Cat using beds as toilet

[tmwsccsh]

Hello.

First time poster who is currently in desperate need of some ideas / pointers / help.

Apologies in advance that this is a long posting – I feel it is important to give a whole synopsis and history as it is possible that anything may help.

I have an almost 16 year old male cat, Douglas, who has recently (within the last 2 months) started using beds in the house as a toilet, both for liquid and solid deposits and this is now becoming a very regular event (every couple of days) and today has also started using the downstairs hallway carpet for his satisfaction.

Within himself, he appears fine. He comes for food when required and wanders around, venturing outside as and when he sees fit. There has been a change in his life since the beginning of December in that he was the sole cat in the house prior to this but my mother-in-law has now moved in with us and brought her 2 cats with her, one male, the other female, both around 12 years old.

Douglas has been in a group of cats in the past. I have had him since he was about 13 weeks old and already had a female cat around 4 years old when I got him – she treated him like her own and looked after him well. They would fight occasionally but nothing serious. When he was around 7 they were joined by 2 more cats, both female, and again, although the odd spat occurred, all was generally Ok. Around 3 years after this a puppy was also brought in to the family (after the other 3 cats had all sadly passed away at different times) and, whilst it was clear that he did not like the dog (but the dog did just want to be friends with him) he just went about his business, occasionally having a swipe when required. The dog moved out around a year or so later and it was just Douglas from that point.

He is a bit of a violent one – he’s always been like it. All sweetness and light until he’s had enough, at which point he will either bite or scratch at you – sometimes unprovoked even; it’s part of his character.

He’s also generally in good health. He has a slight heart murmour (always had it) and did go through a phase of constantly chucking up each day but this was found to be diet related – he was put onto Hills I/D and this cleared up within days – he’s been on that ever since (probably about 4 years now). Always drinks a lot though – water – but if there’s water anywhere his head is in it slurping away.

Around September last year (when he was just the one cat) it was noticed that he was starting to lose his hair a bit and was also becoming less energetic than previously. We took him to the Vet and they gave him a steroid jab to see if this would help things. Within a few days he had his swipe back and was back to his old self but the hair loss was still happening (not all over, just his sides and part of his back). Back to the vets a couple of weeks later for another check as he had also started to lose momentum again and they gave him another steroid jab. The process repeated – he came back to life for a few days and then tailed off – hair loss had stopped but it did not appear to be growing back.

At this time, December, the other 2 cats came into the family. Unfortunately, after a couple of days, Douglas had had a run in with the male one and had to be taken to the vet as the new one had bitten through his front pad and it needed treatment. Douglas was put on anti-biotics for a few days and it healed fine. We shortly took him to the vets again for another look about the hair not growing. No real cause could be identified (over preening maybe or possibly fleas, however he is treated each month) so another steroid was given.

During the next few weeks there was the odd fight with the other 2 and they had to be separated on some occasions and Douglas started living upstairs in the house more, mainly the master bedroom. He still came down for food and went out when needed (no litter trays in the house) but seemed to have adopted this new upstairs lifestyle. A Feliway plug-in has been in use since their arrival but we are not convinced it is actually doing anything.

Early January he was taken to the vets again as the hair was still not growing back. We collectively decided that as no real cause for the loss could be identified and it wasn’t getting any worse that we would now leave it and see what happened. The vet was fairly sure that they could see a small amount of re-growth from previous visits so it was just a matter of time.

Then, early to mid-February, the deposits on the bed started happening. Originally we thought it could be laziness and he couldn’t be bothered to go downstairs and out to use the garden as he used to, but then we saw him come in, go upstairs and right in front of us did it on the bed. We started putting a plastic cover over the bed during the day whilst at work but this just became an annoyance to us.

As the deposits continued, and were also starting on our Sons bed, he was taken to the vet mid February to see if there was some other cause. They suggested it was behavioural and gave us something to try and calm him down (Zylkene) but this made no difference. After another week or so and more wet and solid incidents we took him to the vets again. They wanted to try this and that but we insisted on a blood test to see if there was anything else going on. Unfortunately, owing to his violent temperament, they could not achieve this on the visit and he had to be taken back a couple of days later for sedation so it could be done. Results were back the next day. A slight concern was there with his Kidneys. They said it wasn’t high, just a concern. Suggestion was to put him on to the Hills K/D food, which he is now on and seems to enjoy.

Alas, the messing is continuing however. But within himself he is becoming “braver” and is venturing downstairs more and into more of the main body of the house. Still goes out when he wants to but still the pee and poo continues. On Saturday just gone, I caught him in the middle of a poo on the bed and noticed that there was also blood coming out with it. Straight down the vets and they had a look over. I also mentioned that he didn’t seem to be able to sit down properly at the moment as he had not been putting his bum down when sitting for about a week but this was not really acknowledged, nor was the blood element. Suspicion was a stomach infection or similar so he was given some Pro-Kol to have with his food. No blood spotted since though I am pleased to say.

We are currently at our wits end with this though. Each morning before going to work there is worry that he will do something and when we get home at night it’s the wondering what we will find and all throughout the evening too. This morning, around 5:45am he weed on the bed so that was dealt with straight away, but then around 7:40am we found a wet patch on the hall carpet for the first time and it would appear that he also got our sons school bag that was next to this patch as that has a strong wee odour to it. Carpet is easy enough to sort, but the bag could only be Febrezed and we are waiting to see if that has done the trick or not.

What can we do? What could be causing this and what can we do to stop him doing this throughout the house? We don’t want to stop him having access around the house as that would not be fair on him but it is now driving us to a point of desperation as we don’t know what more we can be doing to stop him.

Apologies again for the length of this posting – I think that the whole background may be relevant in case there is something of benefit in there.

Thank you in advance for any assistance given.

Regards

Tim Watts

[Baggypants]

Hi there, sorry I don't have time to post a more detailed reply but there is lots of information here about inappropriate toileting. What you describe though sounds like he is very anxious about the changes to his home.

http://www.catchat.org/urination.html

Hopefully others will be along shortly with some other advice.

[Kay]

Do you have any indoor litter trays? It could be that he is no longer confident enough to pee and poo outside - at the same time there might well be a medical reason why soft fabric is more comfortable than hard eath - if one or both these hypotheses are right, a tray with very fine litter might well be the answer

[Crewella]

You're right to try to make sure there are no medical issues behind this, but from what you say it sounds very much like the classic 'dirty protest' from a very anxious cat. He's an old boy and he's having to take on board a lot of big changes. Not easy for a cat of his age.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but from your tone ("his satisfaction" for example) you don't sound all that sympathetic to his needs - it might help if you tried to understand this from his point of view, and I'm not saying that judgmentally, I really mean it. I think it might help you solve some of the issues if you really try to take on board what is upsetting him and then you can try to help to make him feel more secure?

The main thing to understand is that he's not being 'naughty' and he's definitely not enjoying this - but unfortunately he can't tell you what's wrong.

Also, just to note, stressed cats can over-groom as a way of self-comforting, sometimes to the extent that they lose some of their fur - I wonder if that might be the case here?

[tmwsccsh]

Hi to all and thank you for the replies so far.

Apologies if an unsympathetic tone came through - it's more a frustration at the moment than unsympathetic.

I spotted you mentioned the over-grooming - the hair issue happened a couple of months before the new arrivals came along - that's actually remained as-is now since they appeared.

I shall have a more thorough read of all over the weekend with my fiancée so we can decide on the first best course of action.

I did spot this morning, having been woken around 5am, that one of the others chased Douglas back into the bedroom - I think he may have been trying to venture out but was "spotted". A repeat of this happened around 6am as well...

Will digest in more detail and advise.

Thanks again so far.

Tim Watts

[meriad]

I did spot this morning, having been woken around 5am, that one of the others chased Douglas back into the bedroom - I think he may have been trying to venture out but was "spotted". A repeat of this happened around 6am as well...

and that, I suspect is the root of all your problems.... When your mother-in-law moved in; how did you introduce the cats to each other. You may need to go back to step one and confine her cats to a bonding room, allowing Douglas to regain his territory and then restarting the gradual introduction process. Also as Kay suggested, if you haven't got already, provide Douglas with one or two litter trays, preferably open and somewhere where he can be safe to do his business in peace and quiet. Chances are that in the past he may have been pounced on by one of the others when he was mid-toileting and now is too anxious about going where he usually goes. Beds are higher up and give a vantage point, so they're often one of the first places a cat will use.

In the meantime I'd definitely look at things like Feliway or Pet Remedy as diffusers to see if that makes a bit of a difference

[tmwsccsh]

Hi all,

Well, an interesting development. Ok, interesting may not be the right word, but something odd has happened.

Since my original post was put up, Douglas has changed. He has not peed anywhere in the house at all and has a new lease of life. He is going out much more during the day and at night and also explores in the house more than he has been of late.

There's still the odd spat with the others but generally he is much more like he used to be.

It's almost as if he knew I had put the message up here and thought "damn - I better change or they are going to start doing stuff".

Really odd but a really positive step.

Thanks to all who replied - clearly your psychic messages also got through to him!

Will post back again in a couple of weeks to let you all know how it's going.

Regards

TMW

[Crewella]

That is positive news, good going Douglas!

[tmwsccsh]

Hi all,

Well, it's been 3 months or so since my last posting so I thought I would give another update as to progress.

The fights and disagreements among all are continuing, but I am pleased to report that the adventurous nature is still with us and more exploring is being done.

Still no more peeing has been done, and the hair-loss problem he had seems to have gone away and he's almost got a full coat again.

So, all in, at this time, all continues to be positive.

Regards

TMW

[Crewella]

Really pleased to hear that - good news!