New house: cat weeing everywhere

[ChewChewPanda]

We moved house about 3 weeks ago and we knew it would be tough on our very timid homebody cat, so we half expected problems but would still welcome advice. Our cat seems quite well settled into the new place, she does spend a lot of time on or under our bed but she’s explored the whole house, is coming for fuss, eating normally, and in the last couple of days we’ve let her outside for short explores of the garden which she seems to have enjoyed.

She has always used a covered litter tray which we keep very clean. We’ve added an extra one since we moved so she had an upstairs and downstairs option. She is using both, but alongside this has weed on carpets or bath mats in all the upstairs rooms and is continuing to do so pretty frequently. It’s not the same place each time and we clean it as soon as we notice (usually immediately as she scratches when she wees). We have a feliway diffuser running in the area. Any other ideas very welcome - we love her very much and know she is probably still stressed so we’ll be patient for as long as it takes but it’s honestly pretty exhausting having to keep listening out for signs and cleaning up after her. We don’t really want to limit her to hard floor areas (as we want her to settle and be happy here) but we could if it would help - even if only temporary.

Zylkene? Helps de-stress mine, and I've heard good things from other cat slaves as well.

Sounds like an infection if she’s seeking out soft things but not walls.

Have you had her checked for a UTI or cystitis? Peeing outside the litter tray is typically the first symptom - so the first thing to do is to get her checked over by the vet in case it's something medical.

Until then, I would be closing off her access to upstairs for the simple reason that once a cat has marked a spot, they will keep going back to that spot and it can be really, really difficult to stop them. With carpets especially, pee soaks through to the underlay and the floorboards underneath and so even replacing the carpet won't always stop them.

While she has no access to upstairs, clean every single area she's ever marked/peed with a proper pet cleaner - absolutely thoroughly SOAK the carpet with it. Follow the instructions to get it to dry, then once dry, repeat at least twice more before allowing the cat back upstairs.

It does sound like stress cystitis but i would pop to the vets anyway for some treatment/ advice

Mine has feliway cystease which you can buy OTC to manage her stress cystitis

I haven’t taken her to the vet and can give them a call but I’m pretty sure it’s not an infection. She is a very stressy cat - she gets dandruff when there are any changes at home which we’ve had checked out several times: the vet has always said she is just timid and highly strung but has no physical problems with her skin. The litter box issues literally started the day we brought her to the new house so it feels like a huge coincidence to be an infection that started on the same day. I will have a look at the things you’ve all suggested, thank you.

cystease is really good it also helps with anxiety x

I haven’t taken her to the vet and can give them a call but I’m pretty sure it’s not an infection.

Please ring your vet. Cystitis isn't necessarily caused by an infection - it can be, of course, but in cats it's often caused by stress or environmental factors including diet.

The vet can give you plenty of things to help including painkillers to ease the irritation in her bladder - cystitis can be incredibly painful for them even if no infection is actually present.

My male cat is prone to stress cystitis and when it's really bad, metacam really takes the edge off and stops him feeling that constant urge to pee. He also takes cystease and a supplement called D-Mannose which helps with overall bladder health - both are available for very little on Amazon. You may also want to try the Feliway plug-ins which are designed to work alongside cystease tablets.