Cats peeing everywhere

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Corrrk
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Cats peeing everywhere

Post by Corrrk »

Hey, I'm new to this forum. My husband and I are trying everything to stop our cats from peeing literally everywhere.

We have two cats, around 13yrs old, one male one female. The female is brave and friendly, the male is, well, a scaredy cat.

We have two daughters age 5&2, they all get along great. We've had the cats since they were kittens.

We recently got a puppy, and understandably we figured the male cat would take some time adjusting to her. At first the dog was locked up in a crate for long enough periods of time that both cats could come downstairs and use the litter and eat. After a couple days we realized that wasn't working, and moved all the cat stuff upstairs. Now the cats have free reign of the upstairs and the dog is solely downstairs. The stairs wind around so they can't see eachother from the bottom or the top. The male cat has not left the upstairs in over 5 months. He seems happy up there. We're in&out of the rooms and bathrooms up there that he gets attention from all of us.

Except he started peeing on the dirty clothes on the rug in my bathroom. We then religiously kept our clothes off the floor. He peed straight on the rug the next day. We now have that door closed all the time. A couple days later I was taking our bags of clothes to donate out of our closet, and a whole pile of pee streamed off all over the carpet and it was most definitely inside the bag. So now our closet door is permanently closed. All our clothes clean or dirty get locked away in the closet now. Tonight, our 5 yr old has this creepy stuffy she loves that always lives on her bed. Reeked like pee. She has some other stuffies in a basket just outside her room, also been peed on. We keep the litter religiously clean. It's right outside our 3 bedrooms and I clean it at least twice a day, basically anytime I pass it.

We are this close to giving the cats up. We can't confirm its only the male but I caught him in my bathroom once in the middle of the night so I know he's for sure doing it. Not sure if the female is but we don't think so.

We don't know what else to do. We're not getting rid of the dog. She's friendly and we give the cats lots of attention. We spend a lot of time upstairs and the girls play with them all the time. But the cats peeing on every single thing up here.. it's draining and making us so mad. We've made their space up here super comfortable and private and this is still happening. What do we do?
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Mollycat
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Re: Cats peeing everywhere

Post by Mollycat »

I'm really sorry but clearly your cat is NOT happy trapped upstairs for months on end, he doesn't have to pee on your stuff but he does this to express his distress. His home isn't his home any more because you, the human family he trusted to always love him and keep him safe, have turned against him in favour of another animal that terrifies him and upsets him.

Normally to anyone who cared I would be suggesting help and guidance for introducing animals, but in your case I'll make an exception. You make it clear in your post you are ready to give up the cats you have had since they were kittens and would never get rid of the dog. So in your case, maybe your cats will be better off in another home with another family that will actually honour their lifetime commitment to love and cherish and care for them, and not replace them as soon as something more fun comes along.

Hope the dog has more luck with you than these poor kitties.
booktigger
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Re: Cats peeing everywhere

Post by booktigger »

I'm sorry, I'm going to be a bit harsher. The likelihood of a pair of 13 year old cats, especially one being timid, finding another home is slim, and I can't see how you could consider giving them up after all this time in favour of a puppy you have recently got. I do think the first thing you should do is a vet check in case the stress has caused a urinary infection
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Ruth B
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Re: Cats peeing everywhere

Post by Ruth B »

I have to agree with the others, you have already realised that introducing the puppy is what has caused the issue, and moving all the cats' things upstairs isn't solving anything. Peeing on things is a cat's way of trying to claim an area and to say 'this is my home'. My guess would be that neither cat are really happy being confined to upstairs after they had the whole of the house as their own. I would suggest the first thing you need to do is to get a UV torch which can make cat urine glow, just to see how bad the situation has got.

Next take both cats to the vet and have them checked out and explain to the vet what has been happening, including mentioning that you introduced a new puppy. Stress in cats can cause urinary problems, some of which are best treated with medication such as antibiotics.

Like Booktigger, I would be concerned about handing the cats into be rehomed, they aren't young anymore which makes them harder to rehome, and they now have a history of inappropriate urination, which unless the rescue is willing to put in the time to resolve that also adds to the difficulty in rehoming them. I feel at best you are condemning them to living the rest of their lives in a shelter cage, or worse, being put to sleep as un homable. Sorry to be blunt but that is the way it is.

The only hope I can see to solving the situation for everyone is to go back to square one introductions. Confine the puppy to one room and let the cats have the rest of the house. You will still need to give the puppy plenty of walks for exercise and to make sure he can be happy being confined. Let the cats have the time they need to explore and hopefully they will realise that the house is once again theirs. They will be able to smell the puppy's scent, but hopefully they can get their confidence in their surroundings back. Only start reintroducing the puppy once the cats seem happier and have started to use the litter tray properly again. Then you need to start introducing the puppy's scent to the house by putting his bedding (give him an old towel or blanket to sleep on) outside his room so the cats can get used to his scent with out actually encountering the puppy. You might also find that putting treats, or feeding them close to the dog's bedding will help make them associate his scent with nice things. Only when they seem totally happy with the bedding being around and happy to be close to it should you try and introduce the cats to the puppy once again, having the puppy in the crate as before so they can see it but not interact with it. This whole process is likely to take months not days, particularly as the cats have been so upset by the puppy's arrival. During the time I would suggest that you spend a lot of time training the puppy so when you finally can let it out of the cage to meet the cats you can make sure it doesn't get over excited and make the cats feel threatened. Ideally any time the cats and dog meet, even when it is in its cage, you need for it to be nice and calm, possibly exhausted after a long walk.

I will also add that you might want to consider asking your vet for professional help from cat and dog behaviourists to make sure the reintroductions go as smoothly as possible. I would also suggest putting up some shelves around the house specifically for the cats to go on so they can see the dog but the dog can't get to them. If you check out Jackson Galaxy on You Tube he has some good advice on how to 'catify' a house to help the cats confidence levels and there are some episodes where he also works with a dog behaviourist to help solve problems like yours.
Corrrk
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Re: Cats peeing everywhere

Post by Corrrk »

This likely won't make a difference, the cats aren't trapped. They mostly lived upstairs already, only really coming down to eat or use the litter. The male just won't come down anymore so we moved the stuff upstairs.
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Ruth B
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Re: Cats peeing everywhere

Post by Ruth B »

There is a difference to being upstairs because you want to be and being upstairs because there is a predator wandering around downstairs that might come up and eat you at any point. If there was a bear or a lion wandering around the downstairs you would be hiding upstairs and calling for help, that is how your cats are doing.

I can only hope in a few years time you don't decide to get another, more interesting, pet and condemn the dog to the shelter.
Corrrk
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Re: Cats peeing everywhere

Post by Corrrk »

Sounds to me like this forum is anti-dog. We waited many many years before we got a dog, because we worried about the kids and the cats. When we got the dog she was smaller than the cats and was quiet but still friendly. You can't hold off getting a dog because of other animals, the same as you can't hold off having kids because of your pets.

Either way we will have him checked for UTI. We get it's not an ideal situation, but we're not getting rid of the dog. We have had her for 5 months and we're only just beginning to waver on the cats because of this pee issue. However I wrote the post because we want to fix the problem but just toss the cats out the door. The judgement is really helpful :roll:

Other forums offered solid suggestions without the angst.
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Mollycat
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Re: Cats peeing everywhere

Post by Mollycat »

Ruth has offered you suggestions but you can't blame anyone but yourself for presenting your problem with the clear threat of getting rid of your cats and a firm refusal to get rid of the dog, which only tells us that if your cats won't accept the dog they have to go and there is no alternative to be considered.

Ruth's suggestions are positive and helpful but you brush them off immediately saying that won't work. So if you don't want to try to help your cats overcome the trauma that you have caused them knowingly, what exactly are you looking for? It doesn't seem as though you understand cats very well at all if you think they are happy upstairs and peeing everywhere, or that the issue can be solved by removing things off the floor and closing ever more doors, until what, they are confined to their litter box with a shelf above it for a bed and a food dish?

You have caused this problem by bringing a puppy into the house, you know this, you considered it as a possibility before you decided to take that risk on your cats and went ahead. You now seem surprised that your cats are stressed by this, you blame them for protesting the only way they know how and instead of working to help them you lock them out of more and more areas and threaten to dump them.

Many of us have dogs, myself included, but we work to find the best solutions for all the members of our families including dogs AND cats. When we have an integration problem we look for solutions for everyone and we compromise, and sometimes one member of the household leaving is best for everyone all round - usually the last newcomer if everything was peaceful before that.

I think what's got everyone's backs up, certainly mine, is that right from your very first post you made it clear the dog was staying and if the cats couldn't accept it then they would be dumped. That's not the attitude of someone asking for a solution, it sounds a lot more like someone who has decided to get rid of their cats and is passive-aggressively expecting some soft-hearted person on a cat forum to offer to take them to alleviate your little twang of guilt.

Perhaps you'd like to start again with your first post with a more open and conciliatory and less threatening tone, and you'll find responses even from the same people become suddenly helpful, supportive and sympathetic - but there is no sympathy at all for your animals and that makes it hard for us to find much sympathy for you.
Corrrk
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Re: Cats peeing everywhere

Post by Corrrk »

Actually Ruth was the only one who offered anything helpful, and then added "I can only hope in a few years time you don't decide to get another, more interesting, pet and condemn the dog to the shelter." At the end. Which most certainly was not what happened in our decision to get a dog, and more certainly isn't helpful. I said we aren't getting rid of the dog because I KNEW people would suggest that would help the problem. That's ok, I got non judgmental replies from other forums. Those were helpful and I've been able to start a new plan beyond what we've already tried.
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Ruth B
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Re: Cats peeing everywhere

Post by Ruth B »

My comment about getting rid of the dog in the future when you got another pet was in reaction to your response to my original comment. Whether intended or not it came across as 'we don't want to understand what is wrong with the cats, we don't think it can be fixed and they will have to go'. Unfortunately one of the problems of the internet is there is no inflection in what is written and things can be read the wrong way. It is not that we are anti dog, if the dog had been there first I think you would have found we would have defended her staying not the cats, if any had to go. Far too many times have we heard of people getting bored of a pet and deciding to replace it with a new one, which is how your situation came across.

I'm glad you have found advice you are willing to follow elsewhere and I do hope that you can make it work and all three animals can learn to live together.
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Re: Cats peeing everywhere

Post by fjm »

This is a cat forum - almost inevitably responses will put the cats first!

The peeing problem is very probably caused by stress, and I suspect that you are now in a vicious spiral - cats stressed by dog start peeing inappropriately, peeing stresses you, cats react to your stress, and round it goes. Are you sure it is peeing (squatting and producing large quantities) rather than spraying (marking by peeing backwards while standing, usually against vertical surfaces)? It could, of course, be both. The first step is a vet consultation to rule out UTIs and discuss options for stress reduction. Then, with a vet referral, I would look for a qualified behaviourist - I think you will need professional help to navigate this. There are options: starting over with cat/dog introductions allowing as many months as it takes to get them relaxed together; time sharing - confining the dog at night for example; etc, but all are likely to take time and effort, and a professional will be able both to help you choose the best way and to stick with implementing it without getting discouraged when progress seems slow.

Meanwhile washable everything and largest available size of a good enzyme pee cleaner can make things more manageable. Disposable incontinence pads in favoured spots can also help. Bicarbonate of soda is useful to depong carpets, etc. With two elderly dogs, two (now one) very elderly cats and a puppy, pee and worse nasties figure rather large in my life these days...
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