Hey all,
I'm currently battling the bane of every cat owner's existence: urine. UGH OMG IT SMELLS, GUYS
This may get lengthy but I will try to be as concise as possible, but here goes!
Two weeks ago, we discovered a little bit of pee on the mat in the bathroom. We weren't sure what was going on, so we just figured it was an anomaly. Two nights later, we discover more under the desk in the bedroom. Vet was called first thing in the morning and she was seen almost right away, as I wanted to rule out any medical issues.
Urinalysis came back fine (thankfully, or maybe not) and the doc said she could have a slight inflammation... she had three doses of an anti-inflammatory, and that was that.
More pee found a few days later... at this point, we're going, "what the heck?!" and trying to figure it out.... thankfully, we've watched countless episodes of My Cat From Hell and figured it out... There's this high cabinet/hutch thing that used to be in our bedroom. Bellatrix (kitty in question) slept on it almost 90% of the time. It wasn't ours, though, it was my stepmother's (we live in the basement apartment below my father and her). It was huge and taking up so much room, and they finally took it upstairs 2-3wks ago.... well, this was basically the straw that broke her back! No more high spot for my little tree dweller.
Shelves have been built in two rooms in the apartment. She has her high spot back....
Flash forward to four nights ago;, we smelled pee. I thought it was the old spot in the bedroom from before because it still smelled and I figured it wasn't cleaned properly. I used some basic enzyme cleaner that they had upstairs and we went to bed thinking it was ok. That next morning, the smell was TOTALLY out of control... turn on the light and inspect, it's EVERYWHERE around the bed! On the rugs, surrounding the base boards (it's a platform bed) dried on, still wet, semi wet....OH. MY. GOD.
Mind you.... we just replaced this carpet and it is in pieces for easy removal for a reason. We just got done dealing with incessant flooding this past winter due to a flaw in the foundation. One night it leaked in and destroyed the (ugly) carpet, so it was tossed... this new carpet is red, fuzzy, shaggy, awesome. Now... covered in pee. Talk about adding insult to injury.
So..... my plan of action has been as follows: We have shut her out of the bedroom and the bathroom, where the peeing occurred. I got the recommendation from the vet to get Nature's Miracle stain and odor remover (I got "Just for Cats") and I completely soaked the cement floor all around the bed, lifted the bed with blocks and got underneath as far as I could, and splashed anywhere else I thought was touched by pee. That was Wednesday evening, and the smell finally dissipated yesterday (it has a tendency to intensify the smell as it's doing its' thing and breaking down the urine). Today is Saturday, and I just got done with my second round of cleaning, since I'm not taking any chances. I've also done the same in the bathroom. I dumped the leftovers on the carpets that are outside on tarps but I plan on ordering the carpet shampoo by that brand. I'm also slowly integrating World's Best Cat Litter to just be thorough...
I received Feliway spray in the mail yesterday. I've started to spray it on the couch because she scratches that; if I can kill two birds with one stone and help her stop peeing AND scratching, let's go for it! So... we'll see how she responds to that. I've heard nothing but good things about that stuff. I plan on getting a couple of diffusers as well, once the cleaner has completely dried and we may think about letting her back into those rooms...
In addition to all this, Bellatrix has been put on Prozac. Like, really, Prozac?! Did my research on that as well, and actually, that's how I came across this site!! She is on .5ml a day. I'm supposed to give her some with her dinner right now, but she's snoozing up on her shelf that she still has access to at the moment and I want to let her be. I'm trying to play with her more, give her more love (if THAT'S possible!) and give her the confidence that Jackson Galaxy always preaches about.
Drumroll please.... today makes three out of three days she has PEED IN THE LITTERBOX!!! I haven't seen this consistency in two weeks, probably cause all the pee was going under our bed -_-
So.... all in all, it seems to be going alright. I'm wondering if my efforts are beginning to pay off...I know the Prozac isn't fully in her yet, but I just can't wait until we can let her back into the other rooms. If anyone has any similar experiences with techniques, meds, anything they want to share, or comments, I welcome anything. I am 25, and have been a cat owner/lover since I was a small toddling human, and this is the first time I have had the misfortune of experiencing something like this! I've gone into SuperKittenMommy Mode...
If you've made it this far, I commend you! I can ramble... but this has been two weeks' worth of pure pee hell. I'm EXHAUSTED! But I've done my homework. I just wish I could let her back in to the rest of our already small space. Thanks for reading
I'm currently battling the bane of every cat owner's existence: urine. UGH OMG IT SMELLS, GUYS
This may get lengthy but I will try to be as concise as possible, but here goes!
Two weeks ago, we discovered a little bit of pee on the mat in the bathroom. We weren't sure what was going on, so we just figured it was an anomaly. Two nights later, we discover more under the desk in the bedroom. Vet was called first thing in the morning and she was seen almost right away, as I wanted to rule out any medical issues.
Urinalysis came back fine (thankfully, or maybe not) and the doc said she could have a slight inflammation... she had three doses of an anti-inflammatory, and that was that.
More pee found a few days later... at this point, we're going, "what the heck?!" and trying to figure it out.... thankfully, we've watched countless episodes of My Cat From Hell and figured it out... There's this high cabinet/hutch thing that used to be in our bedroom. Bellatrix (kitty in question) slept on it almost 90% of the time. It wasn't ours, though, it was my stepmother's (we live in the basement apartment below my father and her). It was huge and taking up so much room, and they finally took it upstairs 2-3wks ago.... well, this was basically the straw that broke her back! No more high spot for my little tree dweller.
Shelves have been built in two rooms in the apartment. She has her high spot back....
Flash forward to four nights ago;, we smelled pee. I thought it was the old spot in the bedroom from before because it still smelled and I figured it wasn't cleaned properly. I used some basic enzyme cleaner that they had upstairs and we went to bed thinking it was ok. That next morning, the smell was TOTALLY out of control... turn on the light and inspect, it's EVERYWHERE around the bed! On the rugs, surrounding the base boards (it's a platform bed) dried on, still wet, semi wet....OH. MY. GOD.
Mind you.... we just replaced this carpet and it is in pieces for easy removal for a reason. We just got done dealing with incessant flooding this past winter due to a flaw in the foundation. One night it leaked in and destroyed the (ugly) carpet, so it was tossed... this new carpet is red, fuzzy, shaggy, awesome. Now... covered in pee. Talk about adding insult to injury.
So..... my plan of action has been as follows: We have shut her out of the bedroom and the bathroom, where the peeing occurred. I got the recommendation from the vet to get Nature's Miracle stain and odor remover (I got "Just for Cats") and I completely soaked the cement floor all around the bed, lifted the bed with blocks and got underneath as far as I could, and splashed anywhere else I thought was touched by pee. That was Wednesday evening, and the smell finally dissipated yesterday (it has a tendency to intensify the smell as it's doing its' thing and breaking down the urine). Today is Saturday, and I just got done with my second round of cleaning, since I'm not taking any chances. I've also done the same in the bathroom. I dumped the leftovers on the carpets that are outside on tarps but I plan on ordering the carpet shampoo by that brand. I'm also slowly integrating World's Best Cat Litter to just be thorough...
I received Feliway spray in the mail yesterday. I've started to spray it on the couch because she scratches that; if I can kill two birds with one stone and help her stop peeing AND scratching, let's go for it! So... we'll see how she responds to that. I've heard nothing but good things about that stuff. I plan on getting a couple of diffusers as well, once the cleaner has completely dried and we may think about letting her back into those rooms...
In addition to all this, Bellatrix has been put on Prozac. Like, really, Prozac?! Did my research on that as well, and actually, that's how I came across this site!! She is on .5ml a day. I'm supposed to give her some with her dinner right now, but she's snoozing up on her shelf that she still has access to at the moment and I want to let her be. I'm trying to play with her more, give her more love (if THAT'S possible!) and give her the confidence that Jackson Galaxy always preaches about.
Drumroll please.... today makes three out of three days she has PEED IN THE LITTERBOX!!! I haven't seen this consistency in two weeks, probably cause all the pee was going under our bed -_-
So.... all in all, it seems to be going alright. I'm wondering if my efforts are beginning to pay off...I know the Prozac isn't fully in her yet, but I just can't wait until we can let her back into the other rooms. If anyone has any similar experiences with techniques, meds, anything they want to share, or comments, I welcome anything. I am 25, and have been a cat owner/lover since I was a small toddling human, and this is the first time I have had the misfortune of experiencing something like this! I've gone into SuperKittenMommy Mode...
If you've made it this far, I commend you! I can ramble... but this has been two weeks' worth of pure pee hell. I'm EXHAUSTED! But I've done my homework. I just wish I could let her back in to the rest of our already small space. Thanks for reading