Cat Pee EVERYWHERE! WTF???

[RedmondDressage]

Ugh! My cats are making me insane! We have three spayed female indoor cats that have lived together for at least three years. They don’t really like each other but we have a big house so they have plenty of space to keep to themselves. Things have been okay up until the last few months, then randomly a cat would pee somewhere not in the litter box. Unfortunately this has escalated and now it seems like I find a pee spot every damn day. A couple of weeks ago someone peed on my rubber boots because one had been knowcked over, then yesterday someone peed on a shirt I had slung over the edge of my bathtub, and this morning someone had peed on the stairs of the Booda litterbox despite it having been cleaned, bleached, and getting brand new litter last night :mad: I don’t know who it is but I suspect it’s more than one cat - I feel like we’re caught in some kind of pee war!

They’re all middle aged, healthy, and certainly not incontinent - I wouldn’t be so angry if they were elderly and having issues. How do I put a stop to this? My SO and I have both had it with the constant peeing!

[DJohn]

That is the main reason I will never own cats again. They pee on everything and it smells just terrible. We had 2 cats, neither were old but one of them started peeing on things. It was his way of telling us that something was wrong. It turned out he had cancer and had to be PTS shortly after. You may want to observe which one it is. I found that he would consistently pee on my clothing, towels, plastic bags etc. Such a horrible experience.

[Paks]

Well I can give you the Jackson Galaxy advice. Put litter boxes in the places where they pee the most. I know you won’t want a litter box in some of the places but which would you rather have an litter box in the dining room or a puddle of cat pee. You can slowly, 6" a day, move them to more socially acceptable places but his formula is one litter box for every cat plus one more and they need to be in diverse locations. Cats who don’t like each other are often reluctant to share a litter box.

Here’s a link to some of his tips http://jacksongalaxy.com/2014/09/27/10-litter-box-tips-part-1/

[One_Two_Three]

If it makes you feel any better my cat makes my life hard too. She pees on ANY type of throw rug we have. Doesn’t pee on normal carpet, clothes, or other crap on the floor, but ALWAYS pees on the throw rugs in front of entry ways. I wash the and she pees on them usually within 6 hours of putting back down. GR!!!

[french_fry]

[QUOTE=One Two Three;8105081]
If it makes you feel any better my cat makes my life hard too. She pees on ANY type of throw rug we have. Doesn’t pee on normal carpet, clothes, or other crap on the floor, but ALWAYS pees on the throw rugs in front of entry ways. I wash the and she pees on them usually within 6 hours of putting back down. GR!!![/QUOTE]

My cat had an obsession with our fluffy bath mat and would pee on it at any opportunity. I finally got rid of it and she hasn’t even attempted to pee on the new flat-woven one.

[RedmondDressage]

YES! We have no bath mats anywhere in the house because of the cats. We tried hanging them up on the shower door and that worked, but inevitably one of us would forget and it would immediately get peed on. Ugh!

[ybiaw]

I was cleaning my cat’s bathroom last night (yes, he has an entire bathroom of my house all to himself) and found that the floor was wet under his box. I think he simply missed while peeing one time. At least thats what I’m hoping. His box is scooped out twice a day and litter changed every Saturday.

Ugh, cats!!

[kasjordan]

Yes, I would add litterboxes but it’s also possible one is brewing a UTI (That’s one of the symptoms and it’s not uncommon) and you don’t know. I don’t know that I would add one right where the cat seems to want to pee if it’s inconvenient for me, but I would add more…sometimes they don’t like sharing all of a sudden.

[Manahmanah]

If you don’t have a litter box for each cat I would try this first. My nasty old orange cat will guard the litterbox from my more docile female. We didn’t have multiples at first and she’d take to peeing wherever she could because she literally couldn’t get to the litterbox. Now we have a couple and she’s fine as long as they are cleaned obsessively.

[french_fry]

I definitely agree with MOAR LITTERBOXES.

Can you temporarily separate them into different areas of the house (each with their own litterbox) and see if the behavior stops or, alternately, which one is peeing?

If they each have access to a fresh box and you can isolate the behavior to one cat I’d put money on a physiological reason rather than a behavioral one.

[Hulk]

My vet said to have a litter box for every cat plus one extra. We also have the bath rug thing as a problem. This is why we have an outdoor heated shed for the drop off cats. There is just no way we could keep that many in the house. Which reminds me I have to go clean and I am on here stalling instead.

[french_fry]

Also, I just googled the Booda litter box to refresh memory on if it’s covered or open.

If I’m looking at the right one, I was actually considering it but ended up not buying it because a lot of the reviews said their cats didn’t like to use it since it was so closed in. In addition to not giving them a ton of room, ventilation can be an issue.

I know they’re unsightly and can be messy, but if you don’t have any uncovered litter boxes I’d get one and bed it deep to see if that helps.

[RedmondDressage]

Thanks you guys. I’m going out to get more litter boxes tomorrow. I hope that will work - I love cats but holy crap, so over the pee. Seriously, I’m about to stick the most recent addition on a plane and send her back to her rightful owner (SO’s mom, we inherited her when she moved out of state). At least then we’d be down to two, which I find is a reasonable number of cats.

[SmartAlex]

I’d have them all checked by a vet to be sure that whatever they’re trying to tell you is not medical. After 12 years one day I began finding pee spots near the litter box and upstairs in other rooms. We were headed to the vet that week anyway for a checkup so I asked for a urinalysis on both cats. I figured someone had a UTI or something. One had become diabetic (reaction to meds she had been on for years) and her sugar level was over 500 (normal range is like 40-130?) Landed her in the ICU for the weekend poor thing

[RPM]

[QUOTE=DJohn;8104866]
That is the main reason I will never own cats again. They pee on everything and it smells just terrible. We had 2 cats, neither were old but one of them started peeing on things. It was his way of telling us that something was wrong. It turned out he had cancer and had to be PTS shortly after. You may want to observe which one it is. I found that he would consistently pee on my clothing, towels, plastic bags etc. Such a horrible experience.[/QUOTE]

I daresay it was a lot more horrible for the kitty than it was for you.

If a cat is peeing outside the box he has a reason. It may not be a good reason to you, but it is to him. Maybe he does not like the Booda box. Maybe he does not like the litter. Maybe he is having some urinary problems that cause him pain when peeing and he associates that pain with the box.

It is cats’ way of leaving us notes. If we cannot understand “meow,” maybe we will understand pee.

Take your kitties in for a checkup.

[Simkie]

Peeing all over is a HUGE RED FLAG sign for a urinary infection, sterile cystitis or kidney disease. Oh, or crystals/stones. It’s not an emergency vet call, but it’s a get the cat into the vet within the week sort of vet call.

Once you’ve ruled out medical stuff, work on the behavioral stuff. More boxes for sure. NOT covered, especially if you have cats that aren’t necessarily getting along–they need to be able to see around them when they’re squatting, and not have the risk of getting trapped in the box by another cat. Make sure you’re cleaning daily. Add feliway plug ins. Feed Cosequin.

[RPM]

Bleach is a very bad idea for a litterbox! Think how strong it smells to you, then think of how much more sensitive a cat’s nose is, and how much closer to the litterbox it is since the cat is so much smaller than you are.

I learned years and years ago that you do not use bleach to clean ANYTHING belonging to a cat or dog. Plus, scented litter can irritate the membranes in cats’ noses and eyes, and forget getting it on their paws and licking!

Try an open box. And since you have 3 kitties you should ideally have 4 litterboxes.

But get the kitty/ies to a vet first. Anger is not an appropriate response to a kitty suddenly peeing outside the box. Concern is. Have the kitty checked out.

[Rackonteur]

[QUOTE=RedmondDressage;8104819]
Ugh! My cats are making me insane! We have three spayed female indoor cats that have lived together for at least three years. They don’t really like each other but we have a big house so they have plenty of space to keep to themselves. Things have been okay up until the last few months, then randomly a cat would pee somewhere not in the litter box. Unfortunately this has escalated and now it seems like I find a pee spot every damn day. A couple of weeks ago someone peed on my rubber boots because one had been knowcked over, then yesterday someone peed on a shirt I had slung over the edge of my bathtub, and this morning someone had peed on the stairs of the Booda litterbox despite it having been cleaned, bleached, and getting brand new litter last night :mad: I don’t know who it is but I suspect it’s more than one cat - I feel like we’re caught in some kind of pee war!

They’re all middle aged, healthy, and certainly not incontinent - I wouldn’t be so angry if they were elderly and having issues. How do I put a stop to this? My SO and I have both had it with the constant peeing![/QUOTE]

Lots of red flags here.

First of all, your kitties ARE having issues. They may not be “elderly” but that doesn’t mean they are not having problems.

The fact that someone peed on your boots and on your shirt tells me that someone is leaving you a message that is as clear as a cat can make it. As another poster said, they can’t leave you written messages. They are marking your territory trying to get your attention. Who else can they turn to?

You say this has been going on for a few WEEKS? :eek: And you haven’t taken them to the vet? WTF, indeed!

As others have said, try an open box. I hope you have more than one box. You should have at least two, three would be better, four would be even better. You say you have a big house, so you have room for multiple boxes.

Why are you angry? These are your kitties, you love them, you are responsible for them. Get thee (and them) to a vet!

Sheesh. Why do some people have cats at all?

[Paks]

Hey, the OP is working the problem. Give her credit, most people would have just sent them to a shelter or dumped them.

[JanM]

When my last boy schnauzer was getting elderly (for his breed), and started leaking in his sleep at night, I was very upset. Not mad at him, but at the situation. I took it as a sign that he would be going steadily down hill from then on.

I made modifications, put my bed and box springs on the floor so he could get on easier, and it was a couple of years before I put him to sleep. I was upset at the situation, once medical reasons are ruled out, but not be actually angry at the animal involved. I figured out that from his predecessor’s age related issues, pretty much how things would happen and about when, and I was right. I miss him every day.