Absville Cat-lovers.....HELP!!!!!!!

[vinophile]

I kinow so many of you folks love cats and I have a problem.I have had cats my whole life and in the end of June I adopted an abandoned female kitten who was then about 6 weeks old. I also have a neutered male who is 2 1/2 years old(I adopted him and his brother as kittens but the brother died in March of a heart defect. I had given him an echocardiogram as a kitten and the vet told me he would only live 6 weeks but he lived 2 years and had a happy life) The older male cat has been a doll as the kitten attacks him constantly.
But my problem lies in that he urinates on this one oriental rug I have. He will also go in the ltter box and I never had any problem with him until aboput 2 weeks ago when he started peeing in this one area. He has constant access to his litter box so I don't know what to do with him. I love cats but I hate cat pee. I've never had a cat do this and I have scrubbed the rug with everything known to man. Any ideas ... either behavior techniques or chemicals/natural or otherwize which would make him stop. I just screamed at the kitten so loudly that my two dogs went and hid in the closet and won't come out.The kitten is unfazed of course.
Thanks,
Janet

[cv1]

Absville Cat-lovers.....HELP!!!!!!!

Hi Janet,

I found this site for you. I've adopted many animals so I empathize with you about the behavior. Sometimes it's territory, but here's a site for you to check out for some help and resolution.

http://www.willasark.com/cattreatment.cfm


Cats are free spirits. When you decide to adopt a cat, it means accepting their behaviors, whether instinctual or personality driven. Some instinctual traits are scratching, nocturnal activity, and a desire to "hunt". I have seen personality traits such as teasing, toilet paper shredding, curtain climbing, and playing "fetch". Some traits are pleasant, others are not. As you are getting to know your cat, you'll see what type of personality she has. If she starts doing something that you don't like, you can train her with persistence.

I have known many cat owners throughout the years, and some treat their cats better than they treat humans, and others, well, let's just say I wouldn't want to be a cat at their house. If you really want to get the most out of having a cat, or any other pet, you need to immerse yourself in them. This means having them be part of your life, accepting their bad points along with the good. Adopting a cat means having fur in your house, cleaning a cat box, vacuuming more often, and living with an occasional dug out house plant or knocked over vase. Sometimes your cat might have a fur ball, or feel ill and vomit, or have diarrhea. They are live beings, they have all of the things we have (OK, except for the fur balls).

Locking your cat in a small room when you aren't home is basically leaving her in jail, especially if she is an only cat. In my opinion, you should not have a cat if you feel compelled to do this to her. Most people, if they lock them in a room during the work day, will lock them in there at night too. How would you like to spend your life in a small room, 16 hours a day?

If your cat misbehaves when you aren't home, there may be reasons for her actions. Is she an only cat? Are you gone a lot? Does she have toys and scratching posts and things to keep her mind busy? Solitary cats get very bored and lonely, and usually misbehave more frequently than cats who have other cat companions. Give her toys, hide treats for her everyday, get her a cat tree, or a bed perched by the window. If your cat is doing something you don't like, send your question to Cat Chat, we can probably help.

Hitting or "punishing" your cat is useless and will make your cat avoid you. Cats do not respond to harsh treatment in a positive way. Look at how they are in the wild. They basically sleep around all day with each other and deal with occasional conflicts started by a cat who is challenging the "king" cat. They do not learn through hitting, they learn through warnings. The best way to train your cat is using a spray bottle, it really works!

Fur balls that your cat vomits are identified by the blob of fur-looking mass in liquid that does not fall apart, it stays together. Regular vomit looks like any other vomit, and does not stay together. Does your cat have hairballs often? If so, you can curtail this by giving her a hairball ointment such as Petromalt. Brush her daily to remove loose fur. Remember, long haired cats have this problem, short haired cats usually don't. If your cat is vomiting frequently, and it is not fur balls, she should probably see a veterinarian, and ask them about the proper diet for your cat. She may have special needs.

Peeing and "marking" are two different things. Peeing is what cats do when their bladder is full. Marking is done when a cat wants to tell another cat "This is my property". You can tell the difference between the two by the position of the cat. Peeing is denoted by a normal squatting position over a hole dug in the dirt. Marking is denoted when your cat is standing, tail straight up and flickering, and the urine comes straight out from their behind and hits the wall (or object) about 10 to 12 inches from the ground.

Marking is done by BOTH male and female cats, although males do it more regularly. You can curtail this behavior by having your cats spayed and neutered at 6 months of age. If you wait longer than that, it is more likely they will develop the marking instinct. Cats who are allowed to go outside will develop this instinct, males more so. Usually, they will limit their spraying to the outdoors, but may spray inside especially if there has been a visit inside the house from a stray cat in the neighborhood. Cats will also spray when you are introducing a new cat into the household, although kittens are not very provoking. To avoid marking, keep your cat indoors. I never had a problem with this until my four cats were allowed to go in and out, and I had two males and two females. They still never did it inside the house until we had an un-neutered visitor. Keep your house clean, and you will keep this potential problem at bay.

If your cat is peeing on the floor, or around the house, she may have a urinary infection, especially if she is doing this frequently and/or you see blood in the urine. Take her to the vet to determine if she is healthy. Antibiotic pills will cure it and you will be much happier, as will she. Other causes of peeing are soiled spots on the carpet, dirty cat boxes, or poor potty training. Clean soiled spots on the carpet with an enzyme cleaner such as Nature's Miracle, and keep her away from the spot until it's thoroughly dry. To fix poor potty training, she must be locked in a small room (the only time this is OK) with her cat box when you are not home and at night for a few days so she will know what she is supposed to do. Cleaning the cat box is important. Some cats require a cat box cleaning daily in order for them to go in it. Others are more forgiving and will let you get by with three to four day cleaning intervals. Again, keeping your house clean will help avoid this problem provided her peeing is not a health issue.

If your cat pees on your bed or any other "personal" lounging area, she is basically telling you she is really mad at you. So many times people have asked me, "Why does my cat pee on my bed the day I get home from vacation"? The answer is she is mad, she was lonely all the time you were gone. If you have a visitor, she might pee on the bed they are sleeping in. I'm telling you it is how they tell us not to leave them alone. Be sure to give her LOADS of affection when you return, don't let her out of your sight and take the few minutes to really show her you missed her. To be safe, curtail this by placing a shower curtain liner on the bed, with an old comforter or blanket over the plastic (important, cats like to pee on plastic) before you leave. It will save you from having to strip the entire bed before you can retire from your long day of travel.

Scratching and climbing are things cats just have to do. To learn what you can do about your cat scratching, see our cat trainingr: #330099;"> page to see how to train him to stop scratching something forbidden. If your cat is an indoor cat only, you can apply Soft Claws? to his nails and he won't be able to damage your furniture, as pictured left. Also, there are things you can do for your cat to help her to not damage the furniture and be more interested in scratching elsewhere. See our page that's all about scratching. Declawing is inhumane to your cat. It is the same as removing the last digit on each finger. Many times the cat has nerve damage, which causes him to have pain when he walks. That pain can cause him to walk with more weight on his back feet, causing his front legs to become somewhat atrophied. This can cause further health problems for your pet, so don't take the chance. Take him how he is and learn to adjust his behavior. You can, with a little persistence and lots of love!

[YoungAtHeart]

Absville Cat-lovers.....HELP!!!!!!!

Hi Janet!

I'm not sure who is peeing on the oriental rug, since you are saying that the older cat is a he, and he is peeing on the rug, but you are screaming at the kitten, who is a she.

That being said, how many litter boxes do you have??? Sometimes cats will start urinating outside the litter box when a strange cat comes into the home, or if they are feeling crowded in their own litter box. Having a litter box for every cat (if you don't already) can sometimes help. Since your cat is already peeing on this one spot, I would definitely recommend removing the rug and having it cleaned thoroughly by a professional to remove the smell. Once that cat-pee smell is in there, it is very hard to remove, and cats may return to it again and again!!! Also, whether you have hardwood floors or carpet underneath, clean that area thoroughly as well.

There are kitty repellant products that might help, and I have also heard of plug ins that you can plug into a wall outlet now that release phermones that help cats to calm down and might help if any emotional upset is the cause. Hope this helps.

Kathy

[sujul]

Absville Cat-lovers.....HELP!!!!!!!

Cats!

Hi Janet--
Good advice above!
Our experience with our "problem" cat turned out to be that he was one of those cats who is a fanatic about the box being really clean. Jasper is an ocicat (a very large, sort of spotted cat bred to look like a little wild animal) and has ENORMOUS feet, which I finally realized he was reluctant to put into a "dirty" box. Although we have a HUGE box for him and his best friend Monty (a little b/w cat), Jasper gets upset whenever there are too many "lumps" in the box and then pees in the hallway OUTSIDE the box....

I read somewhere about how sensitive the pads of their feet are and that that is how they identify where to pee, etc. You'll notice how delicately they step when confronted with a different environment...or how cautious they can be with a new type of litter--it's because the pads of their feet are one of their main ways of identifying what's what in their world!

BTW, we have learned to never yell at or punish the cats--it just frightens them and makes them scared of you (actually, Monty just gets more defiant)--cats are extremely logical in their behavior, so it's best to try to figure out why it makes sense for the cat to behave the way it does.

All that said, I think that either you need a larger litter box (or daily scoopings-out); or the cat is both angry and trying to mark out its territory from the female cat....(the urinary infection is also a possibility, but the regular choice of the rug seems to rule that out--sick cats don't necessarily keep choosing the same spot). I

would have the rug cleaned or use the Nature's Miracle (be sure to follow the explicit directions--it takes a few days to work; honestly, I'm not sure the rug will not always seem like a place to pee from now on) and try gentle encouragement (he'll love the extra attention too) with a newer, cleaner litter box, and/or some different litter....

I would also try to spend some quality time playing with both cats together so that the male sees that the female has not replaced him in your affection. To acquaint on of my cats with a newcomer, I try to use some sort of string or thin rope and wiggle it so that the cats are chasing it and playing with it--and don't even realized they're playing with each other...plus, the female is then jumping on the string or whatever and NOT jumping on the male cat! Bottom line is that it does take some time and attention to get them to live with each other in a positive way!

Good luck!

susan

[princesskat]

Absville Cat-lovers.....HELP!!!!!!!

Try Urine off. www.urine-off.com. It is highly recommended. I've used it with great success. At one time I had way too many cats in the house and had problems with them peeing all over and also on my oriental rug. The Urine Off worked really good. I had to put some of the cats outside (we live on a farm) and give some to a no kill rescue shelter. We now have 4 cats and one baby in the house and things are much more managable and all of the peeing problems stopped. Also all of the recommendations above are great. Keep the litter box clean and try more than one litter box and put them in mutiple locations (one upstairs and one downstairs, etc.). Good luck and hope this helps.

Kat

[vinophile]

Absville Cat-lovers.....HELP!!!!!!!

Thanks so much for your help

Thanks all!!!
It is my kitten who is peeing(she's sitting on my keyboard as I type) I will thouroghly clean the rug and add another litter box. I had recently merged two of the boxes together so maybe she wants her own box. I do love her and she has a great life here but she's probably quite dominant as she chases the other cat and the dogs as well.It's great to see a tiny kitten chase a much larger dog around the house. I'm going to go through all the posts again and stop at petco as well(I need more scratching posts for sure!!!)
Thanks for your words of wisdom.
Janet

[princesskat]

Absville Cat-lovers.....HELP!!!!!!!

Since it's a kitten I'd make sure to have a vet check it out to rule out an urinary tract infection and most kittens usually have worms :yuk:

Kittens are such fun....that's why I let things get so out of hand. The little guy in my avatar is Saber. We've got a bunch of polydactyl cats (6 toed, or mitten toed, or hemmingway cats as they are also called). Love them all!

kat

[YoungAtHeart]

Absville Cat-lovers.....HELP!!!!!!!

Awwww.....what a pretty baby!!! Smooch!

[vinophile]

Absville Cat-lovers.....HELP!!!!!!!

What a cutie,Kat,
I've made an appt with the vet tomorrow for my kitten.I think she might have a urinary tract/bladder infection.I'll let you know.
Thanks,Janet

[princesskat]

Absville Cat-lovers.....HELP!!!!!!!

Hope every thing turns out ok...let us know..

Kat

[MonaCat]

Absville Cat-lovers.....HELP!!!!!!!

Amazing thread, I learned so much about myself, you guys are so right on!

[vinophile]

Absville Cat-lovers.....HELP!!!!!!!

Thanks for all your input folks,
Brought Kitty to the vet and physically there is no problem so vet suggested placing one extra litter box (that makes 3 for 2 cats) in another area. I've done that and changed the litter every day and so far Kitty has been on good behavior. A lot of extra work though. It takes away from my computer time. Now if only I could keep the older cat inside. He insists on decapitating bunnies and leaving their mangled bodies in our garage to rot. I put a bell around his neck(the kind that can slip off if he gets caught on something) so that if he chases something it will hear him move. He came back 15 minutes later and meowed at the back door as if to say "you stupid fool I can get rid of that bell in 5minutes"
Oh well,I guess more kitty time is less wine time.......
Janet