peeing around the house- HELP!!!

[veegan]

I dont know what to do. I just moved to a new apt on april 25th. the former tenant did not have any pets (or at least the landlord was told he didnt..). at first I had the litter box in my bedroom. but then moved it to the bathroom. and things appeared to be fine. the cats all knew where it was and were using it.

then, on may 8th I adopted my new dog, Alki. felix is a scaredy cat, and I knew hed need time adjusting to her, but shes great with the cats and leaves them alone for the most part, as does brock. well alki wasnt potty trained when I got her, and would have pee & poo accidents in my room a lot. but some of the pee accidents didnt seem like they couldve been hers, like they were smaller or she wasnt even in the room at the time. so I was suspecting maybe felix was having accidents in my room (his hideout area is under my bed) because he was too scared to go to the bathroom. so I reluctantly moved the litterbox BACK to my bedroom.

but then! one of the cats had accidents in the bathroom, and someone (cats or alki) had a couple accidents in front of the bathroom in the hall on the carpet! so since the cats didnt seem to prefer the litterbox in the bedroom, and once felix was coming out of my bedroom willingly when alki was out too, I moved the box back to the bathroom.

and now I pretty much NEVER actually see felix use the litterbox, and occasionally I see him peeing along the wall in the livingroom!!! it stinks like PEE in here, and I know hes doing it when Im not around too. its frustrating also because I cant SEE the pee on the carpet!! its old carpet and I think because hes doing it along the wall that it seeps in along the edges! UGH the last thing I want to worry about is having to pay for recarpeting this place.

Im really frustrated because in the 9 years Ive had him he has NEVER done anything like this. I put foil along the walls in the livingroom (had to do this with my moms cat at the house and it worked 100%) but I dont think its helping. I tried cleaning the areas hes peed, but like I said I dont really know where all hes going.

also, I find no poop anywhere so either hes using the box sometimes, or the dogs are eating it (and I KNOW brock would GLADLY!). any advice is greatly appreciated. Im so frustrated and sad that hes doing this. Id NEVER give him up, dont worry, I just want to stop this!! THANK YOU

[jazzcat]

You really should take him to the vet and have him tested for a urinary tract infection. Spraying is a big sign of UTI. If it's not an infection the vet may give you something to give Felix to calm him. My cat Ripley was spraying and turns out he had a slight infection but he also had behavioral problems. He took antibiotics and Valium and it helped to get him to calm down and start using the litterbox consistently.

The stress of the new home, new dog and all these changes could have brought on his problems. Good luck.

Also, you might want to try something like Nature's Miracle to clean the pee spots well and then buy some Feliway to spray around to help calm him also.

[Barbara]

When my mom's dog comes to visit there is always the risk that Filou will start to pee outside the litterbox:( although Amber is very good with kitties.

What you can do is: how many litterboxes do you have? Best is to have as many as you have cats.

Next: give the culprit much much attention.

Next: make sure he has a place of his own where he can hide. Even if Alki behaves very well, Felix may prefer to avoid him. Make sure he can reach the litterbox from there without interfering with the dogs.

Buy a blacklight and look where there is pee. You will have to clean everything spotless else Felix will try to go back again. Others here will know better what you can use for cleaning as the breands are different in Europe and in the US.

Good luck!

[aly]

I was going to suggest the vet visit, black light, Nature's Miracle, and Feliway as well :) I think all of that will really help. Poor Felix. I hope you get it all figured out and back to normal soon :)

[veegan]

thank you for the suggestions! they are all wonderful.

I thought Id heard that spraying could be health related; Ill have him checked on monday. and the blacklight is a great idea! I didnt even think of that.

[CalliesMom]

Shadow peed outside the litter box for a month straight when we lived in Tucson. We could not figure what the matter was with her so we had to put a litter box by the front door where she was urinating. We took her to the vet, figured out it wasn't a UTI and he asked some general questions. It turned out that I had moved the litter box from the large bathroom to the small bathroom and she did not like it being moved. I put a litter box back and she quit peeing on the floor.

We are currently living in AL and she started peeing outside the box again. ON her favorite beds to boot. Her brother started attacking her more so I figured this was her way to "get revenge" but took her to the vet to rule out UTI, Diabetes, whatever. Again, it was behavioral and the best solution we came up with was to simply separate the two while we are gone and at night. This has worked amazingly well (knock on wood) and she has her own litter box that no one else uses unless Callie "spends the night" in our room. She is no longer in fear of being attacked, she prefers the bedroom over anywhere else in the house and Whisper's aggression has ceased now that they are only together while we are home. We have had no accidents and she has regained some adorable behaviors she had lost years ago (like pouncing on things moving under the covers and she is a lot more loving now).

I would try and rule out any UTIs but it sounds like this is more behavioral than anything. You should try putting a litter box in both the bathroom and the bedroom--as you should have a litter box for each cat + 1. I would try to steam clean the carpets with Pet Carpet Rinse and Nature's MIracle also works wonders. Good luck!

[momcat]

It could be that kitty is a bit scared of Alki, here's this new guy on the block who's bigger that she is. It would be a good idea to rule out any kind of medical cause for the problem. This would be a good time to explain the problem to your vet. If there's no medical cause (praying there isn't), your vet will most likely be an excellent source for possible solutions. Here's hoping the problem isn't serious and can be resolved with a good dose of TLC. Please let us know how you make out.....

[Grace]

I agree with CalliesMom - have a litter box in both the bathroom and bedroom.

And, of course, have a Vet check.

[catmandu]

I WOULD GET A FEW MORE LITTER BOXES,TOO,AND TRY,TO KEEP,THE DOG,FROM TRYING,TO PLAY,AS THE CAT,IS TRYING,TO GO.WHICH SADLY,IS EASIER,SAID THAN DONE.GOOD LUCK.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/catmandu/Picture423.jpg

[catnapper]

I agree - more litterboxes are in order. Rule of thumb is one box per cat plus one. 3 cats = 4 boxes. If they have a few really super sized boxes or you scoop several times a day, then you can get away with fewer. If he is afraid to use the box because of the new dog, could you possibly move a box up high for a temporary thing? Perhaps if he's up high and far away from the dog he'll feel more confient.

Cats do not do change well. I'm sure this is a temporary situation for the poor boy!:)

[veegan]

I appreciate all the suggestions, I will try all of them. Im having him checked tomorrow for UTI, and will set up 2 new litter boxes tonight. I only have 1 covered box which I can put in the livingroom where hes been peeing, and since the bathroom is gated off I can leave an uncovered one in there & an uncovered one on the table in my bedroom- the dogs will get into them otherwise, well at least brock will for sure, he likes to eat the poo AND the corn litter! Ive always ever had 1 litterbox, and felix has lived with another cat his whole life. even when I got the 3rd in october I had just 1 box and theyve always been fine. I clean it at LEAST once a day, usually 2-3 times. BUT I will certainly try adding more; if its not the dirtyness thats bothering him, it could be placement. who knows! we'll see. when I got home just now my apt REAKED like cat urine when I walked in, (it didnt smell like this yesterday!!) so I think this is going to require a steam cleaning. I get paid on friday so Ill rent one next weekend. hopefully Ill see improvment by then. again I really really appreciate the help, I bet this will fix the problem. and I know felix is thankful too, hes obviously been trying to tell me SOMETHING! ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/pessimisaurus/fe-hi.jpg

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

My first thought was also: put several litterboxes in house. In my opinion, your Felix deosnt want to disturb the big dog, so he pees wherever he is not near the dog :( . What did the vet say?

[veegan]

UGH!!!! I just showed felix where the livingroom litter box was, and he sniffed at it for a few moments, so I thought 'oh good hes going to use it.' because if he wasnt hed have walked away right away. so I walk away and then turn back around and see him under the table, 2 feet from the litterbox, PEEING ON THE FLOOR!!!!!!!!!!!! JKLDASH KLDAS ARG this is SO FRUSTRAING!!!! why is he not using the boxes even though they are RIGHT THERE?!!?!?!? someone pooped in the livingroom box today, and there was pee & poo in the bathroom box this morning and again tonight. nothing in the bedroom box yet. I forgot to take him to work today so Ill bring him tomorrow to get the urine & do a basic blood test too just because hes 9 and hasnt been checked since he was a kitten probably. hes never been sick before. I almost hope we find something wrong with him just to have an answer. UGH. I dont think the dogs are the problem because the livingroom is where they spend all their time, and thats where hes peeing. if he were afraid of them he wouldnt come out here. ugh. I dont know. guess Ill wait on the urinalysis.

[momcat]

Something occured to me as I was reading your most recent post. You mentioned that your dogs spend quite a bit of time in the living room- the site of the problem, right? Just maybe your kitty is doing this to mark the "territory" as his and reminding the dogs that this is "his" turf. You might want to consider asking your vet about the possibility?

[veegan]

momcat- yeah that is something I was curious about too. I suppose that makes sense.

if its not a bladder problem, then hopefully once I get the carpets cleaned and the smell is neutralized, he will stop.. Ive been making sure to pay a lot of attention to him now, and will look into getting some feliway.