still peeing!

[Bristol Lad]

I really hope this all gets sorted out as I know it can be extremely frustrating. Sahara used to pee and poo on our carpeted floor but luckily (touch wood) has now stopped after closing doors to certain rooms which she wasn't allowed in. We have now changed the carpet and underplays in those rooms and she is fine to go in to those rooms.

 

[barbja]

Oh man! Our girl has been peeing on almost everything in our formal living/dining room for at least nine months. Two leather and suede chairs were irreparably harmed before I noticed (long story). The only things that she hasn't gotten is an end table, lamp, two of four dining chairs and the dining table (So: two chairs, two dining chairs, rug, rug pad, floor, random cardboard boxes, puppy pads, foil, sofa, shopping bags, console table, backpack, shirt). After a disheartening battle with the leather chairs, with the exception of the floor and the sofa, everything she has peed on has been systematically removed from the room. The sofa is covered with a plastic carpet runner right now (nubblies up).

I've gone through a vet, mobile vet, and a behaviorist. We finally started walking her. Although this has some undesirable consequences, we had been pee-free for a week since doing that. Stoked with success, my son and I bought a cheap rug and two chairs from Target to populate our barren room. The chairs didn't last even 24 hours.

Its not like she doesn't use the (4!) litter boxes in the house. She just chooses to add the living room chairs to the rotation. Also, no other room but the formal living room.

Perhaps I should buy a new house with no formal living room.

 

[Pam Flachs]

I am sure this is very frustrating to you!

What sort of set-up do you have for a litter box for your girl? She may be telling you she is not pleased with the location, the size of the box, or the type of litter. I would add a few more boxes of varying design and sizes with different litters and add Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract litter, or use it on its own.

Also...how are you cleaning the areas that are being peed on? Using an enzyme based cleaner thoroughly is the only way to get rid of the odor. Anti-Icky Poo and Unique Distributors urine remover seem to be the best. There are many threads on this forum about inappropriate peeing.....has she been checked for a urinary tract infection?

 

[Pam Flachs]

If you type "peeing" in the search box in the upper right hand corner of the forum home page...lots of threads are devoted to causes and cures

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

yes, as Pam says, check out the threads on the forum about inappropriate peeing. And realize that now she is in a habit of peeing outside the box, so whatever tactics you try you will need to be persistent for some weeks to hope to see a change. Good luck!

 

[barbja]

Oh litterboxes? I went through that with the behaviorist. We tried I think 4 different kinds of litters and she likes the bulk clumping litter from PetCo the best. I have a 1 ginormous box (35x20) and 1 giant box (21x16) in the cat room, 1 giant box in the hall, 1 giant box and one small box (20x12) in the living room where the pee issues are. I just added the giant box to the living room. So we had 4, now we have 5. She uses them all indiscriminately. She doesn't seem to be favoring the furniture over the boxes, it seems that she adds the furniture (and other objects) to her rotation.

I used to have only 2 small boxes and with those I also had issues with her peeing on the bed in her room. Getting the giant litter boxes fixed that issue. I also clean all of those myriad of boxes 2x per day.

I've used anti-icky poo and eco88. eco88 seems to work better for me.

If its a movable object, the affect object is either treated, treated and removed or treated and washed then returned. Treated and washed then returned is the most effective (completely removed is also effective obviously, but that doesn't count). The only things that have been peed on and not removed and/or washed are the floor and the sofa. The floor is wood so treating it after an incident isn't an issue. Usually the floor is only hit as runoff, it isn't the target itself.

Both cats were checked at my normal vet in November for UTI. They said negative. But they did the test in-house. I had a mobile vet come about 1.5 weeks ago who used a lab for the tests. My DSH showed PH of 8.0 (yo!), but my savannah girl looked pretty normal. I suspect what may be happening is that the DSH is doing the initial application and the savannah is adding some extra essence (over and over).

I have never caught either cat doing any initial peeing on anything in that room. Only Sabrina doing 'additions' many times. I have a web cam that I want to set up to find out who the actual culprit is, but I'm having setup problems.

 

[barbja]

Oh, and I used to have my DSH on Instinct rabbit raw food (my SV won't touch the stuff). The mobile vet told me that was no good and that I needed to change her over to some royal canin urinary diet. She eats the canned. I've read various places that this is bunk and that a raw diet would be better than any of those prescription UDs.

She has my SV on the UD too, but she won't eat the canned, so she has to eat the kibble. Personally I don't like her eating kibble and I want her pickiness back on a canned diet. I don't think eating kibble is good for her. She's back to drinking out of faucets again.

Opinions?

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Are your giant litterboxes opaque or clear plastic? Just a thought as some cats like to be able to see around them while using it... so if opaque that could be the issue.

I also think using the eco88 might be a problem. I simply don't agree that the oxygen cleaners work better than enzyme cleaners, I think they smell better to US but not the cats. Cats have a very sensitive sense of smell, and any trace odor will cause them to return to that place. I think covering the sofa is the best way to break her habit.

I agree that if your DSH has had some peeing then your SV might well be marking over the top... so obviously both need to be worked on...

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Oh, and I used to have my DSH on Instinct rabbit raw food (my SV won't touch the stuff). The mobile vet told me that was no good and that I needed to change her over to some royal canin urinary diet. She eats the canned. I've read various places that this is bunk and that a raw diet would be better than any of those prescription UDs.

She has my SV on the UD too, but she won't eat the canned, so she has to eat the kibble. Personally I don't like her eating kibble and I want her pickiness back on a canned diet. I don't think eating kibble is good for her. She's back to drinking out of faucets again.

Opinions?

I think vets are trained to prefer the commercial diets. But it is important to note that they don't really get nutritional training at vet school.... And they generally speaking are worried about raw diets for two reasons: (1) if the owner isn't careful then bacterial contamination of food is very possible
(2) the owner needs to properly supplement the raw so that it is nutritionally complete.

So easier to recommend the commercial diet than rely on the owner is what most decide..

When my eldest SV developed kidney failure (from some medication he was taking) they of course wanted him on prescription kidney diets... which he refused every single one we tried. What I found worked was simply removing all kibble and finding a high quality canned food he liked... as well as his beloved chicken legs... and his kidney values stabilized. I knew kibble wasn't great for cats but hadn't realized what a difference it might make...

 

[barbja]

Ahhh...I was using anti-icky poo and the behaviorist recommended eco88. So I should go back to anti-icky poo? That would be good since I have like a gallon of the unscented variety.

After the initial incident, the sofa was treated with anti-icky poo, then professionally cleaned. After the holding period of puppy pads, then quilt, then runner we have just the runner now and it hasn't been retagged. I must say that during the holding period, one of them braved those nubblies to pee on that runner. That's determination.

The litter boxes are opaque. I don't think I've seen clear ones before. Perhaps I've cruised past them (because they're clear and all ).