Stopping him urinating!

[Hihosilver123]

My boy cat keeps urinating on my wardrobe door. He’s done it so much that the doors need replacing but I’m conscious that he’ll continue if I put in new doors. I’ve tried Feliway, to no effect. Anyone found a spray that stops them perking/spraying?!

Have you tried that enzyme spray you can get from Pets at Home (or Amazon I’m sure)?

One of mine sprays in the house, I hate it. He’s neutered and I’ve tried everything. The vet says it’s a sign of anxiety but I’m sure I don’t know what the pampered little so and so has to be anxious about!

It sounds like he's marking - so you need to find the reason for the behaviour if you want it to change.

He sounds like my boy! Absolutely nothing to be anxious about. Totally spoilt!

We now let our boys free roam outside. They don't go out much but it's caused a huge improvement with no more pee other than in the litter trays.

One is still anxious if we have visitors that are too intrusive in his opinion 🙄

Some cats are just anxious by nature, but it could be caused by something that seems really minor to you - noise outside, another cat that he can see through a window etc.

Is he able to go out and roam? Does he have access to clean, private litter trays?

Try tin foil over the spot he marks, or a big tub of water he would have to step in to get to it. Another thing to try is putting his food bowls down in that spot. They don't like to toilet where they eat.
Make sure theres extra litter trays incase hes being super fussy. We also had success with a litter tray with a puppy pad in it for wees. But my cat had a habit of weeing on soft things.
We also had the most success when we eventually could let our previously indoor cat have garden access a few times a day. It seemed to expand his territory area so he marked outside instead of in the house.

Yes, he has free access to the garden through his cat flap (though he prefers having the door opened for him 🙄😂). For some reason, he regularly pees on the front door, and my wardrobe. Nowhere else. He does have a litter tray too. Thank for the tips. I will try some of than. He doesn’t like visitors in ‘his house’ but is more livid than anxious!

It sounds like he is marking his territory

That definitely sounds like something's making him feel insecure - it could be another cat maybe?

There are enemy cats in the garden. He does a lot of fighting, and I make regular trips to the vet as a result!

Ah well that is why.

Are there particular times of day the enemy cats are around so you can try restricting his out times when they aren't around?

Interesting. Hadn’t thought of that. We’re in London, so quite a few enemy cats, as well as foxes, squirrels, pigeons….

The simple solution sprays are good.

Look at Jackson Galaxy’s videos on inappropriate urination on You Tube as well.

i presume he’s been neutered?

Well, there's your answer! He's marking his territory. It's very, very common behaviour - obviously not ideal but from his viewpoint it's totally natural.

I'm not really sure that sprays etc. are the answer here, because they're not solving the problem of other cats coming into his territory and making him feel insecure.

Can you cat proof your garden, keep him in and them out?

That all makes sense. He’ll come into my loft bedroom, put his paws up on the window sill and look out the window, surveying his savannah, a la Lion King.

maybe I’ll just shut my bedroom door 🤷🏼‍♀️

Definitely worth a try before trying loads of other expensive options that may not even work.

We have to shut ours out of the bathroom as one of mine likes to pee in the bath tub for some unknown reason! Never does it anywhere else in the house 😂

I have an anxious cat, and he took to urinating on our bed when we were away, then I caught him doing it when I was home, so now I fear it’s a habit and have shut him out of the bedroom. I also reinforce positivity when he uses his tray, with a fuss and a treat to let him know it makes me happy when he uses it.

Its only been a few weeks, so couldn't tell you if it has worked yet.

When I volunteered with Cats' Protection they recommended using biological washing powder to stop cats peeing.

Apparently it is the smell, they smell it and then mark it and you need the enzymes in the powder so what @afaloren said makes sense.

Unfortunately when cats pee (and poo) to mark their territory, then sprays generally aren't much help. They may get rid of the smell but they won't change the cats' emotions or anxiety, so often what happens is they stop peeing but start scratching, or pee somewhere else, or over-groom as a displacement behaviour etc.

It's a really challenging behaviour to solve short of completely cat-proofing your land, and even that may not stop cats from patrolling the boundaries and causing problems 🙈