Need advice, desperately.

[user1471530109]

I've posted about this issue before but things have gotten worse.
We adopted two young cats (mum and older kitten) back in January. All wonderful, they settled in within hours. Very happy little cats and very friendly. All good.
But once the kitten got to about 1, she has started to wee outside the litter box. First it was in the bath. But now it's on the beds. Every bloody day.

I've followed advice on here and read up, but nothing is making a difference. She had a cat tree she loves, she is on medication-cystease, but she is still doing it. I've got waterproof covers on the mattresses and duvets but this morning, she weed so much it has soaked through and quite frankly I've had a-fucking-nough. Also vet says after an expensive run of tests, that there is nothing medically wrong with her. She also wees on any washing my preteen leaves on her bedroom floor.

I'm guessing it's a marking thing?

Any ideas? I've sprayed stuff over beds, made no difference. They have 3 litter trays. Mum is no problem at all. I have feliway plugged in...I should say they've ended up being house cats.

Help!
I'm off to work now, so I probably won't be able to check back until this evening. But I am hoping someone will have a magic solution

How awful and I don't think anyone is going to have a magic solution. The obviously first step will be to not allow access to the bedroom. Do the cats have outside access and a cat flap?

Which litter are you using?.

If it's not medical, presumably it's stress, so understanding why she is stressed would be key. When you say they have ended up house cats, is this a decision you have taken because of a busy road or something, or have they stopped going out? If they've stopped going out, whatever is stopping them could be a big part of what's causing the younger cat's stress, along with possibly not having enough space to herself away from mum cat.

I have a female Bengal mix who is a bastard for spraying (she does it like a boy!).

We did have 3 (2 girls and a boy) cats until recently when out old, grumpy girl went to her retirement home at MIL's. This has cut down the spraying from Bengal girl massively - they never got on and would have quite violent fights. I think the spraying was mostly territorial, especially between 2 females.

She still does it occasionally (most recently on my wedding dress 😟), we keep spray bottles a around the house and give her a spray if we catch her.

Also, feliway made her worse! Maybe try unplugging them for a while.

Also again, get an enzymatic cleaner which will properly get rid of the urine smell.

Doesn't like the litter? Other cats in the neighbourhood? Feeling stressed about something else?

They don't go out because my eldest dd has got huge anxiety issues about them not coming back (she is under CAMHS). We live rurally but there is a busy road the other side of the allotments at the back of out garden.
The litter is 'worlds best cat litter'. She uses it find to poo in? I was advised to use this by cats protection?

I'm assuming it's her marking stuff since she's grown up and being in the house with her mum. They cuddle up quite regularly and play together. There doesn't appear to be any issues.

She can push open the doors in the bedrooms unfortunately. I think I'm going to try shutting them in the living room tonight with all their stuff. She's never wet in there.

It's the fact it is soooo much wee. I think she is holding it in? It's not little spots but big puddles.

My Bengal wouldn’t use worlds best either, he would always use sanicat gold ultra clumping talcum powder scented. It HAD to be ankle deep in the tray so about an inch and a half deep and I had to tip all the litter down to one end every day and wipe over the end he wee’d on with a damp microfibre cloth.

He didn’t like covered trays either.

There was a cat behaviourist on a bbc program who stopped a longhair colour point cat weeing on his owners bed by using a huge plastic storage box filled with ultra clumping litter.

how may trays do you have around the house? Sounds like (if you haven't) that you need to start experimenting with different types of tray and litter, though it's hard with two cats to know which one is doing what
(Waitrose own brand ultra clumping is what saved us in this situation, which is a pain as obviously only available in one place!)

You'll need to experiment with litter/trays. Did they used to go out? Maybe they are stressed at being kept in now. Get a harness and leash and go out for walks?

Look for Jackson Galaxy online as he's a cat behaviourist. Your cat doesn't sound happy just now so you need to try other things.

If you're going to lock them out the bedrooms then this wont work but just incase you don't i thought id share. When our girl was peeing on the bed our vet suggested getting something to put over the whole bed that was made of waterproof material. I got a huge piece of oil cloth from Amazon. Theory is when she peed it would wet her feet and she wouldn't like it. Its a risk because it also means the pee can run off the cloth but we managed to catch Freda doing it and got to the pee quickly. She's not peed on the bed since.

I can see why you want them as indoor cats with the busy road. It does make it harder to give them enough space and the younger cat enough activities and things to do though. You haven't had them a year yet, so although there's no magic solution, there's still hope things can settle down with more time. My main suggestions would be to try larger, deeper litter trays if you haven't already and lots of play and active interaction with the younger cat in case boredom is part of the problem. If you can feed them in separate parts of the house and help the younger take possession of the litter tray in the room where she's fed, this could help if the reason she's avoiding the trays is because mum's weeing in all of them and making them her own. I do hope you can find something that works as it's such a frustrating problem to have to live with.

I should have mentioned that the amount of wee suggests she is stressed or worried about using the litter tray for some reason, rather than marking territory, which is why changing location and type of litter and/or trays might help. This link might be useful:
www.preventivevet.com/cats/how-to-set-up-your-cats-litter-boxes-to-prevent-potty-accidents

Thank you all so much. Came home to them both jumping off the sofa together to come and greet me. They do seem to get on. They've just chased each other round the house.

I should also mention, the younger cat wipes her cheeks on everything. If I get a delivery, she's there to mark her scent in it. The mother cat has never done this at all.

I have some different littler I will try. I'm going to feed her tonight in the living room and place the litter tray in there. Although may wait until tomorrow and order a new tray?

Thank you

Have they been spayed? I only ask because one of my new kittens did this on anything paper or cardboard - it stopped immediately she was spayed. Her litter mates didn’t do it.
The same kitten has a preference for Sani cat litter for poos. Anything else and she will perch on the side of tray and aim - getting it everywhere.

Yes, they have both been neutered.

I've just fed her in a different room as thinking about it, mum does dominate her a meal times and because the younger cat is slower, mum has to be kept away from her as she eats her food.

I'm about to order a stainless steel tray for a change (I've already got various size plastic trays. I've also got a couple of small bags of catsan. Is it worth trying that? Or another wood pellet brand. Thinking about it, I did use cats best when I first had them. But her peeing outside the littler box started before I switched to world's best.

Annoyingly because of lockdown, the tray won't be delivered until Monday.

I hate to think of her unhappy. She appears a v happy cat. Very friendly and soppy and loves playing.

I cannot stress enough that you need an ultraclumping litter, if they don’t like worlds best they aren’t going to like wood pellet because it will be too rough on paws that don’t go outside.

Thanks Fluffy. Isnt catsan clumping? I'm sure when I bought it before I went to cats protection, I chose clumping (but will go and have a look). I've never heard of ultraclumping.

Ultra clumping is fine like sand. Catsan white stuff is non clumping. Catsan has both an eco and ultra clumping version though - the ultra clumping is a golden colour

both bags are non clumping. One isn't even catsan!

Any recommendations to try? Currently using world's best. Have used cars best in the past and I don't remember her being anywhere near as bad...so worth another try? Or something new for a fresh start 🤷‍♀️

Does it need to be Eco or would you use clay based too?

Pets at home sell sanicat and also do their own version which is ultra clumping. Both very fine like sand, smell like baby powder. 10kg for £9? Advantage is they don’t seem to track very far.

They don’t go out so their paw pads will be very soft, cats would normally dig in soft soil. Walking on big or rough litters is uncomfortable for them and some will live with but some won’t.

Most supermarkets will sell an ultraclumping litter or pets at home will have it.