My cat is urinating where he sleeps

[molex333]

I recently adopted 2 cats from the local humane league. I have had cats throughout most of my life. My wife and I bought a house and thought it would be nice to have cats (after my last cat died, I met my wife and she had a dog. We lived in an apartment and could not have a dog and a cat in a small place).

Since we adopted them, the two cats have been great. One is a male(Apollo) and one is a female (Calliope). The have both been spayed/neutered. We set up 2 litter boxes for them and for the first couple of months there were no problems. Recently, Apollo started urinating outside the litter box. It started on the rug, just outside the box (I clean both boxes daily and have even tried twice a day). Then he started urinating on the couch. I tried some of the methods here and when I did, he switched to urinating on the recliner. This keeps continuing. Everytime I stop him from urinating in one area he urinates in a new area. I have no idea what is making him do this (he had a UTI when we adopted him, we gave him Rx food and pills, he got better.) He was just checked again to see if the UTI was back, but the urinalysis was negative. I do not want to put him on kitty prozac because it justs feels like I wouldn't be fixing the real problem, just medicating the cat like that.

He is a great cat otherwise and he gets along great with the female. They fight occasionaly but never bad (no scars or injusries, just some growls and hisses and a little swatting). He never urinates on anything personal or out of place. In fact he urinates in the places that he likes to sleep. I have never known a cat that urinated on thier own sleeping places. Whenever I clean an area and prevent him from urinating on it, he finds a new place to sleep. After a few days, he urinates on it. I am very frustrated because I love him and I refuse to give up on him. The people at the humane league said that he was returned twice, I guess I know why. I read all the posts here about spraying(which is not what he does) and all the posts about how to stop them from urinating. I don't know what to do, please help.

 

[emmylou]

Do you mean that he's peeing while he's sleeping? As you guessed, peeing on the sleeping place is unlikely to be behavioral... it really indicates that the cat is incontinent for some medical reason. I would see if you can get a second opinion from another vet. Maybe he has a non-UTI medical problem that is causing this... for instance, muscle control problems in the rear or tail area, or possibly even some inflammation or mass in the abdomen that's pressing on his bladder. Does he have any other symptoms? Is he on any medications? Or it could be an unusual urinary-tract condition that the first vet didn't discover.

If it is behavioral, have you tried using a different kind of litter? Peeing right next to the box indicates that the cat wants to use the box, but is in pain or unhappy with the box in some way — wrong kind of litter, box too large or too small, box in an undesirable or exposed area, box isn't clean enough or is too clean (having been cleaned with harsh chemicals or perfumed).

Make sure you clean the areas where he's had accidents with enzymatic cleaners.

If further vet trips don't help, I wonder whether you might put dog pee pads in the areas where he sleeps... the texture might actually be attractive to the cat, since there are sleeping pads that look similar, and cats love to sit on paper.

There are also medications that can be tried for inappropriate elimination. If all other medical problems are ruled out, I think there's nothing wrong with trying medication that would allow him to stay in his home.

 

[ognstub]

poor guy.
did you check for other illnesses?
hows the litter box situation?
is he stressed out?

 

[molex333]

He doesn't pee while he sleeps, he pees where he sleeps. He uses the litterbox when he feels like it. He will go sometimes a week w/o urinating outside the box and then one day, he will urinate on his cat bet or the couch, or wherever he was laying that day. I can not seem to figure it out. There doesn't seem to be a pattern to it. I use Nature's miracle to clean up when he is done. I am going to buy some Feliway today to see if that helps. I will also try to make an appointment with another vet and see what they say. Thanks for your help.

 

[howtoholdacat]

It sounds like he might be marking his territory since it's always near his favorites spots. I'm glad to hear you're going to get the Feliway. I think it might be what you need. Since your cat came from a rescue he may just be feeling somewhat unsettled. Maybe he's scared he'll be moved again and is trying to establish his territory.

 

[darlili]

you might also want to try Cat Attract litter - it was designed for cats with litter box issues. It worked great for my boy.

 

[laureen227]

Originally Posted by darlili

you might also want to try Cat Attract litter - it was designed for cats with litter box issues. It worked great for my boy.

mine, too. there's both a litter & an additive for other brands of litter: CatAttract

 

[kat89447]

You might ask the vet about bladder crystals. While it is more common in females, I had a male that got them very often until he was about 10 years old. He had similar behavior to your cat.

 

[yya33615]

This is our EXACT issue at the moment w our male cat. What ever happened w yours? We're at the point where even the vet is telling us to give up on him.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

 
This is our EXACT issue at the moment w our male cat. What ever happened w yours? We're at the point where even the vet is telling us to give up on him.

Hi and welcome to TCS! 

This thread was started several years ago and it doesn't look like the original poster has been on in a while.  If you'd like; please feel free to start a new thread and tell us about what has been going on with your male cat.  Hopefully we will have some helpful advice for you!