To rehome my cat?

[Lilacdaisies123]

My cat is 11 and we’ve had her since a kitten. This past year she has started urinating all over the house. She has a tray but will literally wee NEXT to it. We’ve tried keeping her outside while we’re not home, but she will look us in the eye and wee against walls. It’s getting to the point it’s embarrassing as the smell hits you as you walk through our door. Vets can’t find a cause. I want to keep her but I can’t live where I’m so conscious that me my house and kids smell of cat pee. Help.

We had one poo next to front door on door curtain next to a clean litter tray.

We found neigbour hood cat was round our front door possibly spraying - so got enzymes sprays and other cleaning produts thoughly clean - took curtain down - thoughly washed but put away for a while and changed litter to previous favorite - she acted very stressed still so got a Beaphar plug in -seems to work better than feliway for her.

Problem stopped and hasn't happened since.

I have had a similar situation with my cat recently. She is nearly 10 and has started to wee outside of her litter tray, but in one certain spot. We thought she was feeling stressed/anxious as we had a baby at the end of last year and we took her to the vets to rule out any infections or the like. Dcat seemed to relax with the baby but continued to wee outside of her tray. We went back to the vets, again nothing wrong with her that they could see. I was getting very concerned about her at this point and bought a colour changing litter which is supposed to show if there are any issues and even got an indoor camera so see if there was any pattern to her weeing there. Wasn't getting anywhere when last week we discovered we have mice, I think this may be the cause of her weeing and trying to mark her territory. Am hoping as we deal with that issue, Dcat will stop feeling the need to go outside of her tray! Perhaps there is a similar reason your cat is behaving as such?

Second litter tray, ensure you're using all the right cleaners etc, Feliway, left field ideas like @ButThisIsMyHappyFace'a interloper, second opinion from vet/behaviourist.

If no joy, like PPs in your position I felt we had to take responsibility for the cat. Whatever you do, please don't lie to a shelter to get someone else to take her on. And if you tell the truth, it's very unlikely anyone will take her.

We set up an outdoor home for our cat. She was allowed indoor supervised in day time only. May/June would be a good time of year to start, so your cat can be acclimatised to outdoor living before winter and their body can grow thicker fur as the season changes. We did this with full approval and advice from our vet, who said we were unusual and most people PTS.

I doubt that 3 is even an option. Shelters are full to breaking point with cats that people have dumped due to COL.

One of mine started weeing round the downstairs,a feliway plug in and scrubbing liberally with odour neutraliser where they've weed fixed this.

Ok, you just made a sneering remark about “supposedly” loving the cat, which implies you don’t believe she does. I stand corrected.

Thanks! Oops - that will teach me to skim readi!

I have the same problem! 14 year old cat, poops and pees NEXT to the clean litter tray! I'm at my wits end!

What have the vets actually done?

Does the cat go outside ever? Or are other cats able to get in?

I would try everything but if not successful, PTS. I love my cats but they are naturally clean animals and I would worry that things would just get worse. And no one else will take them on.

Whatever you do, don't use bleach to clean the wee up. It has something in it that attracts them to use the same spot again, you need a proper cleaner specifically for the job.
I would also buy the large puppy pads and put a few around the tray and see if that helps. If they go on the puppy pads at least it stops your house from smelling and they are easy to dispose of.
Get a couple of feliway plug ins.
Get plenty of catnip toys for them to play with, it usually chills them out.
We have a cat that randomly pisses everywhere and I got to the point that I rang the shelter to take him, by the time they had space I couldn't let him go so we still have the little gobshite!
We haven't had any accidents for a while but I fully expect him to do it again in the future, he is very sensitive so the slightest thing sets him off.
We've just bought a carpet cleaner and decided to live with it.

Have you been to the vets?

Can your cat still get into the litter tray? How high are the sides? Could you provide a step to see if it helps?

Can you put puppy pads down around the tray so it's easier to clean up messes?

"I have the same problem! 14 year old cat, poops and pees NEXT to the clean litter tray! I'm at my wits end!"

Have you tried cutting down a big cardboard box to make an ultra low sided litter tray so the cat doesn't have to flex her old elbows stepping in and out? And also see if vet will let you trial NSAID and/or Solensia +/- gabapentin and all that jazz.

Well exactly!!

Puppy pads and experimenting with different types of litter trays are what you need

Good advice. My very elderly (19yo) cat started to miss the litter tray a few years ago. I observed that he seemed to be struggling with climbing into it, and also that when he did get in, he often peed over the edge, because he couldn't bend his hind legs enough to crouch properly. I bought a really big, shallow-sided undertray for plant pots from the garden centre, and am using this as a litter tray: it's helped a lot. It sits on a big square of 4 puppy pads, to catch any accidents.

If there's no physical reason, it'll be something to do with stress. Cats don't maliciously decide to pee everywhere.

Our cat was doing this for over five years but I read that it is common in other countries to treat cats with Fluroxitine. I asked our vet to prescribe it and it stopped within days and hasn’t happened since! Maybe worth a try!