Out of control pee issues...please help!!

[81lives]

Hi everyone, my Lucy has been peeing where she shouldn't for almost a year now, and it is getting worse and worse.

I adopted her in April 2011, when she was exactly a year old. She had always lived with other cats, and I had fostered her for 3 months before I adopted her with no pee issues. In August or September of last year, she started peeing on all sorts of things. We took her to the vet, and she had a UTI. This was treated and her urine has been checked multiple times since, always comes back clear of any problems.

At that point, we'd find something once in a while that had been peed on--the dustpan, rugs, piles of laundry. Since then the problem has increased dramatically; everyday our washer is filled with load after load of clothes, pillows, blankets/bedspreads, etc etc. She will pee on just about anything--furniture, our beds, the top of the dining room table...anything. She will also pee on things standing up--like boys do when they spray, which I thought was really weird.

I have tried everything I can think of. I clean the litter more often, I use bleach to try and remove the scent, I even bought the expensive 'Cat Attract' litter. The thing is, she uses the litter too. Often when I clean the litter, she comes in and pees in it as I'm cleaning it. And sometimes, if I catch her about to go on something else, I can tell her 'come with me' and we'll go to the litter box, and she'll get in and go there instead.

I should mention I have 6 other cats. At about the same time Lucy had the UTI, one of my other cats, Maxie, started bullying her and trying to take possession of my room, where Lucy likes to sleep. I thought this may be at least part of the cause of the peeing, so I have been closing off the upstairs at night and only letting Lucy in (this leaves her my room and 2 other rooms to sleep in as she chooses). I haven't seen any decrease in peeing from doing this, though.

I am out of ideas and have no idea what to do. If anyone has any suggestions for things I could try, I would really appreciate it. The vet's only other suggestions were putting her on Prozac (!) or using the Comfort Zone plug-ins--but she said they only really work in small, enclosed spaces.

Sorry for the novel!!

 

[81lives]

I forgot to say that she is spayed! 

And also that I did read the sticky about this, but as far as I could tell we have tried most of the suggestions that seemed to apply to our situation and was hoping someone may have some other ideas or advice.  Thanks!

 

[princessesme]

Just a couple of questions, so it can help us with tips.

How many litter boxes do you have for the house?
How often are they cleaned?
What are the locations of your litter boxes?

One thing you noted was cleaning with bleach, but if she is peeing in places you should use urine remover that is specially formulated for urine and other things like vomit, etc. I used to have issues with Esme and we also bought an inexpensive urine light and ran around the house, soaked those areas we missed with urine cleaner, steam cleaned, and re cleaned with urine remover to be 1000% sure we got it.

 

[princessesme]

A few more tips:
Try different amounts of litter (with multiple boxes, you could do a Thin, medium, and thick and see if she might be attracted to it more)
Try a different type of litter? (such as some of the natural types versus regular scoopable)
Even though you said you keep the box clean, try scooping more often.

I know it can be frustrating but hang in there!

 

[carolina]

The key thing I noticed is that you are cleaning the spots with bleach..... not only it is ineffective, but for some cats it is actually attractive to pee on that spot again :/

I would say get yourself a GOOD enzyme cleaner - and a black light, as you will have to treat all the spots..... And forget the spray bottles.... Buy by the gallons. you really need to soak the surfaces well. If carpet, make sure to go all the way down the padding.
Nok out and anti-icky-poo are very good brands, Nok out IMHO is probably the best one....
Good luck!

 

[81lives]

Thanks for the info and suggestions, guys!

@PrincessEsme, I have 2 large (I think 2 foot by 4 foot) boxes in the game/living room downstairs, and 1 mid-sized box in my bedroom upstairs.  I scoop the 2 big ones 2x/day, and the upstairs one 1x/day.  I know it doesn't sound like enough boxes, but they stay pretty clean.   I could probably put one in the upstairs bathroom and/or the other bedroom...but downstairs we just don't have many convenient places, which is how we ended up with both boxes in the same room.  I can also try to scoop more often and experiment with different amounts and types of litter.  I mostly use the clay clumpable kinds, so I could try something else and see if she responds to it.  I did try one of the ones made from corn, and my cats didn't seem to like it--picky picky, haha!

I had NO idea about the bleach--I thought I was knocking out that pee smell, lol!  No wonder she goes back to the same things after I clean them!  Thank you, Carolina, for the suggestions.  I will definitely be buying several jugs!  The black light is a great idea too--though I'm kind of scared to even see how many spots there really are

  Hopefully I can find a cleaner that can be used in laundry too!

Someone suggested that I confine her (in a crate, bathroom, etc) but I'm on the fence about it.  Lucy is a very nervous cat--before I fostered her, she wouldn't let anyone touch her.  She wasn't feral, just shy.  It took a lot of work to get her to trust me, and even a year later, she won't let anyone but her Mommy pet her.  I just don't want to do anything that will scare or upset her.  I guess we'll see how it goes with the cleaning first.

Anyway, thanks again for your help.  I'll let you know how it goes!
 

 

[81lives]

I thought I'd give a bit of an update and see if anyone has any hints for me.  (I know this is an old thread--please let me know if I should have started a new one).

It's been two months now, and this is still going on.  :/  Lucy is still confined to my bedroom (an upgrade from the bathroom).  She has done quite well using her litter box within the room, and also when I let her out upstairs (I block off the stairs so she has a bedroom, an office, and the bathroom to roam in).  She has only had one accident while upstairs, and that was on sheets that I had taken off the bed and sat on the floor.  Otherwise, I haven't found any pee outside the litterbox upstairs.

I have tried letting her come downstairs a few times, but she is all over the house (very energetic) so it is hard to watch her all of the time.  A couple of times, I found something with pee on it afterward, and each time that happened I kept her confined upstairs for a while before letting her down again.  Aside from that one accident, she always does fine up there.  This week I tried again, and after 2 uneventful nights spending 1-2 hours downstairs, I let her down this morning and she peed on a blanket after about 5 minutes.

I'm just wondering whether I haven't kept her confined long enough, or if this is something that will just never go away.  I guess it's not the end of the world for her to live upstairs, but she doesn't like it and is always trying to 'escape' down here.  I can't understand why she does it downstairs but not upstairs--unless it's the other cats downstairs, which can't go upstairs since i have it blocked off.  She lived with other cats before I adopted her though, so that shouldn't be a problem.  Any ideas, thoughts, suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[carolina]

So the peeing is happening on blankets and sheet only? What happens if there are no blankets around? Also, what are you using to wash them?
Has she been to the vet lately? I mean - recently? When was the last time she was in to check if the UTI was back?

 

[orientalslave]

The key thing I noticed is that you are cleaning the spots with bleach..... not only it is ineffective, but for some cats it is actually attractive to pee on that spot again :/
 

Biological / enzyme laundry powder or liquid is cheap and just as effective as the rather pricey specialist products.

 

[alexh17]

Sorry if this has already been suggested to you.... but have you tried cutting up lemons and leaving them on small plates in the areas she pees?

By the sounds of it, she was peeing anywhere and everywhere so i'm not suggesting filling your house with the plates as this would look untidy- but positioning them in the most favoured spots, or even locations which would direct her more to her tray, may work.

Our last cat had a habit of going in the kitchen, in the gap she could get in behind the oven- no amount of putting her nose near it or removal of treats would help- i eventually put a few lemon slices under there and she never went back.

We have 2 new boys now, and i'll be doing exactly the same with them if they start- works a treat and makes your house smell nice and fresh! :-)

Hope you solve the problem so Lucy can behave herself all over the house!

A

 

[81lives]

Carolina--before I started confining her, it was just about anything.  Now, though, her slip-ups have all been on soft, cushiony things, and all on the floor.  She went on a dog bed as well as the blanket and sheets, but I guess in form and texture they would all seem the same to her.  When we don't have things like that on the floor, she has strictly peed in the litter box.  I have been cleaning with Odo-ban.  I believe she went to the vet last in Feb. 2012.  I don't think it's another UTI, since she goes for long stretches without peeing outside the box.  when she had her UTI, she was going on everything!  I have heard about kits you can buy to test the urine at home, and thought about doing that--I just try to space out the vet visits as much as possible, because our vet is 30 minutes away and Lucy freaks out the entire way there, thrashing around and trying to claw her way out of the carrier.

OrientalSlave--I'm not familiar with those, is there a brand you'd recommend?

AlexH17--I hadn't heard about using lemons, but I will have to try that!  Thank you for the suggestion, and good luck with your new babies!

 

[carolina]

If she only pees on things on the floor, blankets, and such, what happens if there is nothing left on the floor? She will pee religiously on the box? Maybe that's the solution? Having nothing laying on the floor for her to pee on?
Are you washing the blankets with an enzyme detergent as well?

 

[orientalslave]

OrientalSlave--I'm not familiar with those, is there a brand you'd recommend?

The cheapest enzyme / biological laundry power or liquid will be fine, just check it doesn't have a strong scent when you buy it or look for an unscented one.

 

[carolina]

The cheapest enzyme / biological laundry power or liquid will be fine, just check it doesn't have a strong scent when you buy it or look for an unscented one.

and don't use bleach!! :nod:

 

[81lives]

I wanted to thank everyone for the advice, we ended up finding moderate success with a combination of the things suggested.  We've had a few 'accidents' here and there, but almost always when we either left cushy things on the floor or let her roam for too long without making sure she used the litterbox.  Amazingly, she developed a habit of going in the box when I clean it and/or am standing nearby, so when I let her downstairs, we go right to the box, clean it, and if she goes, she can stay downstairs.  If not, it's back up to mom's room to try again later. 

 

[carolina]

I wanted to thank everyone for the advice, we ended up finding moderate success with a combination of the things suggested.  We've had a few 'accidents' here and there, but almost always when we either left cushy things on the floor or let her roam for too long without making sure she used the litterbox.  Amazingly, she developed a habit of going in the box when I clean it and/or am standing nearby, so when I let her downstairs, we go right to the box, clean it, and if she goes, she can stay downstairs.  If not, it's back up to mom's room to try again later. 

:bigthumb:
Yeah..... means that she is a real neat freak about her box - I have a cat who is like this - she LOVES a just cleaned litter box. She will wait all day for me to clean it, then will use it when I just clean it.

If you have several boxes and clean very often - keeping it clean all the time, you will probably solve your problem..... you might even want to think about investing in an automated litterbox, if that fits your budget :nod: