Why has my indoor girl suddenly started to wee in an odd place? Territorial?

[MidnightVelvetthe7th]

I've had her for 2 years now, she's a rescue & is an indoor Ragdoll, her being an indoor cat was part of the condition of the rescue. She had her car MOT & boosters last month, she's all fine there's no medical conditions & she's eating & drinking normally. Behaviour is otherwise normal.

She's been happily weeing & pooing in her litterbox for 2 years, then mid December we noticed her starting to poo in a new place. One end of our living room is French doors so mostly glass but its never bothered her before. Now every single night there's at least 2 poos & a wee right next to the glass.

We have tried some things, such as making sure litter tray is clean every night, trying it in different positions e.g. next to the glass door & totally away from it, we have tried drawing the blinds at night so no other cats were staring in at her, we have tried shutting her into the living room at night so she has less to 'guard' in case she has anxiety. But she's still doing it.

There's been no changes to the house, its actually been a bit quieter than usual over Christmas as the DC were with their dad so it was just me & DP at home then DP had the week before Christmas off so she's had more company than usual. The only new thing is the Christmas tree but she enjoys hiding under it as she usually does.

I'm out of ideas & want to help her if she's anxious or afraid, what do you think? :)

Probably the Christmas tree given the timing, particularly if it's a real one. I was reading an article the other day about how they can have an odd effect on cats. Get a feliway diffuser for now and you'll probably find the problem resolves when the house is back to normal.

We put our Xmas tree up and the cat suddenly decided to start weeing on the armchair.

Has never done it before. I've taken the tree down down and soaked and bleached the whole chair. Hoping that stops it

Seriously? It is a real tree yes :)

I've never heard of that before!

Yep I work with cats and quite a few clients have reported odd behaviour in the last few weeks. Can't link to the article I read at the moment but it makes sense. Lots of new smells on a Christmas tree, cats don't like change.

Ha thanks very much :)

Yes it's a real tree

Literally the day we got it she started weeing! Armchair is next to the tree

I'm wondering if another cat has sprayed on it or something?

Hi all, sorry to resurrect an old thread but the tree has been gone a week now & its still happening.

Any ideas?

Is it still the same spot? Have you used an enzyme cleaner on it? It might be that she can smell it so keeps going back.

It sounds territorial to me. Are there other cats (foxes?) about? Have you ever noticed anything looking in ? Anyone new moved into the area with a cat that is establishing its territory?

We have lots of cats and a family of foxes living in the bushes on the other side of the street, I've tried drawing the blinds so nothing can look in, in the hope she feels safer but it hasn't changed.

Can you squirt the other fats with a water pistol to keep them away, or hang bits of tinfoil around or something?

Er, or piss a defensive barrier that they won't cross?

It's tricky, isn't it? Poor you, and poor cat.

I'd get a sample off her for the vet to test. The only symptom mine shows is weeing in the house when he has a uti.