Pregnant and DESPERATE! Cat urinating on new couch!

mani

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Thanks for everyone who has been helping and reading <3 it means a lot to me. We really want to help solve the problem. I've heard of people going as far as putting their pet to sleep, if they couldn't get them to stop urinating, and that is unthinkable to me.. While in the pet store, someone overheard our situation and said "And you still let her in the house? I'd give her one of these.." and simulated a boot kick out the door. I love her and want to help her stop doing this.. If we can't stop it before the baby comes, I don't know if we can keep her. And we've had her all her life. I can't have her urinating on his things, or just around the house in general. At the moment it's isolated to the couch, but what would stop her from going on his bed, or stroller or carseat once they're brought in? Gah.. I'm just rambling now. I'm so stressed about this.
 
  I don't really have anything to add at the moment... just thought you may need a ((hug))..


The food idea is one I've never used, but it makes sense.  I'm really hoping the Feliway will do the trick.
 
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mommybun

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Aw, thank you so much, Mani <3 
 We're hoping so, too.
 

tallyollyopia

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Well, if she peed in your spot that blows my theory out of the water and into the stratosphere. 
 Hang in there and good luck!
 
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mommybun

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We've left food bowls on the couch all day. Hard food left out, and fed them wet food twice today on the couch (which she loves), it's 11 pm and she just peed right in front of one of the food bowls with my husband sitting in the floor nearby.

 

We've been giving her a lot of love, praise, treats, playing extra with her.. anything to lessen her anxiety/stress if that's what's causing it.. and seeing no results.
 
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tallyollyopia

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What color is the couch, and is the cover the same color? I know cats are supposed to be color blind, but maybe they have another way to tell and the color is aggravating her somehow. I know I'm really reaching outside the box, and I might be wrong. It's just an idea.
 

mani

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OK.. food bowl theory isn't working.  I'd give up on that and put the food somewhere completely different.

I know you're getting the feliway.  One of our advisors also recommends Composure Liquid Max

I wonder what would happen if you just removed the couch for a while?  Is there anywhere you can put it?

I can't see whether you have had her vet checked for stress induced UTI?
 
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mommybun

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What color is the couch, and is the cover the same color? I know cats are supposed to be color blind, but maybe they have another way to tell and the color is aggravating her somehow. I know I'm really reaching outside the box, and I might be wrong. It's just an idea.
I'm not sure what you mean? The couch is a dark chocolate, and the comforters are gray and black.
Originally Posted by Mani  

I wonder what would happen if you just removed the couch for a while?  Is there anywhere you can put it?

I can't see whether you have had her vet checked for stress induced UTI?
It's impossible for us to move the couch. We live in an upstairs apartment, above a business (and surrounded by businesses) in the middle of town. Took 3 grown men to carry the couch up the stairs and in our apartment. Two of which were family members that came from an hour and a half away just to help us, so we didn't have to pay someone to carry it in.

They didn't find anything wrong with her but gave us some medicine to give to her anyway just in case. To rule it out. We've been giving it to her for a few days.


We contacted the woman (owner of a shelter) that we adopted the two sisters from, and she helped us and gave us a lot of advice. The short version being, we put a pheromone collar on her, put cloth waterproof mattress covers over the cushions of our couch, put lavender scented cotton balls in the creases of our couch (where she's been peeing) and spraying lavender Febreze over the couch. We also got a soft microfiber blanket to lay on the couch, the thought being that if she has a place on the couch she likes to hang out, she's less likely to pee there (she does like the blanket and lays on it, as well as the rest of the couch). We've also been giving her lots of love and praise and treats if she lays on the couch calmly. And in these past 24 hours that we've been trying this, she's urinated on the couch twice anyway. Once yesterday while we were gone grabbing something to eat, and once today while we were in the same room but just off of the couch. While we're around, she lays on the couch all day cleaning herself, napping, playing... but randomly she'll just decide to pee. They have three, very clean litterboxes made from large storage totes. Not close to their food.. When she peed on the couch today, it was really strange. I'm at my computer desk, but it's within a few feet of one of the ends of the couch. She was laying there, calm. So I gave her a treat. She ate it, sniffed around, got up.. walked to the same spot she peed yesterday and peed on it again (with the enzyme cleaner still wet on it from the day before).

As usual.. we're at a loss.. 
 
 
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nansiludie

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I am sorry to hear she is still peeing on the sofa. Can you possibly keep her in a bedroom for a while and see if she'll stay in there and if she'll pee on anything there? I wouldn't think spraying with Febreze will help since it has a chemical odor to it. I was wondering if the feliway came in yet? Also if you got the spray/mist can you spray the sofa? I'll tag Puck as she may have better advice than I do. I hope you can get the peeing under control. @puck
 
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mommybun

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We had thought about isolating her, but if it's stress or anxiety causing her issue.. I think her stress level will only increase if we separate her from us / the other two cats. She has access to the whole house, including a twin bed in the guest room, and our queen bed in our bedroom. She sleeps on both of them, with and without us. And she's urinated on neither. She urinates in the litter boxes and the couch, solely. I wasn't sure about the Febreze myself but we wanted to give it a go. The lavender cotton balls is a natural scent, though.. so it, hypothetically, should be working. Along with her pheromone collar. The Feliway diffuser and spray should both be here Tuesday. Thanks for helping <3
 

tallyollyopia

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Okay, I spoke to someone older and wiser than I am or will ever be, and she had an odd idea. She thinks maybe the cat's upset because you got rid of the old couch. (She also implored me to tell you to make sure that it's ONLY one cat doing to urinating.) Here's her idea: when you see the cat pee on the couch, put the cat in the carrier and leave her there FOR TEN MINUTES. No more, and maybe a little less depending on how stressed she gets. The idea is to teach her that while she may run the house the humans are ultimately in charge and that peeing on the couch will not be allowed. I don't know if this will work; she doesn't know if this will work, but it sounds like you've done just about everything else that can be done. Good luck.
 
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mommybun

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Thank you for your input~ It's 100% for sure only one cat. We kept cushions from the old couch that she lays on throughout the day just as much as she lays on the new couch. We'll keep that idea in our "things to try" list. I'm just a little wary of it because if she's stress urinating, then keeping her in the carrier will just make her more stressed. But I appreciate the idea regardless, and if it gets down to it we'll consider giving it a try. c:
 

tallyollyopia

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Like I said, neither of us are sure it'll work. It's just something to keep in mind. Good luck!
 

nansiludie

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I do not know if crating her is such a good idea, it might cause more stress and more peeing. Can you possibly access the old sofa and get the covers/cushions off of it andd put it on the new sofa? Possibly sew a cover out of the old sofa cover if you can?

@Tallyollyopia   I am afraid that would stress her more and possibly make her avoid being crated. I still say there must be something on the sofa which she is trying to cover. I've seen returned leased sofa's that have been peed,puked, you name it, its been done on it.
 
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mommybun

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What do you mean by "returned lease sofas"? The old sofa has been taken to the dump (it was extremely old and worn in) but we kept two cushions off of it. The reason for this was actually to try and deter one of our OTHER cats from scratching on the new sofa, and instead scratch on the cushions from the old one (which we couldn't keep her from scratching no matter what we did).. But she's not even the problem in this case. Abby (the one urinating) loves to lay on the old couch cushions but  she also loves laying on the new couch. We had considered putting the old cushions onto the new couch temporarily to see if that would change her behavior but we really didn't want to risk her peeing on the old cushions. The new couch is microfiber and can be cleaned, the old couch.. I don't even know what you would call the material. It's like it's covered in yarn. If she were to pee on it, there's no way we could salvage it. It would soak straight through so fast. It would have to be thrown out. So, just weren't sure if we wanted to risk it.
 

nansiludie

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What I meant by that is, I've known some shops to sell older, returned lease sofa's as new sofas with plastic on them. I'm not sure if that's happened to you or not. But I've seen it done. You could try putting a older sofa cushion on the sofa over the spot she usually pees on. After its been cleaned. Also what type of enzyme cleaner are you using on her pee spots?
 
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mommybun

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It was a Rug Doctor brand given to us by a family member. They had used it with some luck. We ordered the old Natures Miracle formula (the one that's supposed to be liquid gold) but it's not here yet. In the mean time the only cleaner we could find in store with enzymes is this.
 

tallyollyopia

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I do not know if crating her is such a good idea, it might cause more stress and more peeing. Can you possibly access the old sofa and get the covers/cushions off of it andd put it on the new sofa? Possibly sew a cover out of the old sofa cover if you can?

@Tallyollyopia
  I am afraid that would stress her more and possibly make her avoid being crated. I still say there must be something on the sofa which she is trying to cover. I've seen returned leased sofa's that have been peed,puked, you name it, its been done on it.
You've got to keep in mind that until last year we didn't have cats in this house. Turtles, birds, dogs--yeah. Cats--no. Besides, desperate times call for desperate measures, and you don't know we're wrong.
 

mani

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When you say the litterboxes are made from 'large storage totes' does that mean they have high sides?
 
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When you say the litterboxes are made from 'large storage totes' does that mean they have high sides?
They do have high sides but have cut a large opening on the side. We leave the lids off. We used to have the lids on but decided to remove them. Used the same style for 3 years and all three cats use them fine. Even Abby (the urinator). We still watch her every day using the litter boxes with no issue.
 
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