

I may try the tarp on the bed, with towels and cat beds on top, but my concern is that I'd like to use my own bed for sleeping, and all of that has to come off when I go to bed. Since Budjr won't wear diapers, and she has decided that the bed is for peeing, I don't want to wake up every day to bed clothes that have been peed on and need to be washed. And I'm not going to sleep in the other bedroom or on the couch every night, so...

Why not just sleep under the tarp? I did that for a while when one of my Cats had a UTI and was peeing everywhere.

 

[danteshuman]

Cats have very sensitive hearing so I remove all bells from collars.

*sigh* Jackie my twerp is like a bucking bronco when it comes time for his flea medicine! So I hear you on that! Still if she smells like pee, you need to rinse it off. If so tell us and I will tell you how to do it as painlessly as possible.