Please help! Can't stop my lovely old cat from weeping on the carpet

[womblingalong]

We moved house a few months ago with a 17 year old cat, who has always been very fastidious and well trained. DH set up her litter in the hallway (on the carpet) in front of the front door, to keep them out of the way while the removal men were unloading. When we moved the litters to the new spot, she uses them for pooing (we have 2 and they are cleaned every day), however, she keeps weeing on the carpet.

We have cleaned the area using the enzyme sprays repeatedly and have covered up the carpet there with furniture to try and stop her.

I replaced the coir doormat yesterday, scrubbed both litters and replaced the litter, cleaned the carpet with enzyme spray, and sprayed cat deterrent spray over the whole area, and left orange peel down. This morning I found she has weed there again, twice.

I am at my wits end. I need to sort this, it is a rented house, what will stop it, please help!

Poor you and your poor old cat. What about trying Feliway - that's good for stressed cats?

I am also at home at the moment, so put her out a few times a day too.

Thanks Bluestocking, I will try feliway, I think I need to get her to a vet, maybe she has a UTI? But she only wees in that area, or near it if covered up, surely if she did have a UTI, she would wee everywhere?

I have a vision of your poor cat sobbing on the carpet :)

Nothing helpful to say though, sorry!

I'm no expert, but it sounds like stressed behaviour to me - cats hate moving house. But definitely take her to the vet for a once-over. Hope you get this sorted!

hi we have a similar problem with our cats. thing is once they can smell their urine or poo they will associate that with their toilet. try putting their bowl there with cat food in as cats wont poo where they eat. or try squeezing some lemon there or black pepper

I had this problem last year when my cat suddenly became stressed by the snow.
I second kazzy77's suggestion of feeding her in the spot where she wees.
I did this with my cat and she has now stopped although she did still have occasional accidents for quite a while. I put a rubber mat in the spot too so when she did wee there it was easy to clean and didn't affect the carpet.
When my cat had a UTI she was just squatting continously and only doing a drip of wee but maybe there is something else going on too.
Also don't clean the litter out too thoroughly, obviously scoop out the waste and big clumps but if it smells familiar she might use it more. If you use bleach to clean they are more likely to wee were the bleach is used, so you could bleach the tray.

Duh, just seen my typo, sorry

It's mee whose sobbing on the carpet! I will try feeding here there instead, good idea!

good luck. keep us updated. keep refilling the bowl so theres always some biccies in it so the cat gets the message.

Thanks kazzy77, will report back later/tomorrow!

When our cat did this we put one of those movement triggered air fresheners by her chosen spot . She got the message :-)

I heard a suggestion tonight that for dogs (maybe cats too?) it's most helpful to clean the carpet with biological detergent, because some cleaners can smell like wee to them & make them go there again

I have used a cleaner that neutralises the wee smell specially, and so far, now I've moved her food there, so good. Fingers crossed she doesn't wee in the night, as that is what she did last night, and is usually the danger zone!

Will report back,,thanks for all the tips!

Yay, 2 wees in the litter, none on the carpet!

Fingers crossed it continues. Have ordered Feliway also.

our elderly cat did this too. it was a problem with his kidneys and thyroid.

worth taking you cat to the vets. 17 is geriatric.

Well done wombling. Hope it continues.

(Storing up the success so far of that ploy for future problems.)

Great news! Hope she continues to go in the proper place.