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??

Hi

I went through this exact same problem earlier this year except it was on of the kids beds - same age of cat actually and male.

Can you stop him accessing the room he is weeing in?

I had to keep the cat out of the kids room for several weeks religiously shutting the door night and day

Hired a rug doctor and deep cleaned the mattress

I've also had issues with different cat wee ing on a carpet - the smell does eventually go away- several hired of a rug doctor and dr beckman floor pet cleaner and can't smell it now

I also put a cat flap in where previously he wasn't too bothered about having one but I think the kids were stressing him out and he needed easy access to be able to get away from them

That all did the trick for me

Thanks for your reply.
Interesting you had a similar situation with same age and sex of cat.
I am currently shutting him in kitchen all the time apart from when I am there which feels horrible (I have made it as comfy as possible for him in there) but it's the only way I can shut off his access to the living room which is where he is weeing.
Did you stop him weeing on carpet through cleaning?

How old is he? I have to keep the bold one under surveillance the whole time, block access to rooms. He's male and six years old.

Male 11 years old

He's not old then.

It has taken time to get to the bottom of why he suddenly decided to do it before I could trust him to have access to the twins room. The same with the one who decided one of the bedroom carpets was also a litter! I had twins (not first children so not like he wasn't used to little people) and he was fine with them until they started to be more mobile and then they obviously stressed him out and not having a cat flap at the time meant he couldn't get to his litter tray or food as before without running the gauntlet. So he would take it out on them by weeing on their beds.

Just cleaning the carpet and mattresses made no difference as they just moved to a slightly different spot. I also found putting food down didn't make much difference either. I sympathise as the smell is awful

The only thing which worked was deep clean - followed by completely shutting them off from the rooms in question. Giving them free access via a cat flap to find alternative wee locations

What about making the carpet less inviting to wee on - I think puppy pads just encourage weeing - can you put down plastic sheets - even just temporarily - the car definitely won't want to squat and wee on that

Or Can you install a cat flap? Never too late for them since mine were 11 when I first got one

I would say they can hold their pee for an impressively long time. Waiting for a cat to give in and use a litter tray because you need a urine sample it was over 24 hours before he caved.
He is warm and dry in the kitchen. I'd keep him in there just to try and break the cycle.
As a thought is it possible (if not done already) to put the kitchen litter tray where it is slightly covered/not over looked if the enemy cat is still an issue?

Can I ask how much it cost you? What kind of flooring exactly have you gone for? I've been looking at vinyl? I don't know what's best to not hold the smell and if I'm going to go through all this I want to choose the best type of flooring.

Mine wees on the wooden floor. Be careful!

I agree you have to be quick to get to the wee on wooden floor otherwise it will mark it and the wood goes dark and it's very hard to get out and more expensive than carpet

Maybe just a wood effect vinyl would do?

Yes. Our guy has wrecked our wooden floors in places. May end up repairing/replacing in the future.

Going to replace floor now. Can't think of anything else to do. Have been back to vet today and they have said he's perfectly healthy, it's behavioural.
What flooring is best for not absorbing the smell of cat wee? Vinyl?

Vinyl I think. What a pain. I'm sorry you're going through it.

The vet also said I need to keep him out of the living room for at least a few months, I said that means he is confined to one room but vet said that's okay. How can I make it as nice as possible for my cat now he's just going to live in the kitchen? Thanks everyone

By weeing on them?

Yes unfortunately @Britishsummertime22 by weeing on them. We didn't notice straight away because there were mats and only noticed when we lifted them up. He has also done it in other parts as well. And on the door curtain.

They were mats? Sorry what do you mean?

Floor mats at the front and back doors.
It wasn't obvious as the urine soaked into them. Also he tends to do it now and again. You think he's finished until next time when it starts up again. We leave them at home when we're on holiday with a resident cat sitter (friend or relative) and he kicks off then.

Slices of lemon at the spot seems to work but I keep an eye on him.

I think, if you've ruled out a urinary tract infecction, it's likely stress/behavioural.

I have a 'sensitive' rescue cat and he did once pee on my duvet, but I knew why, it was because he'd been attacked in the garden by next door's aggressive cat. It was a horrible fight.

But I also think it's less than ideal to have an indoor cat, - cats are wild animals and yearn to go outside, therefore asking for psychological trouble to keep them confined.

Your outside might not be safe - I understand - but in that case it's a bad idea to get a cat. I waited a decade until I had a safe garden, before I got a cat.

Please please, if you decide you can't keep him, return him to the rescue centre so they can find a more suitable home, - do NOT kill him.

I also had this problem. I was away and my SIL didn’t put the lid on the litter box properly. The lid moved when my cat jumped on it and she became scared and peed all over our bed. Fixed the litter box problem but she just decided after 12 years she now liked peeing on our beds instead!. We had to make sure we kept all the bedroom doors closed for maybe 4 months before the habit was broken. For the first few months if you accidentally left a door open she would pee on the bed any chance she got! I got waterproof sort of dog blanket things to put on the bed so at least she wasn’t peeing on the actual bedding. Maybe you could get some sort of washable mat for the spot so that it at least protects the flooring if he does get in there.

so yes it’s tough - no one wants cat pee on, well, anything really. But I second what the vet said. You need to keep the cat out of the living room for a good period of time to break this habit.

He has refused to go outside from day one, I never intended to keep him as an indoor cat. All my other cats have gone out. I tried putting him outside and he became very distressed and would run back inside. I tried everything I could to try and make him feel comfortable going outside until I had to accept it wasn't right for him.

I won't rehome him or put him down. I made a commitment to him when I got him from the rescue centre.

I have just had moments of thinking like this but I would never do it, I have just found the last few months very difficult with this issue and have been at my wits end at points.