I discovered this site and then this thread only an hour ago, but already I feel "at home" because I'm reading about other crazy cat ladies who live in virtual cat toilets and somehow cope. I too have furniture wrapped in plastic under washable covers, and in places I have plastic taped up against the floors and walls. Just before finding this site I was in my daylight basement, nearly in tears because I just found more places with cat pee to clean up. Even after nearly 20 years of doing this, it still gets to me. Visiting places like this with a mug of tea and a few chocolate hobnobs (I'll work them off later when I go on a cleaning blitz) at my elbow is the way to restore my sense of balance.

I did once "punish" a male cat (I shouldn't have named him Loki, it was asking for some kind of trouble) for peeing on some saucepans and packets of food - he peed on everything, including up in my face a few times. I thought I was about to go crazy and was actually afraid I'd hurt him, so I got a pan of tepid water, snuck up on him and upended it. As you can imagine, only a very small amount hit Loki and I spent an hour cleaning water out of the carpet.