Spayed Raggie Urinating on Husband

[JennRaggie]

My one year old female Ragdoll, recently started urinating on our old couch and now our bed where my husband sleeps. She did not have any litter box issues previously and does still urinate and defecate in the littler box. She started at about 11months old, and was spayed at 12 months. We have one other cat in the house, her brother. They are closely bonded. She only urinates on our bed where my husband sleeps and it is while we are home, in the room or shortly after leaving the bedroom. She's even peed on him, through the covers while we sleep.

She was not spayed when the behavior started. She had several heat cycles with no issues and then the urinating started end of December, multiple times a day. She was recently spayed on Jan 24th. Feliway Classic out everywhere in house. No urination problems for over a week, and they started back up a week later. Full disclosure, my husband urinated on the bed several years ago and had urinated on our old couch. I am wondering if this is the issue.

Vet visit Feb 1st showed negative urinalysis and scan for stones came back negative. Moved one of our three litter boxes to the main floor (where it was when they were kittens), got all new bedding, and switched to Hills Urinary Care c/d food at vet recommendation. She's has two accidents since, one in the couch and one on the bed, each about a week apart.

Breeder recommended secluding her in a room for 3-4 weeks but I fear that will put too much stress in her and her brother. I cannot get rid of the husband (ha), and I certainly will not give up on her. Help! Any ideas how to reverse the behavior?

 

[di and bob]

Spaying caused her system to go haywire for a while, the emotional and physical response to getting used to losing all those hormones is immence. It takes at elast 6 weeks to clear her system of all the hormones that are driving her to mark. Since you have had her checked out at the vets it is behavioral, not physical. There could indeed be a responce from her smelling the old urination spots. She is trying to cover them up with her own scent and make them hers. Get a good ENZYME cat urine eliminator that actually eliminates odors, not just cleans them. I would research them on the internet. i ahve used Nature's Miracle, there is a professional one, or stronger one, available, and it cleaned up a basement that had been used as a dog kennel very well in an old house we bought. It took three applications. You could try putting a throw on the spot on the couch, and sealing your mattress in a waterproof mattress cover after treating. It is MUCH harder to stop innapropriate urinating once it has become established then to have had her spayed much younger. Intact females often mark just like the males. If these seem to be the only spots, I would get some clear plastic carpet protector with teh little nubs on the back and cut them tp fit the spots. Put them nub side up and she won't walk there to urinate. I used this to break a male from spraying. It is easily removed.
This WILL stop in time with perserverance on your side. My male finally stopped, but it took months. She will settle down, she has had major upheavals in her life with the spaying, and no cat likes that! Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[rubysmama]

Here's a TCS article that might be helpful: How To Get Cat Pee Smell Out Of Clothes And Linens – Cat Articles

Welcome to TCS, btw. Fingers crossed your kitty gets back to using the litter box regularly soon.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I strongly recommend you use the article rubysmama provided to you to try to remove old urine smells from the couch and the bed, just to either stop her from doing what she is doing, or to speed up the process of it stopping on its own should it be spay/hormonally related. Cats can smell much better than we can, so it is highly likely there is a urine scent in those items where she is peeing.

Worse case scenario, try to clean the mattress, let it dry thoroughly and then flip the mattress over. Then, add a plastic mattress cover in case it happens again.

For the couch, if it is a particular cushion (or two) that is removable, I would take them to a cleaners and ask them if they can clean it with the intention of getting rid of an old urine smell. Better yet, if the covers on the cushions are removable, do the same, and then take the inside foam/material of the cushion to a fabric store and have them cut new ones for the size you need and get rid of the old ones.