Please Help.... Cat Problem

[Jean]

Nowhere is there more knowledge than on this site, so I am turning to my friends at IHD for advice. We have 2 cats. One is a female about 11 years old, who is spayed and one, a male who is 1 year old and not neutered. Suddenly one or both of them have decided that the litter box is just not the place to P. We dont know which one it is, of course. The house reeks of cat urine and the smell is unreal. Not to mention, embarassing. What can I do? Of course, most of the house is carpeted and that is where they are going. We can never find the area where they do it. but we sure can smell it.
Thanks in Advance for any suggestions.

[Cordelia]

If your male cat is peeing then likely its because he's not neutered. If its pee from your female cat, it could be kidney failure being she is eleven years old.  Check to see if the female cat, what her eating is like, lack of appetite, crouching at the dish is also another sign of kidney failure in cats. My cat had the same thing happen to her.   

Sometimes a cat will get quite finickity if the litter pan isn't just cleaned 'right' for them, one of my cats had that issue. I realized I needed to keep it cleaned daily as opposed to 'every other day'

I hope it's not anything serious.        Hope things will be okay   

[Poppylicious]

Rather than an issue with peeing, could it be that Boy Cat is simply marking his territory?  Little (un-neuteured) Boy Cats do like to do it and I understand it can be stinky like strong pee. 

When one of our cats was vomiting (and both seemed fine) regularly the only way I was able to work out which it was was to kick one out overnight (not something you can probably do if both are indoor cats?!) Poor Dora is now on dry food only because it seemed that wet food was making her sick!

Hopefully it's nothing more serious than a marking of territory.  Just a thought: have you recently changed anything at home? Cat litter?  Food?  Cats love routine and little changes can affect them and make them do naughty things.

*huggles*

[bluesgirl]

I would really bet that it's the boy peeing in the wrong place. Have him neutered ASAP and hopefully that should help. It's also important to try to find the place(s) the cat(s) have peed because as long as the place smells of pee they are going to treat it like a litterbox, this may also be why you may find both of the peeing outside the box, one cat starts and the other continues because of the smell. when cleaning it either use products for the petstore or use vinegar (acetum) or something that smells of lemon. Do NOT use clorine or something with amoniac in it. Best of luck!

[boswife]

I agree that it's probably the little boy    but............. my 14yr old female just went through a stint with it (though thankfully i caught her runing my doggie beds) and i got a product called "free & Clear" from our local pet nutrition place and it took about 3 days and she was back faithfully to the litter box or outside.  It was so weard cause she was an easy 'catch' because she had her definate places to 'go' so though i wasnt 'catching' her all the time, i knew where to locate the smell...  They say that if they dont want to pee in their designated area it's usually bladder/kidney issues or naughty boys..  For her, i kept at it a week and every now and then, go a couple of days just to keep clean.  Look the stuff up.  Not cheep, but cheeper than new furniture or vet bills.  (she's a fighter and i dreaded taking her in so gave this a shot first.... grateful it worked!!! ) oh,,,,, she was also yealowing when she had to pee so that became a give a way if i was around that she was going to go.  Poor kitty, so glad she's better..

[jbeany]

If the boy is marking territory, you may not be finding damp spots on carpet because he's backing up to a wall or furniture and marking a vertical surface instead.

One of my cats started doing this because a neighbor's cat started coming around the house and sitting on the porch.  Mine began to spray the wall just inside the front door in an effort to keep the other cat out.

[RichardMEL]

I agree. It's most likely the frisky fellow. Why was he not fixed by now anyway?

If it's not him, then it could be that one or other of them is distressed in some way, upset, sick etc and peeing outside the tray can be a sign of this. First thing I'd do is get the male fixed and see how that goes if it settles the situation down. It might be a good idea to get both checked out by the vet at the same time just in case - the female is old enough where it would make sense to have a checkup anyway in my view.

good luck!

[Jean]

Thanks so much for all of the advice, everyone. Simon has an appt with the vet first thing in the morning. I sprayed the entire house with vinegar, wow, what a smell that was, but once it was aired, there were no more odors. Keeping the litter box scrupulously clean too, fresh box everyday. We have 4 boxes and keep them out on a table in the driveway and just rotate them after cleaning. I am so grateful for all of the info, as I once again have a livable home. What a relief. Hope this is over and done with. Quite honestly, we did not have Simon fixed sooner, because we had gotten one quote of $400.00 to neuter him, wow, way over our heads financially. So, tomorrow it is done. Poor little guy, he wants something to eat and nothing by mouth after 8 PM tonight.
Thanks Again

[RichardMEL]

awww it's really tough when you can't explain to them why they can't eat... but then again if you COULD explain to him you probably wouldn't because he'd be gone in a flash if he knew what was coming!!! 

I hope you got a cheaper quote from the vet - that seems crazy!! When I got my kitty from the shelter it cost like $90 (and the AU$ is worth more than the US$ right now - well a little bit anyway) and that included a microchip as well. Even if it was subsidised, it's still way less than $400!!

I'm sure he will be fine in a day or so once he's over the op and used to his new.. umm.. status

[Riki]

I paid $200 to get my kitty fixed, and that included all of his needles.  The vets around here need to compete with the vet college at UPEI, so their prices are a little better than in other places

[Chris]

Wow, $200! For male cats, it is a simple procedure that I got to do to control strays in Chicago while in vet tech classes volunteering on the weekend to learn from veterinarians. Here at the vet is $80 for cats or dogs.

[Jean]

As it happens, quite by accident, I made the appt at a place that was other then where I thought it was. It was a low cost clinic. $40.00 and we were done!!! He is home and seems to be fine now. Still kind of wobbly and goofy tho. So, he had no food or water for 24 hours and during the evening, I smelled, well, you know what and went and checked out the litter box, and lo and behold it had a large fresh puddle in it. I think we took the wrong cat to the vet and the little girl may have a UTI, cus, boy, did it ever stink.

[jbeany]

Well, it needed doing anyhow...and you can keep an eye on girl kitty now and see how she's doing to.  $40 sounds a whole lot better than the first quote!

[Riki]

Wow, $200! For male cats, it is a simple procedure that I got to do to control strays in Chicago while in vet tech classes volunteering on the weekend to learn from veterinarians. Here at the vet is $80 for cats or dogs.

I think the cost was more for the needles than the procedure itself

[Chris]

Must have been gold plated or titanium then    Or one really bad vet tech who could't get the IV started. After that, a knife is used for getting in, cutting off, but not for stiches. Scissors are used for that. I won't go into detail how they take care of strays. Even tho it is safe, the description can sound disgusting.
 
 

[Jean]

Only two days since his surgery and Simon is like a different cat. He still is not a PLC ( professional lap cat ) but, he wants to be petted all the time. Maybe the trip and the surgery traumatized him. You thinks so?

[Bruno]

No body likes losing their balls. Of course he's traumatised! On a more practical note, you need separate litter boxes for male and female cats, a female won't go where a male has been.

[Riki]

Must have been gold plated or titanium then    Or one really bad vet tech who could't get the IV started. After that, a knife is used for getting in, cutting off, but not for stiches. Scissors are used for that. I won't go into detail how they take care of strays. Even tho it is safe, the description can sound disgusting.

not IV needles, silly.. vaccinations.. the vet wouldn't do it until all his needles were up to date.  I'm sure that a few of them are fairly pricey

[bluesgirl]

No body likes losing their balls. Of course he's traumatised! On a more practical note, you need separate litter boxes for male and female cats, a female won't go where a male has been.

mine do.

[Chris]

ricki, I must have missed that part of the information on the price trying to making up something funny.
 
Bruno....lol  However we have a female and a male cat who share their liter boxes. We have 2 boxes and niether claims it as their own. They switch between them throughout the day.

[Jean]

Wow, Bruno, you had me scared there for a minute. They do both use the same box, well, obviously one of them doesnt all of the time. I now have 4 litter boxes so I can rotate the litter on a daily basis. Gosh, another thing to do, I am so happy

[CebuShan]

My vet years ago told me to have 1 more box than kitties. Ex. you have 2 cats, make 3 boxes available. That was quite interesting when we had 6 cats! Good thing our bathroom is huge!    Also, some one else mentioned it, if there have been any kind of changes (no matter how small) it can change a cat's litter habits. We had one cat that we could not change the furniture around unless he was here "supervising" otherwise he would act like he didn't know where he was and afraid of the room with the change! Cats are definitely creatures of habit!
Good Luck, hope things are better now!

[natnnnat]

My two use the same tray. 

[kellyt]

Yes, fix the male.        Nothing worse than the smell of cat urine or spray.

[Jean]

Simon is great now. No more bad smells anywhere. We had all our carpeting shampooed and that helped also. Thanks for all the advice. Next time I will know better than to let the neutering be put off for so long.