Don't know what to do next...

[Weka]

Heres the background
We have 2 cats, a boy, 6, George, neutered, and girl, Minnie, 5, spayed.
Someone is peeing in the house, once a day only. It's not a small amount, it's a full bladder load. Normally on the carpet, but preferences on bags, any clothing left around and lately, toys.

I think it is Minnie that is doing it, but not 100% sure. We have never caught them doing it, even though its been going on now for almost 3 years. I've tried everything I can think of, litter trays, different litter, trays in different places, feliway, locking down rooms, cat only child free areas...... But still, every day I have to go through the house sniffing trying to find today's place.

We are now at the point were we can't live with this for much longer, and certainly not put up with it till they are of old age, and we are starting to seriously consider rehoming 1 or both of them.

It first started when Sasha came home, but only once or twice in a 6 month period, then when Oliver came home it became more regular building up to daily a few months before we moved from Torbay.

Sometime after Sasha was born, George got crystals in his urine, and is now on royal cannine urinary biscuits, which means Minnie is too. These have fixed George crystal problem, but due to this, I blamed him for a long time for the indoor peeing. I'm wondering maybe though if there is a link here with Minnie?


When we moved to mt Roskill, I was able to segregate the cats into two parts of the house, but only for a couple of days, and the mess was in Minnie's half, not George's, but I was unable to run the experiment for longer to really find out 100%.

So I'm wondering a few things. Is it the food? Is it the kids? Is it that Minnie would prefer to be an only cat? (It did take her as a kitten to accept the year older George, and he just wanted to play with her) or could something be physically wrong with her?

Any thoughts?

[Kaz]

I'd ask your regular vet for some advice Weka, perhaps one or both has a urinary problem? Or it could be behavioural................. Perhaps those biscuits, which are meant for George's problem, are causing Minnie to wee when she shouldn't.............. I know it's virtually impossible when you have two pets to keep their food separate though............

I am sure you will get loads of advice from the experienced cat owners here ((((((((((((((((x)))))))))))))))

[debih]

I don't know anything about cats Weka but agree with Kaz about talking to a vet. It could be a common problem that is very easily fixed.

[miasmum]

I think you first need to rule at a physical cause, then start down the behavioural route. I don't know much about cats peeing in the house. My William went through a stage but that was because he was unsettled and Mum's Charlie did it when she first had William, again as a territory thing.

Ria will have much more advice to offer I am sure

[shazsha]

Weka do they each have a litter box?

When Candy became ill and stopped going out she used a litter box but, if Tuffty ever went in it, then Candy would refuse to use it until it had been emptied and washed. She also refused to use litter that she had used more than once herself-eventually I would only put in small amounts of litter and change it as soon as she used it.

Another thing...when I fed mine dry food Tuffty was absolutely fine but Candy would catch all kinds of urine infections. Perhaps the female cat would be better on wet food?

Firstly I would visit the vet and rule out any medical problems. I'd then get them seperate litter boxes(perhaps an open one and a covered one) and I would offer wet food to the female.

It may be an idea to keep the cats in seperate rooms(each with their own litter tray) for a week-that way you could find out what one is actually peeing outside the box.

[meriad]

Weka, Shaz has more or less covered it... definitely first thing is to take both cats to the vet to rule out cystitis.... although i doubt it's that as you don't say they are squatting and straining or have blood in their urine. My first instinct is that whoever the culprit is, is weeing in the house because they are either too scared to wee outside or worried about weeing in the litter box as they've been scared by something (one cat bopping the other as they come out the litter box, one of the kids accidentally scaring them, a sudden loud noise - it can be number of causes; that to you and me seem totally daft but to a cat will be a humongous event). And don't forget, moving home is a big thing for humans, but for cats it's a major event and that can certainly upset them.

As a matter of interest, what set up do you have at home at the moment - ie how many litter boxes (if any) and where are they?

In the meantime, in case it is a stress issue either get a Feliway diffuser (although given the size of your house you'll probably need two or three and plug it in. Alternatively get some Rescue Remedy and put about 8 drops into their drinking water on a daily basis. Another thing to try is valerian drops mixed in with a nice treat; not sure cat milk would cover enough of the taste; do you have any paste type treats over your part of the world?

I also 100% agree with Shaz's comment about dry vs wet feeding.... but obviously speak to your vet about this. The urinary biscuits are there to break down the cyrstals which hopefully are now gone. I would be tempted to try and shift both cats onto a wet food diet as it's more natural and they get all the water they need from wet food. Again, not sure you can get it where you are, but here in the UK we can buy a product called Cistaid which you add to food which also helps prevent UTI's.

Let us know how the vet visit goes and then it's next steps from there

Good luck

[Weka]

We tried the feliway dispenser at our last house which was half the size of this place, and someone wee'ed right infront of it.
I have 2 trays. They both do poo's in them, and I've seen them both wee there. I've also see both of them wee outside.

I had been told by two vets that once a cat was on the urinary food, they were on it for life. If this is not the case then I'll be one happy camper.

This is the litter tray setup. It's in the shower box of the downstairs shower.

[meriad]

Weka, just wondering - are you able to move one of the trays to a different area? Or leave both where you have them and get a third and put it somewhere else? Just to see if that makes a difference. Given it's a bladder load of wee I'm still hedging my bets on 'scared' wee'ing vs illness.

I cannot quite make out; do your cats have outdoor access?

[Weka]

They do from 6am ish, until 8pm ish, unless I go out during the day. We don't have a cat flap installed yet, we are still trying to work out where to put it. All logical places have full length curtains, and everywhere else makes 2 walls and therefore two doors to get through.

I have rescued the old cat flap from our old house, so I'm going to try rigging something up with that as access into a box or similar and inside that is a litter tray.

I also need to sort out a vet here.

The idea this morning around the breakfast table was to put one at a time in a cattery for a week each, and see if the weeping stops. For all I know it might be both.

[meriad]

The cattery definitely is something to try.... but then again it may well be that neither cat will wee in the house when they are on their own; that's sort of a typical cat thing to do

In the meantime get some Bach Rescue Remedy and add about 8 drops to their drinking water on a daily basis; it may not work, but it certainly won't do harm.

I was also meant to ask - is this a daily thing that happens or occasional? Just wondering if the actual trigger is another cat outside that may have spooked the culprit when they were having a wee in the garden and now for them the safe space to wee is in the house?