desperately need advice on new cat

[aguu]

My parents adopted a one year old sweet little girl named Kizia.
When we first saw her she was pure love, all purrs and affection. We soon learned that she is pure love with humans and pure evil with cats!! She seems to be very jealous when my parents other cat Lucy gets any kind of attention - she viciously attacked Lucy when my mom was petting her!!
Poor Lucy got so stressed we had to take her to the vet (my mom thought she was dying) she was barely breathing and not eating...
The good news is Lucy is feeling better and they even seem to be tolerating each other now (it's been about a month since Kizia's arrival)

and so now I arrive to the actual problem - it seems that "someone" has been peeing on my parent's bed!!! It has happend twice now in the last week - same spot right by my mom's pillow. They cleaned it and spayed it with that enzyme stuff and it happend again a few days later anyway.....
Please please give me your suggestions and ideas!!
Thank you

[sirrahved]

1. Get a new pillow

2. Make sure litter is SPOTLESS at all times

3. Don't allow kitties in the bedroom for a while if possible

We had a peeing problem in one corner of the living room for a while... but we broke it with clean litter constantly and petno. I don't know if you would want to use this on a bed! (stinky!)

[Barbara]

I am not an expert but with many people here at PT I learned that introducing a cat to another is a longer process and can have its setbacks.

However I have some experience in cats that are very picky with their toilet.

Do they have 2 litterboxes? It's the minimum. And as Devon said: always clean it after they used it (The good thing: mine complein first to the service before they look for other places)

In addition - watch what they are doing. Our litterboxes were covered and Tigris used to attack Filou in the box. Because of the cover Filou couldn't escape and started to avoid the litterbox. Now I have open boxes which needs more cleaning, but the pee is in and not in the basket with the dirty laundry

Good luck in finding the reason and in introducing Kizia to Lucy

[kuhio98]

It's been 11 months now since we brought home a second cat. They have learned to tolerate each other but that's about it. We have hopes that some day they will get along.

Definitely have at least 2 litter boxes.
Close the bedroom door during the day.
The entire family needs to decide who is the "alpha" cat. (Probably the first kitty). Then, you need to greet, play, pet, feed the alpha cat first.

That's what finally stopped the terrorizing in our house. I was treating one cat as the alpha and my husband was treating the other one as #1. The kitties were confused and fought for our attention. Once we both decided that Cammie was #1 Halo's attacks on Cammie stopped.

Good luck.

[lotsocats]

This is something I wrote for my local Humane Society to give to people who are having this problem. I hope it helps!


Stopping Inappropriate Urination

First, we need to know for sure that the problem is urinating rather than spraying. If the cat is
standing and the urine shoots straight back so that he/she is aiming high on the wall or side of the
couch, it is spraying. If the cat squats while urinating, it is normal urination. This hand-out is for
urination problems rather than for spraying.

The first and most important thing to do is to take the cat to the vet! You need to specify
that the cat is urinating outside the box so that the vet knows what to look for. Urinating outside
the litter box is the #1 symptom of urinary tract problems! A urinary blockage can quickly kill a
cat!

If the vet says she is okay, then consider making a few changes:

• If you use a covered litter box, take off the lid. Many cats refuse to use covered boxes.

• Most cats prefer fine-grained unscented litter. So, try changing litter even if she liked this litter
in the past.

• Most cats prefer to poop in a different box than the one in which they pee. So have at least
two boxes for one cat.

• If you have more than one cat, make sure you have at least one litter box per cat PLUS one
extra box. So, if you have two cats, three litter boxes is ideal. Do not place the boxes right
next to each other. Two boxes that are together is the same as just one box in the cat’s mind!

• Make sure you scoop the litter box daily, and with multiple cats, scoop twice daily. Cats often
refuse to use dirty boxes. Most of us avoid toilets that are full of pee and poop. Cats are
even more fastidious than us humans and certainly have more delicate senses of smell, so of
course they do not want to step in a box full of old feces and urine! A clean rug is much more
attractive than a dirty box!

• If your litter boxes are old, they may have absorbed odors even if you regularly clean them.
So, try buying new boxes.

• Make sure your litter boxes are in a place where the cat feels safe while going potty. If she is
disturbed by you or your kids or another cat or dog while she is trying to potty, she will
choose to use a safer location. So, move the litter box to a location where she can see the
comings and goings of the other people and animals in the house. You can set up the box in
the corner of a room, then surround the box with nice house plants. It will be attractive and
open enough for the cat to feel safe!

• Put a litter box on each level (floor) of the house.

• Make sure you thoroughly clean all old urine spots on the rug and elsewhere. If she can smell
the old urine she will think that place is a good place to potty. Use a flourescent black light to
find old urine and treat all old spots with an enzymatic cleanser.

• Try putting a plastic carpet runner upside down on the places she likes to urinate....most cats
don't like to walk on the "spikes" so they will avoid the covered spots.

• Put something real smelly where she likes to urinate...most cats hate the smell of citrus, so try
putting citrus scented air freshener or orange peels or citrus potpourri where she urinates.

• According to Cat Behaviorist Amy Shojai- if your cat is peeing on personal items the cat is
probably stressed out over something. Urinating on some object that holds your scent is
calming to him. If you can eliminate the stressor, chances are good that the potty problem will
end.

• If your cat is standing inside the litter box and aiming outside the box, you simply need a
larger box! Try a Rubbermaid under-bed storage container as a litter box instead of the
typical small box.

[kittenlittle]

When introducing a new cat to a home, it is best to do it very slowly. I introduced a new kitten to my home which already has a 2 year old cat. As strongly recommended by the vet, we kept the kitten behind closed doors unable to see the other cat for a week. They became curious and eventually began playing together with their paws under the door. Then the next week we would switch them for about an hour allowing the new kitten to walk around the house without fear of the other. The next week they would play together, supervised, for a few hours a day when we were home from work. After about 3 weeks we were able to leave them alone together, and now they are best friends. They cuddle, play, etc.
It is a very long process, but in the best interest of you and your cats, that is the way to go.
More than likely, it is your oldest cat that is peeing, since she feels as if her home is being taken over by another cat. I would pay extra attention to her, give lots of love, play with her, etc. Unless she has an infection, she is only trying to communicate to you.

[felinefanatic]

I was gonna give you some advice on your cat's "peeing on pillow problem" but then I read the reply from "lots o cats" and she covered it all! The advice she gave you is very accurate and thorough.I hope it has helped you.I suspect the peeing is due to lingering stress between the two cats.Good luck.

[treybabe]

We had a similar situation when introducing our new girl, Janni, to our feline family of three about four months ago. After the initial hostiliy quieted down between our new girl, Janni, and our other girl, Gusty, we noticed that someone was leaving us presents in the bathtub every night. With four cats in a household we had to play Sherlock to catch the culprit. Actually we narrowed it down by process of elimination. Some suspects were out on the porch at the time, etc. Anyway, it turned out to be our older girl - who has always been "Miss Clean" about making the litter box.

What then helped was to start giving each one of the two enemies extra attention(lots of petting, brushing, laps, etc. and cheerful pep talks) but to do it in separate quarters like another room with the door closed. That way each could be queen of the moment without the other watching. We noticed after a while the presents in the bathtub ceased. Of course, it also helped to close the bathroom door when we remembered.