Cat Peeing: At My Wits End

[RoyalRain42]

I dont know how much more I can take of this.

My 3 year old fixed male cat will not stop peeing on things.

My cat has been indoors since we got him at 8 weeks old. Fixed young we have not had a problem with him using the litter box or spraying anything.

Until two months ago.

Nothing has changed in his environment, no new cats, just the same old female that was here before he was. We have 4 different litter boxes all across the house so there is plenty of access and options. Three different cat trees and all sorts of hides and toys.

But two months ago he started to spray and pee everywhere, nothing has been safe from him. My first thought was uti but nope. Vet said medically he was healthy as could be.

I have taken him in two more times to be safe and still, nothing medically wrong with him.

I am getting tired of cleaning up constant spots of pee. Anything g and everything is game for him. It started so suddenly, I can not pinpoint anything that could have triggered him into this. Litter is the same, box locations are the same. Nothing about our house hold had changed.

We have had to start keeping him locked away in the laundry room so he does not pee on furniture, bedding, or paperwork in my office. He had a box in there and it does look like he uses it occasionally.

He has always gotten along with older female, theh atr best buds and there behavior towards one another had not changed. Her behavior has not changed either.

I am just lost at what to do. I am tried of coming home to a laundry room smelling like cat pee. My husband is about ready to huck him outside or get rid of him. He is a sweet, loving cat. We have had no issues with him till now.

Is there something I am missing with him? Is there something that I can do to get him to stop?

I have never had this kind of issue with a cat before.

[AnastasiaBeaverhousen]

Do your neighbors have outdoor cats?
He may be seeing cats trespassing in the yard and around your house.

This can create anxiety in cats and they pee/spray to mark their territory .

You could try adding a couple more litter boxes.

I would go to Animal Planet website and look up My Cat From Hell. Jackson Galaxy has helped a lot of cat owners figure out why their cats suddenly start spraying.

Good luck .

[RoyalRain42]

@AnastasiaBeaverhousen

Do your neighbors have outdoor cats?
He may be seeing cats trespassing in the yard and around your house.

This can create anxiety in cats and they pee/spray to mark their territory .

You could try adding a couple more litter boxes.

I would go to Animal Planet website and look up My Cat From Hell. Jackson Galaxy has helped a lot of cat owners figure out why their cats suddenly start spraying.

Good luck .

our nearest neighbors are about 4 miles away, they don’t have any cats that we have seen.

We had an issue with a few ferals back in Dec, got them all trapped and rehomed by mid Jan. This peeing issue did not start till well after they were all gone.

I am looking into Jackson Galaxy now, hopefully I can find something there

[4horses]

Hmm. Usually cats pee outside the box due to health issues - urinary crstals, bladder stones, kidney disease. I would check his urinary ph. If it is too high, or too low, i would try a prescription urinary food.

One of my cats has inappropriate urination due to stress. He wants to be with us at all times. If you lock him up, he will have accidents because it stresses him out being alone. His urinary issues started with crystals and an infection and it then became a bad habit.

i trained one of my cats to use the people toilet. It does help because he often follows me to the bathroom, but you have to be careful not to sit on him because he often is faster getting there than I am! And the seat must be down because you don’t want him slipping and falling in. He prefers to use that over the litter box. I often see him waiting by the bathroom door if i shut the door instead of leaving it open. He learned this in about 3 days. Who says cats aren’t smart?

But my cats are much like dogs. I have one that sits at the empty seat at the dinner table and watches us eat. He started that as a kitten and apparently it was a lifelong trait… He follows my dog around everywhere. She is his best, best friend. As was my prior dog before her. It’s cute. They sleep next to each other.

Do watch him for straining while urinating… As urinary obstruction kills.

And try putting out a feral cat trap- I’ve neutered 3 toms through trap, neuter, return programs. They never come back after getting snipped. Now there’s a 4th one making visits so he will need trapping as well. It smells out there and it isn’t my cats! Definitely another tom cat.

What are you feeding him?

”‹”‹”‹

[AnastasiaBeaverhousen]

Can you put some cameras up around your house?
Or put a camera on him?

You might be able to see if hes stressing and what is setting him off.

1. it sounds like you are in a rural area , so it could be some form of wildlife coming around your house . That might worry him.

2 ) Someone could have dumped a cat near your property.

3. Using the litterbox could be causing him pain.
   . He may be having a hard time climbing into it.
   ”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹ . Some cats dont like covered litter boxes or the opposite, some cats prefer a covered box.

4. He could have developed kidney stones or have crystals in the urine.

I hope you find an answer soon.

[horsenut_8700]

Feliway and a wet food only diet. I have one that will urinate inappropriately if ANY amount of dry is added back into her diet.

[Simkie]

Has he been treated with antibiotics? I’ve had a couple young cats with inappropriate urination and clean pee. Nothing on the UA, nothing on the culture. But they still responded to antibiotics. In speaking with my vet, there’s been some study at CSU that urine retrieved via ultrasound guidance from the renal pelvis will culture, and urine retrieved from the bladder will not. Basically, the infection is high and not traveling down, but still causing a hell of a lot of problems. It’s worth a shot.

Cosequin is also worth a go. It soothes the bladder lining. Sprinkle the little capsules on his wet food (he is on wet food, right?) or use the horse version. I use a “dash” spoon that came with the measuring spoon set.

Feliway does seem to help, too. The red “multicat” one is more effective for me.

You might also talk to the vet about putting him on a pain killer for awhile to see if that changes anything. If something has been going on that makes it hurt to pee, that’s a really difficult hurdle to get over.

Pain can also cause litter box aversion. They blame the box for the pain, and go somewhere else. If he’s into treats, giving him a treat when he’s in the box, after he’s peed, can really help. Kind of like house breaking a puppy.

I’d get him on antibiotics, and on cosequin, leave him in the laundry room, with a feliway plug in, and start really treating him when he goes in the box. Replacing your box with fresh might also help, and keep it super clean. See what you get, and if he changes.

Good luck!

[OzarksRider]

OP, ask your vet if your cat might have feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC). If you’ve ruled out infection and stones, FIC is a good possibility. I’ve had 2 cats with this condition, and the symptoms were like you describe for your cat. When your cat pees outside the box, does he pee a normal amount 2-3 times a day or does he piddle frequently? If he’s peeing small amounts frequently that indicates he’s feeling irritation in his urinary tract, and that would be consistent with FIC.

Both of my cats that had this were first treated with a Depo-Medrol injection to settle the symptoms and an antibiotic to cure any possible urinary tract infection. One cat was very sensitive to stress, and lots of outdoor time really reduced the number of episodes. When his symptoms would flare I gave him Metacam (with vet’s approval) for 3-4 days to ease the symptoms. (But vet said do not give NSAID when the cat has a steroid in his system.) The other cat has had only 2 flares in his life, both treated with a single Depo-Medrol injection, and he’s 12 years old now.

[CindyCRNA]

@horsenut_8700

Feliway and a wet food only diet. I have one that will urinate inappropriately if ANY amount of dry is added back into her diet.

That’s interesting. I would assume it changes urinary PH.

[Gainer]

I have one that pees due to anxiety. Anything will set him off. He’s now on anxiety meds and doing fine. No accidents at all. Might be worth a try if all other physical issues have been eliminated.

[Angela_Freda]

@CindyCRNA

That’s interesting. I would assume it changes urinary PH.

When my diabetic/acromegaly cats numbers would be all over, peaking and troughing, he would “dump”.

[OnAMission]

I had an older cat that died of cancer a year ago. When she was failing she started peeing by the toilet in the bathroom. I got a box there for her ASAP but the precedent was there and after she was gone another older cat started doing it. The next older cat has always been a territorial pee’er and though old is still healthy. Food changes have never seemed to make any difference to her over her 20 years.

We ended up putting her in a large dog crate with a litter box at night or when we were at work when we couldn’t watch her (I was not away full time over the winter) and that seemed to have lined her out. She is now trust worthy in the house again. She really liked having her own room and would happily go in there every time. It would be a good way to sort out food issues also, if you want to go that route.

Feliway is also a good idea.

[ravenclaw]

This might or might not help, but I wanted to suggest that you could get some pee pads (dog/puppy training pads used for housebreaking) and see if he might use those. I had a cat with kidney failure and she started peeing on the bathroom floor and later in the hall. If I put pee pads down on the spots where she liked to go, she would pee on the pee pads. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but it helped. Changing a pee pad is better than having to clean up pee on the floor.

Good luck! I had to deal with her peeing on the floor for a few years and I know it’s a really hard, bad thing to deal with.

[betsyk]

We have one who has trained herself to use puppy pads. The dog who originally needed them has passed away and now we put them out for the cat with the longstanding UTI. She’s on her third course of antibiotics and is finally not peeing pink any more, but still uses the puppy pads. They are MUCH easier to clean up than cat pee on hardwood floors!

[rothmpp]

I have a very geriatric cat that for years has balanced on the edge of her litter box and pees. Usually in the wrong direction. I tried dozens of different litter boxes and litter material. Nothing made a difference. now I surround the litter box with puppy pee pads to at least contain it. Fortunately she still goes to the box and I have a large basement with floors that are just cement, so not destroying my floors.

[CindyCRNA]

@rothmpp

I have a very geriatric cat that for years has balanced on the edge of her litter box and pees. Usually in the wrong direction. I tried dozens of different litter boxes and litter material. Nothing made a difference. now I surround the litter box with puppy pee pads to at least contain it. Fortunately she still goes to the box and I have a large basement with floors that are just cement, so not destroying my floors.

We had an elderly cat do that. We put old towels down and washed them. At least she was trying.

[CindyCRNA]

Right now we thing our 9 month old pee’s in front of the litter box so we put a towel down and wash it every time he does it. We are afraid of trying to correct the issue as he may pee elsewhere.

[Angela_Freda]

@rothmpp

I have a very geriatric cat that for years has balanced on the edge of her litter box and pees. Usually in the wrong direction. I tried dozens of different litter boxes and litter material. Nothing made a difference. now I surround the litter box with puppy pee pads to at least contain it. Fortunately she still goes to the box and I have a large basement with floors that are just cement, so not destroying my floors.

Meow did that, and I believe it started because of hard to pass stools.
he got miralax daily and it helped.
Then he started doing it again, I believe from joint pain, exacerbated by squatting.

He had a kiddie pool in the basement that had a very low edge and was full of litter so he had mile and mile of prime real estate. He used that frequently until going down the stairs wasn’t an option.

[Chall]

wild guess: Are you stressed by covid isolation ( and who isn’t)? If so it’s possible he is picking up that stress.

[Ruth0552]

I have 1 that uses the puppy pee pads.

If the vet has ruled out infection, crystals and stones, and cystitis, I would try a kitty anxiety medication.