To ask for your help with Alan

[Hatsuma]

Alan is a 5 month old cat

He is a dirty little ape. I have witnessed with my own eyes him peeing in:

1. a full bag of shopping on the kitchen floor.
2. his play tunnel
3. my linen basket

Which makes me think there’s plenty more places he’s pissed when I wasn’t looking. I’m recovering from covid and my sense of smell isn’t great, but I keep thinking I can smell cat wee everywhere

He’s been neutered. He’s squatting down and doing a full wee rather than spraying. He has a litter tray which he does use, but it would appear sometimes he can’t be arsed. Litter tray is cleaned regularly.

Cat experts, please help!

I looked after a cat that did this. I couldn't put a plastic bag anywhere without him pissing on it. I got a load of puppy training pads and he happily went on those which was much easier to sort.

You might want to have a word with the vet in case there's any underlying issues.

Also can you post a pic of him?! Them's the rules!

OMG yes he loves any kind of bag! He can’t help himself when it comes to getting in them. OK here’s the offending article. So hard to get a good picture of a black cat!

What is Alan's background? Was he taken from his mother very young?

Ps he is gorgeous and I want him, wee and all.

1. you need to clean all the places he wees with proper enzyme cleaner. Other wise the smell of it will attract him back.

2. um. Have you tried not cleaning his tray too regularly? Cats are attracted back to the smell of their own tray.try leaving 1/4 to 1/3 of the used litter in the tray and adding fresh so he recognises that it's his.

3. Could anything be stressing him out?

He wasn’t taken from his mum until 8 weeks. He had a lovely start to life with a very knowledgeable lady who lives for her cats. He was one of a litter of 3, I have him and his sister. According to the lady I got him from, he was the neediest of the three when it came to his mum, the others were much more independent. And he’s been the same since we got him, he requires a lot of fuss and attention whilst his sister is comparatively stand-offish and independent. He’s a very friendly boy. He goes outside during the day now when the weather is nice, and I’ve seen him weeing outside. I’m getting a cat flap fitted this weekend, hopefully that might help, if he can go outside whenever he likes.

Re cleaning where he wees, that’s the frustrating thing, I can’t really smell anything so I don’t know where he’s weeing. I don’t think the litter tray is cleaned too much, I skip it out once a day and then a full change once a week. It’s a big tray with plenty of litter in it.

Awww, he's so cute!!! I have dogs, one a male rescue. Due to underactive thyroid, he drinks a lot & then pees a lot! I put puppy mats down at night which seems to do the trick...🐾👍🏻

Separate litter tray well away from his food could help, my kitten likes one tray to wee and another tray to poo usually litter tray confused kittens wee in odd places so he might be just going where he pleases, also he's adorable fantastic name.

If you have two cats you should really have three litter trays - one each plus a spare.

It could be that there's a territorial issue with his sister.

Also, he is utterly adorable!

You can buy a torch on eBay for a quid odds that shows up bodily fluids like wee if you shine it on the carpet in the dark!

Shows up a kind of greeny colour.

I got one for my old cat. Found some bits I had no idea she’d used as a loo! Totally worth the money.

Cats should stay with mums for 12 weeks as an absolute minimum.

He is so cute! You may find some tips in here: www.wikihow.pet/Litter-Train-a-Cat

Alan is gorgeous of really gorgeous.

8 weeks the absolute bare minimum age to take a cat from its mother. An 8 week kitten will be just barely weaned.

Fabulous name for a cat.

Our neighbour has a Colin and a Harold.

@DeepaBeesKit

8 weeks the absolute bare minimum age to take a cat from its mother. An 8 week kitten will be just barely weaned.

That's as may be but Alan is in his new home now and rather than pointing the finger, surely we should be helping OP make sure he is as happy as he can possibly be.

Our cat started doing this when he had some problems with crystals in his wee (obviously trying to tell us he was uncomfortable). It's not super uncommon in male cats due to the size of their urethra, and in our case escalated to full blockage and a penile urethrostomy.

When mine were little, I'd fill the tray with fresh litter then (demonstrate what to do) scratch the top with my finger while they watched - so they at least had an idea what to do iyswim. 😹
Charlie (my big ginger lad) is v needy, he's like a dog sometimes and follows me around the house - I took this pic while I was having a pee🤦‍♀️
I just wish I'd trained him to use a harness/lead when he was little...
His sis is the opposite, she's only affectionate when he's not around - aloofness personified.

Few things;

• 1 tray per cat, plus a spare. So Alan & his sister should have three, in different locations

• what litter do you use? Try offering a couple of different types. Some cats like something soft underfoot, and don't like the hard pellet types.

• what do you clean with? Avoid citrus scents when cleaning the litter trays or area around it as it can deter cats as they don't like the smell.

• Avoid having trays in high traffic areas such as corridors, or near food or water dishes.

• Avoid temptation. Princess Bitch Cat, our tabby overlord, still cannot be trusted with bags 100% of the time. They are irresistible to her, so the best solution is not to give her the opportunity.

Maybe he is stressed about leaving his mum . He’s been with us since the end of June, and I’ve caught him weeing periodically since then. I was hoping it might stop when he was neutered, which happened a month ago (quite young so as he didn’t start shagging his sister and produce incest kittens). It didn’t stop.

I will definitely get a couple more litter trays and see if that helps. I use the wood pellet litter. Current tray is by the back door, on the opposite side of the kitchen to food bowls. My house is really small and there’s not too many options of where to put them. When I do a full clean I empty the litter tray and then wipe any bits that are stuck with some damp kitchen towel, no cleaning products.

@Hatsuma lots of great suggestions here so far. He’s gorgeous!

One that hasnt been suggested yet is Feliway, its a plug-in diffuser that releases pheromones that aim to soothe a stressed cat. One of my two female cats gets agitated and stressed now and again and this affects her peeing (eg DIY, dog visiting) and it really helps calm her

Not necessarily stressed by leaving mum, more that they learn good habits from mum re toileting so you may have to do a bit more to help him

If you manage to catch him mid-wee, take him straight to a tray and put him in it.
Hopefully he'll get the hang of it, he's so cute.😻