Considering giving him up :(

[Dontknowwhattodo223]

My cat started weeing in my living room. About 3 months ago. It seemed to coinside with a horrible cat outside staring at him through the back window. My cat is an indoor cat, always has been (his choice)
I have tried everything to make him stop. Feliway plug ins, pet remedy plug ins, pet remedy spray, I put curtains up at back door, extra litter trays, cystease capsules, calmex recommended by vet, numerous vet visits, all the cleaning things you can buy and absolutely nothing has worked. I've put puppy pads down now and am cleaning every day. My house stinks. I'm absolutely miserable. It's making me feel so low. I never thought I'd get to this point and i feel horrific about it but I'm thinking I might have to give him up. Next thing is I'll rip up the carpet and put down lino which I cannot afford to do.

It’s probably amitriptyline the vets talking about it. Try it, it’s well tolerated in humans and he might not get any side effects.

Don't give up, it can take ages for them to settle down, one of mine is a stressy cat and last time he got stressed it did take months to settle down but he's fine now. I do understand how stressful it is for you. Is he insured? Often a behaviourist can be claimed on insurance

Dried food, refuses to eat wet food and always has. Will not use any kind of tower or scratch post or anything like that. Have tried loads and even sprayed them with catnip, completely ignores them.

What sort of dry? The cheap dry ones are particularly bad for boy cats' urinary tracts.

I assume he has at least 2 litter trays and you've tried different litters and trays and locations?

Whiskers or go cat.
Yes, 2 litter trays in different locations.

I'd get him off those foods, they are really not good at all for boy cats in particular.

Thank you so much for everyone for being so kind and trying to help, I was so worried I'd get absolutely flamed. I love my cat and I'd do anything to keep him but my friends and family have suggested I think about giving him up because of how depressed this is making me.

Does he pee in particular spots? I used to put down tin foil in the places mine peed. Or put objects such as plants in the way. It's very frustrating I know.

Yeah, always in the same spots. I haven't tried tin foil, I'll try that.

How many times a day does he wee?

Could you put some film over the window so that the outside cat can’t look in at him? He’s probably still being harassed by it.

I put blackout curtains up

When cleaning up use biological washing powder/liquid as this breaks down the enzymes (or whatever causes the stink!) in their pee. It might break the cycle or need to revisit. Plus was told to stick some dry food on card and place it where you've cleaned, so it smells of food and therefore less likely to want to mark the area. Worth a try.

Ignore anyone that makes spiteful comments, I had this issue years ago and it was utterly miserable.

2 - 4 times a day

I did put some food and water down where he was weeing but he just weed next to it unfortunately.

Thank you. What did you do? Did it ever stop? I feel awful about it already. Thankfully everyone has been lovely apart from @TwinklyOrca

I sympathise as I had this exact problem with my beautiful girl, similar age. I had carpet too and just couldn’t deal with the cleanup and smell anymore. The animal shelter were very understanding and took her back. It feels awful but it is what it is. I miss her still.

Not sure if this is at all helpful, but my nearly 12 year old dog has been keeping us up at night lately too. Not weeing but just whining, crying, trying to get on our beds etc. In our case the vet thinks it’s anxiety/cognitive decline. We are now using 2 types of prescribed anxiety medication as well as some more natural remedies and it is helping. I appreciate you have a cat (who sounds a bit scared to go outside due to another cat) but have you spoken with your vet at all? They might be able to give your cat something to help with (what sounds like) anxiety. Good luck. The lack of sleep really wears you down. I hope you can help your cat.

I have a cat who would poo on the floor and not in a litter tray. I finally had luck when I got a jumbo size litter tray with high, raised sides. He seems to feel more comfortable and secure in that. I also put it inside one of those cat litter tray cabinets, so it feels safe when he’s doing his business.

We had a cat who when he got older kept on weeing in a corner he had a litter tray but still did it in the corner. We moved the litter tray there, you could see the look of relief on the cat he almost said why didnt you do this earlier

Also just to add that at 12, with anxiety, deafness and food aggression issues there is no way I could rehome her. She has only ever been with us so yes, the medication is the last resort for us really. Hoping so much it works long term.

My cat was sleepy for the first week or so which is normal but he was fine after that. No side effects at all. It's definitely worth a shot

I tried this, put a litter tray where he was weeing. He just moved down slightly.
He will poo in tray and occasionally wee in it.

@Dontknowwhattodo223 it did improve things, although he was never completely trustworthy! He died of heart issues very suddenly, which was bittersweet- sad he had gone, relieved I didn't have a difficult decision to make. Ultimately I'd say you've given him a great life, unless some of the other suggestions work I would consider PTS. You clearly love him but it's not a nice healthy (mentally and physically) way to live for you.

I'm so sorry you are going through this. I've been there and it's miserable. We were on the verge of re-homing our cat when I came across a cat behaviourist. I was hugely sceptical but needed to feel we'd tried everything. She gave some properly bespoke advice on how to make our home more cat friendly and he hadn't done it since. I'd really recommend trying if you can afford it (they're often covered by insurance too)