How do I stop my cat peeing?

[gregoire]

I have two cats (siblings / litter mates). For years they were house cats in my flat, but we now live in a house and they have access to the outside.

We still use litter trays, because they are used to them. We have two of the covered ones and two open ones in 4 different rooms. These are scooped daily and totally replaced every 3 days.

One of my cats will not stop peeing on the carpet. This never used to be an issue for her, but over the last year it has been almost daily. It started with her peeing on the letters that were posted through the letter box - I think she found this stressful and peed to mark her territory. We put a basket on the door to catch the letters but the peeing continued. We eventually replaced the hall carpet with laminate because despite daily cleaning it smelled terrible. That put a stop to it.

But now she has started peeing on the living room carpet - the same place, three times in three days. I've put a litter tray down on that spot, but I am worried she is just going to pick a new place.

She's been checked by the vet who says there is nothing physically wrong with her, and it's probably just a habit.

Any ideas on how to break it? At the moment when we are out I am keeping her shut in the kitchen / dining / utility because they all have hard floors (she can still get outside) but it's not a huge space and it means she can't get to her favourite hidey holes upstairs.

I don't know what to do because I really can't afford to replace the sitting room carpet. Has anyone managed to break a cat or the habit of peeing outside the litter tray?

*of the habit!

Try putting foil down in the areas she pees. Cats hate it. After a few weeks she'll have a new habit of avoiding that area and you can remove the foil.

I've found Feliway quite useful with this kind of thing. My old girl used to pee on the sofa. It's quite good for making them chill out a bit!

I had this issue with my youngest cat, it started due to an injury to her eye and her anger with us pinning her down for eye drops.

The issue is however much you clean the carpet they can still smell it. We had to replace carpet for laminated flooring as well.

But I have stopped it, but it took weeks and we still have the odd accident.

I tired Feliway-but it didn't help.

I locked her in the kitchen for a few weeks, it was the hardest thing I've done to her ever. It's tiled, so accidents are easier to clean. I gave her a bed, food and her own litter tray (we also kept changing litter till we found one she liked) until we had no accidents she wasn't allowed out, then we had supervised time in the lounge with us and the other two cats.... and then she was ok.

She likes to have a clean litter tray so we have to keep on top of it, she has access to the outside but will always come back to her tray.

We do have the odd accident, she is the lowest in the pecking order of the 3, and sensitive, so we get an accident when she's unsettled but it's always in the kitchen now so easy to clean.

I was at the point I wanted to give up on her, but so glad we didn't. She's very much my girl and not interested in anyone else.

I hope you find a solution