Young cat problems

[TinkerbellPeter]

Words of wisdom please. We have a young cat, she is about 16 weeks old, and with us for a month or so. We have a feliway but so far have had the following issues, urinating on a person, on a bath mat, and very recently, on a bed. She is a playful, but timid kitty. She is well fed, drinks enough, seems otherwise happy. She always has a clean litter box which she mostly uses. Also, she scratches our sofa and carpet, and walls, and doesn't use her scratching posts. Any ideas about what could be causing the urination issue? It's really unpleasant.

Also to add the house is quiet, peaceful, and no other pets

I’d try putting her in the litter tray at regular intervals and give her a treat.

as for the stretching, annoying some cats never use the posts and only use furniture. Again you could try taking her to the posts and get her paws on them ? If she wasn’t already so timid I’d say spray her with water when she scratches the furniture but maybe not if she’s already timid ?

I would try adding a second litter tray temporarily until the problem subsides. Perhaps one upstairs and one down. If it continues get them checked by a vet as urinary infections can also cause this.

As for scratching the furniture and walls. Buy a water sprayer bottle. Set it so it will fire a jet of water instead of a mist. Then every time you catch them scratching what they shouldn't, just give them a spray. It will get to the point you only have to show them a bottle. Then not scratching those areas should become the norm.

Don't spray them for the urination issues though. It will probably make that worse.

Thanks both, I am trying a second litter tray, and am treating all the areas, fabrics, she has been to the toilet with enzyme remover.

I tried the water bottle, but just as a mist, and only twice, but not doing that any more. She started running away from me, and not coming when called, and it's taken a full day to get her back to normal, and being a bit more trusting.

I think I will try to get some armchair covers ordered, if anyone makes any that fit. I've also bought a cardboard scratch box - which she shows no interest in.

Tried the water mist for scratching I meant to say

Boredom? dkittens do better in pairs ime.

I assume she's been to the vet and has been checked for a UTI?

Personally I would get her spayed - lots of unspayed females will mark and urinate inappropriately and she's not too young either.

She sounds a very timid kitten, she’s only a baby and she’s away from her mum and siblings with strangers I would not mist or shout. I’d redirect instead.

Are her scratch posts tall enough for a full stretch and stable? Wobbly or short ones won’t get used they need to stretch.

Is her litter kitten litter? Adult litter is too rough on small paws. Litter needs to be deep, my Bengal liked it ankle deep & a big tray so they can turn around easily.
The tray needs to be really clean too, emptied frequently.

Has she got a uti? You can buy test strips on amazon and wipe them on damp patches.

Check to see if Cystease can be used on kittens if it is a uti. She’ll still need a vet though as uti don’t cause the usual signs of infection and she’s young.

Enzyme spray for cleaning followed by felliway spray once it's dried should help with the wee. The second litter tray is a good idea. One of mine used to use one tray to wee and another to poo. It's also worth trying another type of litter.

I also use felliway on areas of furniture where mine used to scratch. The spray lasted a couple of weeks and I could tell when it needed to be done again because they started scratching again. Now they're older I don't have to do it. I also sprayed catnip on scratching posts so they started scratching them.

I was thinking about buying her sister to keep her company, but I'm not sure that she would recognise her after two weeks, or that she would like another cat around, so I think it's a bit too much of a risk.

I haven't got her checked at the vets for a UTI as she is drinking plenty, and urinating enough too. But it's something to think about. My concern was that she would find the visit to the vet stressful, she did not react at all well to being in a car the last time she was in one. Good idea about the strips though, will get some to rule out.

Also thanks for the tip re enzyme treatment plus feliway spray. We have some on order

She is using her second upstairs litter tray a lot too, so I think getting it was a good move.

I ordered some stick on strips for the sofa which are supposed to make it less appealing to scratch. Will try spraying it with feliway too, I heard that helps?

Thanks. Lots to try. She's not going to be sent to the cat's home just yet, lol!

Lots of trips to the litter tray to wee (or to attempt to wee) is one of the main signs of a UTI so if she's going in there a lot then I would definitely get her checked over - especially as she's so young.

Vet trips are a fact of life 🤷🏻‍♀️

Brisk business like persona gets you through vet trips. Uti are literally symptomless apart from the wet patches ☹️ I was so confident the Bengal didn’t have one till the vet nurse rang to say antibiotics were waiting at front desk.

Company should help behavioural problems in kittens. She is very, very unlikely to reject her sister at this age.

We have just returned from the vets. She hated the car journey, but seems okay on return. The vet said she had a mild UTI, gave an injection, and some antibiotics to take away.

Bless her, hopefully the medication kicks in. if it was the UTI causing the inappropriate urination (been there with three of mine!) it should resolve itself once she's feeling better as long as you make sure you clean up any of the accidents.

You can crush most antibiotics. Back if a dessert spoon on a chopping board works well. Then mix well into her food.

I haven’t pilled a cat in years.

The vet showed me how to give her a pill but it looked a bit tricky. She recommended popping it in a bit of cheese so I might try that first. Interesting they accept it ground up. If those two options don't work I will try grinding it and mixing it in with a bit of tuna

My two are proper furry weirdos and will just sit there and take pills like treats but one of my old cats would refuse all food if she could smell a pill - it took two adults to get her to take medication and she was famously used on our vets Facebook page as an example of a difficult customer

It might damage your bonding with her if you pill her.

The info leaflet isn’t always provided with pet meds but they are available online often in PDF format. If it can’t be crushed it will say. Most can though.

If you crush it with tuna or lik-e-lix you will be the best human ever.

Just don’t go in with the smoked salmon too soon because it’s hard to top that in the future.

She was absolutely fine with the pill wrapped in cheese :)

Well done, she should feel better soon. I wish humans could have those long lasting antibiotics injections.

I was reading that only 1-2 percent of cats get utis. Do you think that's right? It seems like lots of people here have cats who have had them?

Also, any idea how it might have been caused? She hid herself away for 2 days on arrival, just sleeping, not eating or drinking, could that have caused it?

Stress can cause UTIs.

Was she from a breeder or rescue?

A well-bred kitten shouldn't be so nervy, and should have been well socialised in a home already.

^to add, rescues tend to do a great job socialising kittens ready for re-homing.

I wouldn't expect these sort of stress-related issues and timidity in a well raised kitten.

It was always stress in my cat, the bladder lining literally sloughs off under duress.

My moggy girl got two weeks to the day after dh died.