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- Aug 4, 2024
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I'm desperate for help.
We rescued our first and oldest cat when she was about a year old, Bella. While she will use a litter box, she habitually finds other places to urinate. She has destroyed clothes, shoes, pillows, toys, rugs, papers, electronics, flooring and more. I've tried everything else the vet has suggested, but can't usually find or catch her to give her medication. Bella does not like to be held at all, fights with everything she has when I have to catch her to get her to the vet.
It was time to replace the carpets, mostly due to the overwhelming cat urine smell from her peeing on any and all accessible carpet/wall spaces in both our living and dining rooms. Bella occasionally pees on lids of plastic containers, which we store the pet food in (she's fed regularly twice a day, and is average weight per the vet).
We have two dogs and 3 other cats, but she came to us this way, and it was almost a year before we got "her" a kitten, in hopes of making her happy, and maybe learning better potty habits from the new guy (he only uses the box). The rest all came after her. But, I firmly believe it has nothing to do with the rest of the furry family, due to this happening for a full year before any others came.
We did have a dog before we got Bella. But he was no longer with us when Bella arrived. I've often wondered if it was his scent being around the house that caused her to mark. I've watched Jackson Galaxy in hopes of learning how to fix this... And he suggested even changing the flooring, which makes total sense due to the liquid permiating even our subfloor (she would go behind the TV, and other things hidden from sight), so if we couldn't locate it right away, it would sometimes go without getting cleaned. We found so-called waterproof flooring, and, to keep costs down, we've been installing ourselves. We went so far as to cover the subfloor with a rubberized sealant to get rid of the urine scent, as totally replacing the subfloor, as we'd originally intended, wasn't going to be within our limited renovating abilities, or budget. We've been at it for 15 months (first reno), and while we are 40% complete, doing one room at a time, the first room flooring now has two different places that have failed. One due to Bella's urine being under a shoe by the back door, that just hadn't gotten used for a few weeks while my daughter was on vacation), so we weren't aware it was there. The flooring is supposed to be top-down waterproof, but has failed miserably. I thought maybe it ran down the board, and got in at the end that wasn't silicone sealed at the transition, because the transition is only temporary, until we remodel the kitchen, next. But this morning found another spot on the other side of the room, that was out in the open and we never noticed liquid sitting, so it must've only been a small amount, in the tiny groove the edges of the boards create. We are very upset about the flooring failing, but that is being directed to the manufacturer.
I love my cat, and only in the last few years (she's about 10 years old now), has she started letting me cuddle her some. She now lies on my pillow at night OCCASIONALLY, and will curl up around my head. She's always loved to play in my hair (it's long, so like string to her I guess), but it took her living with us for 5 years before she warmed up to even considering jumping on my bed to seek pets, even with all other animals doing it.
We also have always had 5 litter boxes for the 4 cats, that would get a thorough cleaning weekly. We even spent the $1000 (with all the accessories) Litter Robot, too ensure a clean box every time, but neither she nor another cat will use it regularly. We would use litter attract. I even had two of the cheaper autocleaning machines with reusable trays at one point Anything to keep the box clean. We've now spent easily $5,000-$6,000 on cleaning and replacement due to Bella's peeing everywhere, that's not including the flooring, which we were due to replace anyway. But we went with a more expensive product we thought would stand up to her problem... Thats for another forum.
We are feeling really defeated... Any suggestions are welcome. My husband really just wants to get rid of the cat, but I am not that type to give her to anyone. If I ever give up this cat, it's to a loving home that is well aware of the urinating issue and can maybe even give her a space entirely to herself, as I think that is the only way to get her to stop urinating on whatever, if it's all hers. But, before we even actually consider that... I'm asking for any other ideas. She's not a playful cat, just really a loner. So I don't think it's an attention or exercise issue either.
We rescued our first and oldest cat when she was about a year old, Bella. While she will use a litter box, she habitually finds other places to urinate. She has destroyed clothes, shoes, pillows, toys, rugs, papers, electronics, flooring and more. I've tried everything else the vet has suggested, but can't usually find or catch her to give her medication. Bella does not like to be held at all, fights with everything she has when I have to catch her to get her to the vet.
It was time to replace the carpets, mostly due to the overwhelming cat urine smell from her peeing on any and all accessible carpet/wall spaces in both our living and dining rooms. Bella occasionally pees on lids of plastic containers, which we store the pet food in (she's fed regularly twice a day, and is average weight per the vet).
We have two dogs and 3 other cats, but she came to us this way, and it was almost a year before we got "her" a kitten, in hopes of making her happy, and maybe learning better potty habits from the new guy (he only uses the box). The rest all came after her. But, I firmly believe it has nothing to do with the rest of the furry family, due to this happening for a full year before any others came.
We did have a dog before we got Bella. But he was no longer with us when Bella arrived. I've often wondered if it was his scent being around the house that caused her to mark. I've watched Jackson Galaxy in hopes of learning how to fix this... And he suggested even changing the flooring, which makes total sense due to the liquid permiating even our subfloor (she would go behind the TV, and other things hidden from sight), so if we couldn't locate it right away, it would sometimes go without getting cleaned. We found so-called waterproof flooring, and, to keep costs down, we've been installing ourselves. We went so far as to cover the subfloor with a rubberized sealant to get rid of the urine scent, as totally replacing the subfloor, as we'd originally intended, wasn't going to be within our limited renovating abilities, or budget. We've been at it for 15 months (first reno), and while we are 40% complete, doing one room at a time, the first room flooring now has two different places that have failed. One due to Bella's urine being under a shoe by the back door, that just hadn't gotten used for a few weeks while my daughter was on vacation), so we weren't aware it was there. The flooring is supposed to be top-down waterproof, but has failed miserably. I thought maybe it ran down the board, and got in at the end that wasn't silicone sealed at the transition, because the transition is only temporary, until we remodel the kitchen, next. But this morning found another spot on the other side of the room, that was out in the open and we never noticed liquid sitting, so it must've only been a small amount, in the tiny groove the edges of the boards create. We are very upset about the flooring failing, but that is being directed to the manufacturer.
I love my cat, and only in the last few years (she's about 10 years old now), has she started letting me cuddle her some. She now lies on my pillow at night OCCASIONALLY, and will curl up around my head. She's always loved to play in my hair (it's long, so like string to her I guess), but it took her living with us for 5 years before she warmed up to even considering jumping on my bed to seek pets, even with all other animals doing it.
We also have always had 5 litter boxes for the 4 cats, that would get a thorough cleaning weekly. We even spent the $1000 (with all the accessories) Litter Robot, too ensure a clean box every time, but neither she nor another cat will use it regularly. We would use litter attract. I even had two of the cheaper autocleaning machines with reusable trays at one point Anything to keep the box clean. We've now spent easily $5,000-$6,000 on cleaning and replacement due to Bella's peeing everywhere, that's not including the flooring, which we were due to replace anyway. But we went with a more expensive product we thought would stand up to her problem... Thats for another forum.
We are feeling really defeated... Any suggestions are welcome. My husband really just wants to get rid of the cat, but I am not that type to give her to anyone. If I ever give up this cat, it's to a loving home that is well aware of the urinating issue and can maybe even give her a space entirely to herself, as I think that is the only way to get her to stop urinating on whatever, if it's all hers. But, before we even actually consider that... I'm asking for any other ideas. She's not a playful cat, just really a loner. So I don't think it's an attention or exercise issue either.
