Advice please - cat weeing in house

[RNBrie]

Our rescue cat is weeing in the house and we need some advice. She is 4, nearer 5, and has lived with us since March. She has a litter tray and a cat flap although she's been spending almost all of her time inside since it got cold and wet.

All was well until July, she started to limp so we took her to the vet. Vet said she had soft tissue damage, nothing to worry about - but that she'd gained a lot of weight since we first registered her in March.

Vet told us to halve her food intake - from 2 pouches of felix plus 40g of royal canine to 1 pouch and 20g. We split this over 2 meals at 7am and 7pm so she got half a pouch and 10g at each meal.

Cat was not happy about "diet". She started stealing food and being generally yowly and annoying. We thought the diet was too harsh and so increased her royal canine to 30g a day - 15g at each meal plus half a pouch.

Cat seemed happier but still steals food if she can. I don't blame her for this, we have got really good at keeping food out of her reach. She has stopped gaining weight but isn't really losing any that we can tell, I do not think she is starving.

Around the same time - she started weeing in the house. Mostly in "my" bathroom - which is our spare room ensuite. If she can get in there, and there is anything soft of the floor (bathmat/towel/clothes) she will wee on it. She will do it even if I am in there at the time and she will do it every time she manages to get in there and there is something on the floor. This makes me think the weeing is somehow connected to me rather than DH or DC.

That said, she has also weed once in the kids shoe tub by the front door, on a sofa in the kids playroom and on a spare car seat in the utility room - this is particularly weird as she used to sleep in the car seat during the day.

Last night, as we were getting ready for bed, she weed on our bed, right in front of me. We usually have a play once I am in bed and then she settles in to a chair in our room overnight. I had every intention of playing with her and was just clearing the bed of laundry and stuff when she weed.

I shooed her off the bed and stripped it, she ran downstairs and we went to bed. When we woke up this morning she was in her chair.

I have made her an appointment on Tuesday to see the vet to check she hasn't got an infection and to discuss her weight and her diet.

But aside from this - does anyone have any insight into what's going on? I am feeling pretty resentful towards her today which I hate. I do not feel like we have a good relationship at the moment and I would like to fix it (I know she's not a person! but I do love her and would like to understand what is happening)

Any advice welcome - happy to answer any questions!! Thank you.

[crazycatlady7]

I have had two issues with two of my cats peeing in the house- one we haven't resolved yet.

My older cat sounds like yours. She will pee on the dirty clothes or our bed. And does it to make a point to us that's she's unhappy or ill. When she starts we check for blood in her pee- is there is we give her 3 days of pain killer (we have done it a few times and vet says to do this first) if this doesn't work we visit the vet for stronger painkillers.

If it's because she is unhappy we get out the feliway plugs for a week or so, calm the house down and reassure her. You say her diet has been changed and this may be a reason so try feliway- but also talk to vet about reducing it slowly?

My youngest- we've given up- thankfully she now pees on the floor outside the house (covered passageway between house and garage) so we just have to clean the floor outside now. There is no reason for her behaviour we have found. I've retrained her by locking her in a room for a few weeks and praising her use of the tray. I've changed litters, types of trays, cleaned them constantly.... but now given up- thankfully she stopped it in the house.

Speak to your vet, hopefully they can help, if not either the feliway stuff or retrain her but it takes time and it upset me so much keeping her locked in a room.

[RNBrie]

Thank you for this. I do think it's emotional rather than something physical wrong with her as it's so sporadic. But I'll take her to the vet anyway.

Her diet has been the same since September ish but I completely agree we should have changed it gradually. I'm a bit annoyed the vet didn't suggest that but it does seem obvious that cutting her food in half overnight probably pissed her off so annoyed with myself too!

I've heard of the feliway plug in things before but I've never tried them. She is quite skittish and jumpy by nature so I am happy to try them. Thanks again.