my cats are ruining my home

[thetallfairy]

Hello all

I love my pets so much

I have a new house and I have set up lots of beautiful areas for my cats.
they have clean litter trays all over the house, they get to come in and out we have cat flaps (we are on a farm)

A stray came a few months ago, we love him and he has fitted in well.
there are no issues with the other cats and all seems ok

however

two of the cats will not stop peeing each day in areas in the house.
it is every day and I dont know what to do any longer

they have clean cat trays and free access to go outdoors

they pee on my shoes, on my clothes
one will spray over the kitchen worktops

we got those plug ins from amazon but it has not made a difference

each day I am up at 6am and it takes an hour at least to clean all the pee and to have the worktops in decent condition before the kids awake at 7

go easy on me

I dont know what may help

I hate to say it but `I may have to set up a cat shed with blanket and put them in there each night

they pee mostly at night

any help please

You need to consider this being a possibility.

I had a cat who used to wee/spray and poo all over the house. 3 years, 2 behaviourists, several litter trays, litter, different types of foods, plug ins and supplements later, I couldn't live with it anymore.

He was stressed, I was stressed, the other cats were stressed and it wasn't a happy home so he was rehomed because it was either that and take a shot and hope it stopped or he lived outside.

Have you double checked with the vet? Mine ruled out anything physical but couldn't help with the behaviour.

It's a horrible situation and I hope you can fix it.

Get rid of the new cat. Vet to check for microchip and then shelter.

Your cats don’t want him there and they are making it clear.

This is awful advice. Do not boot your cats out for a week.

No it isn’t. I said they had to have shelter and warmth. It does work. Op can learn to live with the piss otherwise. It’s their habit now. A habit that needs breaking.

Coming back to this would it be possible to shut each cat in a separate room overnight? It wouldn't be an instant fix but if you give it a week they might start to feel more secure in their own dedicated spaces. One of the ideas our vet had, which we never tried actually,was to basically crate each cat with their own litter tray overnight to remap their safe spaces, and gradually extend their space to the whole room. We were told to be mindful of the hierarchy, eg put the most dominant cat in the most desirable spot. A behaviourist would know more.

I foster cats and we use Zyklene calming capsules/powder which is great for reducing stress. It's an over the counter medicine so can be ordered off amazon etc. Might be worth a try. I have a feliway type spray dispenser in my foster room that puffs out a pheromone spray occasionally too. Mine sleep in a small room overnight then have free run of my upstairs all day. My own cats are just downstairs so they don't meet. I'd say add in more hiding places/up high ones too so each cat can carve out their own territory & look into what cleaning products you're using to get rid of the pee. needs to be enzymatic one. It's very frustrating I agree - over the years my different foster cats have peed on all of our beds 😪 really stinks and really hard work scrubbing foam mattress toppers etc. Good luck 💐

thank you so much

and thank you for caring for so many foster cats

great work xxx

amazing idea

I am going to try this

thank you !!!!!!!!!

worth a shot
cant do any harm ??

def a habit that I need to do something about

they have lots of warm areas outside too and a shed full of beds and blankets

we really love him and he is a great cat

I dont know if I can

You love him but your other cats don't. You are being abusive to the others.

thank you so much

will try as much as I can

and if they continue I will try to maybe get more outdoor areas for them if necessary

I agree with this. I've had cats all my life and never used indoor litter trays (other than when it snows!). I don't see the point if they can go outside?

Could you build some sort of catio to one side of the utility room, so they could be confined to that and the catio overnight?

I think it could do harm actually. Shutting them all in where they are not choosing to be for hours could be stressful for them which will not help. But also it could help. If you try it go mad with Feliway or whatever and be prepared to abandon it.

interesting

I am thinking a habit of regular time outside for toilet with no option indoors could be the way forward

these have all been so great

I try to hard
I love them and spent a lot of time and money treating them so well

it made me upset yesterday but it is not their fault and I need to try harder in many ways also

I would consider rehoming the new addition if the peeibg started since he arrived. I had a similar scenario, cat turned up. Moved her in, she and another cat just didnt get on. I persevered for a year before rehoming to a friend. She us much happier, no more utis, no more peeing everywhere.

You aren't abusing your cats, ignore pp. You obviously care deeply for them. Some great advice on here, I'm sure something will help.

I find Zooflora kills the odour of cat wee so they don't keep returning. If it's something you can washing in the machine then put a splash in the drum with it and if it's a surface then a splash in the final cleaning water or spray it afterwards with diluted Zooflora.

Felifriends (or whatever it's called) is good as that's the pheromones that happy cats in groups release and I know some cat rescue foster carers who have loads of cats and they use PetRemedy. Make sure you have enough plug ins though - don't have just one and expect it to scent the whole house as it won't.

Good luck!

Although I will caveat my earlier comment OP and just say that not every multicat household I know of is a happy one. I've got 2 foster-fails and they tolerate each other with the occasional hiss and chase. I would never add in any other cats whilst I have these 2 as one (female) dislikes most cats and the other (blind, male) doesn't 'cat' in the traditional way so he stares directly at her with his lack of eyes and she finds it disturbing etc. I've given her tons of high up places to sleep so she can escape from him if he's in a chasing mood (he wants to play). I know another fosterer who keeps foster-failing different kittens and it's not working out at all well with the latest kitten she's kept. Her other cats all hate him. She's seriously thinking of putting him back up for adoption (he's a gorgeous grey tabby and friendly so he'll be snapped up). I've fostered loads of cats/kittens I could have happily kept but I just know my black female cat would absolutely hate it. Hopefully it will work out though for you with your new addition 🤞

You need to isolate the cats that pee into a very small space that contains their food, water and litter tray. (One cat per space/small room, don't lock them all up together obviously!) In a very small space, they will quickly self-correct and start to use the litter tray. Keep them confined for at least 1-2 weeks, and the problem should sort itself out. Once they're back in the house they'll continue to use their litter trays.

Just to let you know there's an extreme version of simple solution stuff recommended up thread. Our cat got stressed and started weeing next to the litter tray and we soaked the area for a few hours with the stuff and then cleaned as normal.

Nothing has happened since so it does kill the scent so they hopefully won't return to it.

To train a cat to use the litter tray is something their mum would have done. this But if mum is not there you have to do it for them. Which means, when you see them ‘go’ you have to move their small paws and show them to cover the wee or poo up. They soon get the gist. Then move the tray near to a door that has a cat flap in it.
Slowly introduce small amounts of earth to the litter trays. And eventually move the tray to just outside the door.
One day take away the tray. And hope !

You can do this with the little one. And perhaps the others. The oldest one I suspect not. But try. And yes, litter trays all over the house are not going to help. One place only.

I would say a stray semi feral cat is highly unlikely to be trainable if older. A farm cat or ex farm cat is not the same as a house cat. And I would make a room outside. Our old neighbours inherited a farm cat. It could not stay in the house really.