Cat has started weeing in house. Help!!!!

[Britishsummertime22]

Had my rescue cat 6 years now. He's about 11 years old. Over the last few weeks he's started weeing in the living room and I have no idea why. He's an indoor cat. Has always used a tray absolutely fine. We moved 4 months ago and he's been fine using tray in new house. Haven't changed tray or litter or location of tray. Doesn't seem in pain or unwell. Eating and drinking as normal.
What do I do??? I don't want my house to stink of cat wee!! The only thing I can think of is there's a cat that comes in the garden and stares at him through the window. Could he be marking his territory??

Yeah, ripping up the carpet might be the next step I just really can't afford to replace it but I guess I'll have to put it on a credit card. This is the living room so pretty hard to keep him out of. If I lock him in the kitchen he will just cry and cry.

I cut a huge chunk out of my carpet with a Stanley knife I didn’t actually bin the whole lot. I couldn’t believe how much of the underlay was soaked. Originally I did plan to put spare carpet down as I had an off cut but I didn’t manage that very well (although a professional could). Now we are saving to replace the carpet and I just put the sofa over bit where the smelly carpet was. I had tried pet cleaners, Rug Dr, bicarbonate, everything to get the smell out and nothing worked. To be fair I think it was allowing zero access to the area that stopped the behaviour though.

I'd never thought of just cutting some of the carpet out. I'd have to cut quite a bit out though. Maybe I just start locking him in the kitchen all day. Would have to be all night too as he often does it late at night.

We had similar with one of ours behind the TV, think it was stress related. Like you, we tried all the recommended carpet cleaning etc, but the smell had gone through to the underlay. In the end we ended up ripping the carpet up and adding wooden flooring, which has stopped him. Definitely costly, but like you, we found the smell so embarrassing and couldn't have people over so I totally empathise x

Well, I would argue that a mentally healthy and happy cat wouldn't be behaving in the way he is.

I think I'll let him go outside and see if that improves things.

I have posted this before. We had this and it became a cycle of stress that we couldn't seem to break and we tried for years - honestly years. We tried everything and it would seem to get better and then it would get worse again. We ended up keeping ours permanently in the utility room because it got so bad and it was no life for them. Nothing worked. They just shat and pissed in there instead and I hated it and they hated it. Vets said no problems. We tried all the UTI stuff, the plug ins.

If it is starting to impact your mental health and you can afford it there is a cat's retirement home in Lincs - google will find it. They will take in older cats that can't be looked after elsewhere and will look after them in a safe environment. I was devastated and felt like I'd failed, but it was such a massive relief not to live in a house that smelt of cat's piss any more.

I agree with this. But we just couldn't work out what the trigger stress was and it became exhausting and a source of discontent amongst the family. I really miss having a clean cat in the house - really miss it. But I couldn't go back to the stress and the constant pee everywhere. It's really hard to understand how relentless it is unless you've been through it. Really empathise and hope that you can find a solution that works for you. But rehoming an unhappy cat to a safe place isn't the worse thing that can happen.

I’ve no idea why your cat is doing this but we have one who kept urinating right by his water bowl , we saw our vet who suggested feliway but he still did it , I bought food bowls which sit on a raised stand and he’s pretty much stopped doing it ( once since we got the bowls in over a month )

It's definitely worth a try, for both your sakes, and the weather's OK at the moment.

I tried last night shutting him in the kitchen with his litter tray, food, bed, etc. As soon as I let him out this morning he weed on the living room carpet.

I'm sorry @Britishsummertime22 This is dreadful for you. One of ours wees on the wooden floors sometimes and he wees outside as well. It's very hard to work out why. You have my sympathy.

I'm wondering whether to rip everything up and get new carpet laid. But then if he does it again it'll be all that money wasted.
I think he doesn't want to use litter tray in kitchen because of cat outside staring through but I don't understand why he will poo in litter tray in living room but not wee in it!!! Going mad

What a nightmare for you.
This morning confirms that peeing in that spot means something to him so go with it for now by putting a litter tray there in addition to his normal one. You’ll be able to remove it when he’s over this problem.
Also did you change the brand of litter around the time this started? If so change it back.
A bout going outside, cats are always nervous at first and run back inside, so keep giving him the opportunity and he may well get to like it.
Good luck

One you ripped up the carpet etc did it stop?

I put a litter tray there weeks ago, he just wees next to it. He will poo in it but not wee in it.

Put puppy pads around it so he pees on them.

@Britishsummertime22 Yes, after ripping up the carpet and adding wooden flooring it hasn't happened again! I honestly don't think there's another way to stop it, we didn't find it anyway!

Oh god how awful. Would you consider two litter trays side by side? We have a cat who insists on separate trays…

Probably won’t help. My cat weed on my duvet a few times, I bought a new one and he still wees on it.

I'm going through this at the moment. I'm going to completely clean out the litter trays, add another tray to my hallway collection (3 now) and I'll add a bit of soil to one as I've heard that helps. I think the problem with mine is that she's more of an outdoor cat and with the recent wet weather I've not let her outside as much, so she's done a dirty protest 😂

Really sympathise, it’s a horrible situation to be in, and much as you love your cat nobody wants to live in a house that stinks of piss. I think keeping him locked in the kitchen at night is probably a good solution, but not if he then comes out and wees on the carpet - you must be at your wits end. This definitely sounds behavioural.

Dr Beckmann’s pet odour remover is really good at getting rid of the smell, but as someone else has said if it’s soaked through to the underlay then you probably need to get rid of the carpet. I’m so sorry for you, this sounds like a nightmare.

I would definitely have two litter trays - mine used to pee in one and poo in the other. It might be worth trying a different sort of litter, maybe he doesn’t like the feel of one when it’s wet. I think everything else I would suggest has already been covered above, really hope you can find a solution though.

I have but he doesn't always wee in exactly the same spot it's just always down one side of the living room so now I've got about 8 puppy pads down :(

Totally at my wits end. Yeah I've tried a different litter but it hasn't helped. I've already got two litter trays, one in kitchen and one in living room but I can try putting a second in the living room. Today he's been shut in kitchen, he has pooed in kitchen litter tray but doesn't seem to have weed at all.

I will try it. His issue seems to be weeing in a litter tray as he has not pooed once out of the litter tray. I don't get it.