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Original poster

Cat peeing in house…

17 replies

BirchOak · 27/12/2022 14:36

My friendly 6-year old Tom (neutered) has just started peeing in the house. We’ve seen him squatting twice.
I can’t believe it, he’s never done this before. He’s a happy outdoor cat and is going out and about as usual. He seems well and is as chilled and cuddly as ever. He gets on well with our other cat too and the dog.
He’s slightly overweight, not because we overfeed him - we think he may get snacks elsewhere… He loves his food.
We had renovations around 6 months ago. Nothing has changed since then, except Christmas and all the extra stuff in the house I suppose. No guests though as we all had Covid. Any thoughts?

OP posts:
Original poster
BirchOak · 28/12/2022 08:10

Does anyone have experience of this problem… or advice to share?
Wondering if a health problem is possible or is it more likely to be a behaviour issue?

OP posts:
Shanksponyorbust · 28/12/2022 08:15

Have you got 2 litter trays that can be accessed without the dog around? Your cat is stressed about something which is why he’s peeing.

Also, make sure the litter tray is cleaned regularly. Mine will pee elsewhere if the trays aren’t cleaned out to get satisfaction.

Is there a cat flap so he can come & go as he pleases? That would eliminate him wanting to go out as an issue BUT is there a Tom cat getting in? If there’s a tom about your cat may be marking his territory.

Shanksponyorbust · 28/12/2022 08:16

*her

DiDonk · 28/12/2022 08:24

Had a similar experience these last few weeks. Cat has been 100% reliable, goes out himself etc suddenly doing pees in house.

In our case think it was a combination of the extreme cold, his favourite pee place being frosty, and having work done in the house.

We kept him downstairs for a few days, brought back a litter tray ( totally ignored), sprayed cat-be-gone on affected areas and put him out a bit more instead of letting him sleep.

Seems better now, fingers crossed.

Original poster
BirchOak · 28/12/2022 12:30

Thanks for your replies @Shanksponyorbust and @DiDonk
No, we don't have litter trays as we have a flap and he seems to be going about his business as usual - i.e. pottering about outside and coming inside when it suits him. But maybe I need to introduce one. Just worry that once he has one inside he'll get lazy about heading outside to pee!
He really likes the dog and other cat (they're siblings). Perhaps there's another Tom lurking about outside...
Never heard of cat-be-gone, I'll be looking into it!

OP posts:
DiDonk · 28/12/2022 14:02

We used this stuff, did seem to help. Thinking about it, it was like something in his little furry head has glitched and he suddenly saw cushions as something to pee on! Seems better now thankfully

Cat peeing in house…
VioletLemon · 28/12/2022 14:08

If overweight possibly could be kidney related, an old cat of mine had this but also it appears cats can get UTI type problems and it can be stress related. Are there any new cheeky cats on the block, has he had a fight. We had to reinstate a litter tray (after 6 years of none) with wood chips for him, this worked. Vet also gave tablets but unfortunately he wouldn't take. Plenty drinking water needed too.

Toomanysleepycats · 28/12/2022 14:16

I noticed that as my cat was getting older he didn’t like going outside to do his business when the weather was foul. So I started putting a litter tray out when the weather was bad, frozen ground or all day rain.

One day my 10 year old dog did a wee in the house, had never happened before. Turned out she had health problems.

Try and cover all the bases, behavioural, stress, health, ageing, weather.

Dodie66 · 28/12/2022 14:21

Maybe take him to the vet to check he hasn’t got urine problems. My cat kept squatting to pee and found out that he had crystals in his urine which can cause blockages which can be fatal

Tigger2019 · 28/12/2022 14:26

Just came on to post about same issue!! Our 5 year only girl just started peeing inside about 2 weeks ago. Prior to this never had any accidents at all inside. The only change is Christmas decorations up about a week before it started. House is open plan lounge and dining room. Christmas tree-artificial- is in lounge. So far she is only going in that room. Called vet last week who said it's likely to be stress from the Christmas decs. In the meantime I noticed blood in her pee and she's only doing small amounts. Took her to vets who diagnosed cystitis and prescribed anti inflammatory and cystaid. Trying to keep her out of the lounge but she seems to make a bee line for it. The vet seems to think she'll stop when the decorations are taken down. I can keep her in kitchen with cat flap at night and she's not done any in there. It's strange because she's seen the same decorations for 5 years and not had any issues. Hoping this helps.

Original poster
BirchOak · 28/12/2022 17:59

Yes, I did wonder if it could be the Christmas decs and some new furniture we bought. Seems so ridiculous though after 6 years of being totally chilled…
Also concerned it could be kidney-related though he seems as well as ever… Will definitely take him to the vet if it carries on, can’t believe how bad it smells!!

OP posts:
Anawilliam850 · 29/12/2022 16:15

You could take him to the vet, he may have a problem with his bladder or something with his kidneys.

SonnySideDown · 29/12/2022 16:21

Take him to the vet to get checked out. Our Tom cat started doing this when he had never done it before and I wrote it off as him being stressed. Actually he had crystals in his urine which then blocked his ureters and caused fatal damage to his kidneys.

Moonlaserbearwolf · 29/12/2022 16:27

Our cat did this recently for the first time too. I’m convinced it’s because she didn’t want to go outside in that really cold weather. We’ve never had a litter tray, but I decided to buy one and she’s immediately loving it. Not sure she’ll ever go outside again until it’s warm enough to sunbathe on the patio.

Tigger2019 · 04/01/2023 10:08

Is there any improvement @BirchOak ? Our decorations have been down over a week. She's had treatment for cystitis and she still want to pee in the lounge if she can. Vet says to continue cystitis treatment for another 5 days and to keep her out of the lounge to break the cycle. She does pee outside in the garden as well, so it's not as though she doesn't want to go outside. I'm hoping you've had an improvement.

Original poster
BirchOak · 04/01/2023 11:08

Tigger2019 · 04/01/2023 10:08

Is there any improvement @BirchOak ? Our decorations have been down over a week. She's had treatment for cystitis and she still want to pee in the lounge if she can. Vet says to continue cystitis treatment for another 5 days and to keep her out of the lounge to break the cycle. She does pee outside in the garden as well, so it's not as though she doesn't want to go outside. I'm hoping you've had an improvement.

He seems to have stopped for now… though the tree is still up, so I can’t blame it on that…! I don’t think! If it starts up again I’ll definitely take him to the vet but just hoping it was a weird blip.

Sorry to hear about yours, it’s awful isn’t it! Hopefully the lounge will lose its appeal soon.
My sister’s cat started peeing indoors when they got new carpets and it’s been an ongoing problem. So ridiculous.. little tinkers.

OP posts:
DorkingHen · 04/01/2023 11:47

Personally I wouldn’t wait to get it checked out with a vet. Changes in behaviour like this is significant and can have medical cause. Kidney issues can remain hidden till extremely serious. Cats hid pain so you can’t be sure they aren’t in pain from just observing their behaviour.

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