Cat weeing - not in litter

[febrezeme]

Hi so I have a 10 year old male cat owned since a kitten. For the last few weeks he has started wee ing outside of the litter tray - the litter trays are the same ones in the same location and same litter as the last 10 years. I have 3 young children and I had thought they were perhaps too noisy and boisterous for him and that was putting him off coming downstairs to use the litter and that's why he has been weeing (mainly on the twins beds!)
It's not every day. Maybe once per week or 10 days and seems to coincide with when the kids were home

But today it's just me home - house is quiet I've fixed the kids bed door so it shuts properly so he can't get in there to wee and washed all the beds, mattresses with special wee and febrezed the shit out of the room!

So he has wee'd on a pile of clothes that were on the floor in the bathroom

Admittedly he came downstairs for a bit and was clearly pissed that I didn't feed him - I was in a meeting - he could have used the litter but he has deliberately gone upstairs to do it??

I'm at a loss what to do and I'm worn down with constantly worrying about shutting doors and where he is and the constant washing of mattresses duvets and the bloody smell!!

Should I just put a small litter tray in the bathroom?

Are you living in my house?
You’re telling my exact story. Except that it’s the bath mat or clothes on the floor
I’m so over it. I just used a whole bottle of vinegar in the washing machine to get the smell out of my DS’ football clothes after they got hit on the bathroom floor.
Our recent issue was caused because DH closed the cat flap for exactly 4hrs one night.
And we’ve been paying for it for weeks. I’m getting paranoid that I can now smell it everywhere as I worry the bugger just goes where he pleases now.
He does seem to be doing it to DS’ clothes and in his room but I don’t think it’s anything actually related to him as such.

I think they’re just naughty and like to assert their dominance occasionally.

There has however been one benefit. DS is so paranoid now he tidies his bedroom floor at night now!

But sadly I have no help for you. However I am hoping someone comes along with ideas soon.

mine went through a little phase of this - weeing in front of cat flap & in doorways, we cleaned up & sprayed often with Feliway & it seemed to fix the problem

These day's he just tends to wee as a protest if not allowed out or he goes to the cattery

@LostCats

It's driving me bloody nuts - I find myself sniffing every time I go into a room and paranoid I can smell wee - I've already thrown out one rug and had to hire a carpet cleaner to get the smell out of one of the bedroom carpets

Then he started on the twins beds

I don't believe he is "unwell" - like I say it's not all the time unless cats don't wee everyday??

Prior to today the last "episode" was 10 days ago

I love him to bits. But I'm at the end of my tether with it. I'm a single parent to 3 young children and I literally don't have the energy to deal with the constant washing of duvets and mattresses especially

He needs to see a vet in case it's medical - urinating on beds or soft surfaces can be a sign of a UTI.

As he's getting older, I would also be wondering about diabetes or other health concerns.

If he gets the all-clear then I would wonder whether he's unhappy in a home with three small children and would perhaps be better off somewhere quieter and calmer. Lots of cats don't tolerate children well, unfortunately.

Oh wow thank you @coffeecupsandwaxmelts
I wonder if that is the problem with my cat too!
Never even considered it as a possibility

No problem @LostCats - I've had two cats with issues peeing outside the litter tray -
both times it was medical and one unfortunately needed surgery so I always encourage people to get things like this checked out!

Male cats in particular are prone to urinary problems so I would definitely get checked by a vet. Feliway plug ins are also good.

Thanks all! I just don't think it's medical like a UTI as it's not all the time. Yesterday he very clearly deliberately went upstairs to the bathroom to do it when the litter was much much closer and not involve jumping stair gates

I won't rehome him - he's my baby. Plus the kids are at childcare/school 730-500 5 days per week and weekends we aren't home all the time. Granted the times we are all home it's often chaotic and noisy but as the twins get older it's getting better and they don't tease him or anything

He doesn't seem unsettled. He doesn't hide from the kids and lolls about on my bed 90% of the day like he's always done

I'll try a feliway - do I plug that in the twins rooms where he's taken to wee-ing?

Any products anyone recommends for getting rid of the smell?

Should I put a litter tray in the bathroom?

He's due for his annual Booster very soon so I'll ask the vet to check him

Definitely put a litter box in the bathroom for now.
When we had our previous bout of weeing on the bathmat we did that and it made an enormous difference.

I’ve had such issues with the smell and then yesterday I was just annoyed so poured almost a bottle of white vinegar from Tesco on the clothes in the washing machine - and there’s no smell anymore! I was a bit stunned tbh.

Also, if you can, get waterproof mattress covers. We got ours from John Lewis years ago and they’re amazing. I’m sure you can get on Amazon too. They have towelling on one side so not uncomfortable and they don’t make a horrible plastic crackle. I always forget they’re there - until I’m grateful they are!

I went away for a week, leaving my cat at home to be fed by a friend. Came back to find wee on the bathmat in my ensuite. This had never happened before, but it was then followed by wee on clothes on the floor waiting to go in the washing machine and even wee in the bathtub of another bathroom where I had taken down and left the shower curtain. I now keep all bathroom doors closed but accidently left a door open yesterday, and no wee! 🤞🏻 that will be the end of the 'dirty protests'. Cat has a catflap and normally goes outdoors to wee. They can be just evil sometimes!

Thanks all! I just don't think it's medical like a UTI as it's not all the time. Yesterday he very clearly deliberately went upstairs to the bathroom to do it when the litter was much much closer and not involve jumping stair gates

It doesn't have to happen all the time for it to be a medical condition - I speak from
personal experience. Your cat needs to see a vet.

My cats would also deliberately go to different places to urinate - it's incredibly common in cats with UTI's or bladder crystals.

Your cat may be fine but if he has a condition like struvite crystals, the longer you leave it, the worse it will get and it could result in catheterisation, surgery or even death if it's not treated in time.

So today I've been in the office so nice quiet day for the cat.

I cleaned the litter again last night
Febrezed the twins room again but left the door open as honestly I needs to air in there!
Made sure no piles of clothes left lying around

As soon as I got home I fed him and then put him outside.....he's gone to his "usual" outside spot to wee

So I think I'm going to try that routine for a bit - once he's been fed hes going outside

And I'll speak to the vets as one of the others is due to go for his jabs this week anyway

That’s brilliant!

May be like potty training.
Eat and then potty 😆

They can get uti and recover and then get another uti & do it again. I very confidently got a urine sample to my vets knowing it would a negative and they rang me with a course of antibiotics to pick up.

I need to potty train the twins as well I don't think my stress levels can handle them AND the cat 😂

I have no idea how I'd go about getting a urine sample from my cat 😳

I used a plastic syringe and sucked up a puddle with it but I hear if you shut them in a room with an empty tray overnight that also worked.

The vet offered to manually extract it from him when I rang but went off the idea when I said he’s a 6.5kg Bengal.

The vets give you a special kind of non-absorbent litter and a syringe, or if that doesn't work, they can get one for you via needle or manual extraction/manipulation.

He's stressed and probably got FLUTD which is similar to cystitis.

My cat was very poorly with this, they get urgency to go and go wherever they can, so clothes, beds etc

I'd take him to the vet and get a Feliway plug in.

There's definitely no urgency in his wee-ing - no blood in his wee, no crying, no exhibiting of stressed behaviours

The couple of times I've caught him - either mid act or immediately afterwards he gave me the cat equivalent of the middle finger look, perhaps I'm paranoid but to me his behaviour is clearly deliberate!

Biological washing powder is great for getting the smell out. Avoid anything with bleach as it doesn't kill the smell so the cat will be tempted to go and wee in the same place.

They don’t get distressed with a uti. They don’t go off their food or get a temp or look poorly.

You can buy test strips on eBay and wipe them on the damp patch. Cheapest way to find out.

Good tip! Off to have a look for those

Great thanks!