Only looking for things that *actually worked* in stopping cat wee

[Coffeetree]

I've turned the Internet upside down and have found loads of suggestions but no actual stories of "I did X and it stopped my cat from stress-weeing outside her box" .

My indoor cat had been absolutely fine with using her box, and then after lockdown I went from being home all day to working outside the house for 12 hours a day. I had her before lockdown but she was fine with my long hours then.

I've got a new remote-only job beginning in Jan, but she now has the bad habits. She pees on my bed and bathmat and when discouraged from that she started on the couch. She's now confined to spare room with litter box and I sleep in there with her (with foil on bed to keep her off).

Checked at vet, no med issues. I'm not even going to list all the things I've tried because I've tried everything possible that can be found on the Internet. So please don't ask have I tried x, the answer is yes.

I'm beginning to suspect that nothing really works and that people just end up living in urine-soaked homes or giving away their cats, and that's why in the hundreds of blogs and threads all over the Internet you never have the OP returning to say, "Thanks for the advice, problem solved!"

Anyone actually resolve the issue?

I also changes from simple Solution to the pat odour by Vanish. The floral smell of the simple solution built up over time and i ended up not being able to differentiate pee and Solution. It stank basically! The Vanish isn't perfumed and it works just as well. I think she reacts better to it too .

She's pissing everywhere because you're giving off bad vibes. She can tell you're a piece of work and wants out. If you spoke to me like you've spoken to some of the people on this thread, I'd probably wazz on your bed.

@Coffeetree
I find it strange that if you want to fix this thus you're focussing on anecdotes of things that people report have worked for cats who likely have entirely different stress triggers and living environments to your cat rather than an evidence-based approach of things we know work.

1. Environmental optimisation as per ISFM environment guidelines journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1098612X13477537

1. Ensure no arthritis/chronic pain/litter tray access definitely not an issue

1. Anti-anxiety meds (speak to your vet/behaviourist)

1. No punishment/stressors and maintain a positive relationship with her even when you feel frustrated

Different cats at different times the below all worked for me:
Added an extra litter box (# of cats plus 1)
Added a choice of different litter in each box
Took her to the vet (she had a uti)

I’ve started letting my cat sleep on my bed. It feels like a gamble, but she seemed to wee and poo more in places she wasn’t allowed, so now I have a waterproof mattress cover and just cross my fingers!

I feed her dreamies in the places where she used to pee a lot (by the front & back doors mainly, and on the sofas). We had to throw away one armchair as it was so soaked in pee it was irretrievably ruined. Luckily the others have removable covers and the pee doesn’t seem to soak through to the cushion… too much

I close the sitting room door at night and she has a little igloo to sleep in upstairs - I think having a view of outside when other cats were prowling at night wasn’t helpful - she used to rush from one window to another to see what they were doing outside.

I put cystitis meds and probiotics in their food so that there aren’t any physical issues with peeing and pooing. Basically doing all I can here! Fingers crossed, none for several weeks now.

It’s so disheartening isn’t it, when you feel like you’re doing all you can and giving them a good home and they repay you by making your life a misery.

I have huge litter trays in the under stairs cupboard with a cat flap in the door, so that it’s nice and private.

Also the neighbours bully boy cat moved away a few months ago and I think that helped. There’s still other cats around that stress her out, (including one of ours!) but things have definitely calmed down.

My male cat also weed in the corner of my hallway. I had to change the carpet.
Upon a lot of stress. I paid £25 for feliway. My cat was stressed I was coming home from work with a strange and new scent constantly. (I’m a paramedic so as you can imagine I come into contact with a lot of pets, blood, sweat and tears, literally!) and it was causing upset. Feliway worked to keep him calm but I also use citronella on the area’s he had previously done a wee. Cats don’t like the smell so it stopped him going back.
I bought the oil for i think £2 on ebay. Absolute godsend and I haven’t had issues with wee since. I also now make a point of putting him and my female cat down stairs at night so he isn’t lacking company. Is your cat dressed/neutered OP? I hope I have managed to offer some advice that also works for you. My cat is absolutely fine now with feliway, i think its cheaper to buy the plug ins online, but i got mine from pets at home initially. X

Fantastic, I'm really grateful for the advice and experiences.

I have a friend who fosters kittens and cats with a charity, and she came round last night to help me figure out a plan. The plan is:

1. Keep cat in spare room with foil-covered bed. Toys, cat tree, litter box food and water. Loads of cuddles and play time. She's there now, consistently using litter box. (she comes out for evening play time in living room, but closely supervised)

1. Treat the spare room bed with citronella and enzyme cleaner, then take foil off and cross fingers. If she wees on bed, then back to step one.

1. Treat all soft surfaces in flat with citronella and enzyme cleaner. Move some furniture about so that things seem "new".

1. If she can avoid weeing on spare room bed for a week, then she'll be allowed back in whole flat. There'll be a new extra litter box in my bedroom with sandier litter (she seems to like to wee near me). I'll throw a shower curtain on my bed to avoid tempting fate. By that time I'll be working at home every day so she'll have company.

1. Valerian treats and maybe zyclean?

1. And finally, possibly counter-intuitive but considering getting a little brother for her. She lived with her brother in her old home. I don't know whether that's madness or genius.

@Coffeetree

Fantastic, I'm really grateful for the advice and experiences.

I have a friend who fosters kittens and cats with a charity, and she came round last night to help me figure out a plan. The plan is:

1. Keep cat in spare room with foil-covered bed. Toys, cat tree, litter box food and water. Loads of cuddles and play time. She's there now, consistently using litter box. (she comes out for evening play time in living room, but closely supervised)

1. Treat the spare room bed with citronella and enzyme cleaner, then take foil off and cross fingers. If she wees on bed, then back to step one.

1. Treat all soft surfaces in flat with citronella and enzyme cleaner. Move some furniture about so that things seem "new".

1. If she can avoid weeing on spare room bed for a week, then she'll be allowed back in whole flat. There'll be a new extra litter box in my bedroom with sandier litter (she seems to like to wee near me). I'll throw a shower curtain on my bed to avoid tempting fate. By that time I'll be working at home every day so she'll have company.

1. Valerian treats and maybe zyclean?

1. And finally, possibly counter-intuitive but considering getting a little brother for her. She lived with her brother in her old home. I don't know whether that's madness or genius.

@Coffeetree Citronella is highly aversive and will significantly disrupt the scent profile in the home. It will add significantly to her stress levels and she's very likely to urinate over it in an effort to mask it and try and normalise the scent profile.

You really need to work on stress reduction techniques rather than punishments which only add to stress and are likely to exacerbate the problem

I think #6 might cause more problems tbh.

We have an incontinent old cat living with us. We have reduced accidents by -
-not letting the other cats into her room. They weren't fighting but she would retaliate by urinating

• using YuCalm and Calmeze on food (from Amazon, vet recommended these)
• using enzyme cleaner
• putting litter tray in the corner she most frequently used to piss in
• removing the door from the litter tray
• putting her in the litter tray twice a day, like lifting a sleeping toddler at bedtime. This one may have backfired though as ATM she's only weeing when we put her in there, she only gets up to use it by herself when she needs a poo.
• using Catsan not wood pellets and spraying with Asda litter cleaning spray (only the one they sell in Asda, mind)

She is also a fan of being wrapped up in a blanket and sleeping on a heat mat.

Except we have a person above who actually used it and it helped? I started this thread for actual examples of what worked for people. No it's not a one-size-fits-all situation, but the actual real examples are useful, as opposed to people copying and pasting text from cat behaviour websites.

@Coffeetree

Except we have a person above who actually used it and it helped? I started this thread for actual examples of what worked for people. No it's not a one-size-fits-all situation, but the actual real examples are useful, as opposed to people copying and pasting text from cat behaviour websites.

Citronella I mean

@IntemperateSpirits

I think #6 might cause more problems tbh.

We have an incontinent old cat living with us. We have reduced accidents by -
-not letting the other cats into her room. They weren't fighting but she would retaliate by urinating

• using YuCalm and Calmeze on food (from Amazon, vet recommended these)
• using enzyme cleaner
• putting litter tray in the corner she most frequently used to piss in
• removing the door from the litter tray
• putting her in the litter tray twice a day, like lifting a sleeping toddler at bedtime. This one may have backfired though as ATM she's only weeing when we put her in there, she only gets up to use it by herself when she needs a poo.
• using Catsan not wood pellets and spraying with Asda litter cleaning spray (only the one they sell in Asda, mind)

She is also a fan of being wrapped up in a blanket and sleeping on a heat mat.

Thank you, really helpful!

Do not underestimate that your dcat MAY be lonely for dcat company. After the loss of his db our dcat was hair pulling and not eating. We got a new dkitten (rescue) and he is reformed.
And fat.

Thank you. But such a risk!

Personally I wouldn't do 6. I think that would be likely to make things worse. (Speaking from experience.)

@Coffeetree

Except we have a person above who actually used it and it helped? I started this thread for actual examples of what worked for people. No it's not a one-size-fits-all situation, but the actual real examples are useful, as opposed to people copying and pasting text from cat behaviour websites.

Yes as I asked before, I'm interested in why you think anecdotes about cats that are different from yours, experiencing different stressors and living in different environments will be more effective than using evidence-based medicine?

@Coffeetree

Except we have a person above who actually used it and it helped? I started this thread for actual examples of what worked for people. No it's not a one-size-fits-all situation, but the actual real examples are useful, as opposed to people copying and pasting text from cat behaviour websites.

Also how do you think evidence-based practice/ medicine is generated if not through evaluation of 'what actually works'?

Bland copy-pastes about "reducing stressors" are all over the Internet, and useless.

Honestly op, Please consider rehoming her, her life sounds utterly miserable locked up.

I will have to rehome her if I can't resolve the issue and if my new work-from-home regime doesn't take away her stress. She can't live the rest of her life in one room. Hence my asking for actual real specific solutions and my frustration with the non-answers.

Not my cat but my brother's. Despite having a perfectly hood cat flap he couldn't get the cat to stop going in a certain area of the carpet and I used a carpet shampooer first then when dry I put down tin foil then orange peel and some drops of pure peppermint oil. The cat literally walked a huge wide berth around it and never ever did it there again.

Thank you, helpful!

We have a fleece from Amazon that is sort of teddy fleece on one side and velvet on the other. It has a waterproof core. We’ve put this on our bed and one on the sofa that displeased his lordship. We’ve had one poo and pee issue on the bed, nothing on the sofa for two months. He loves sleeping on the fleece, as it’s cosy, which helps. I’ve also got some “litter attractant” which is herbal, and you sprinkle in the litter, which seems to have helped.

Amazing, do you have a link for that?

When we first moved to our current home dcats hated it. Pissed everywhere.. They were banished to the utility room and kitchen( when we were around).. New routine for 6 months then new huge housed tray and wood pellet litter and allowed the run of downstairs but in one bedroom over night where the tray was. No mishaps for 5 years +
New routine /change of circumstances is more than some can cope with.
New dkitten and dcat bonded within a fortnight.. House is big enough they could have lived apart here if they hadn't got on.