Elderly cat weeing in house, tried everything

[girlghostbusters]

We have two elderly cats (female) who are now 14. They are indoor cats and always have been. We have lived in our current house for 3 years.

It used to be that we'd find an outside-the-litter-box deposit rarely, either wee or poo happening only a few times a year and clearly tied to something (stress, dirty litter box).

For the last 18 months or so, the house constantly stinks of wee. It is usually one cat, but the other contributes as well. We brought them to the vet, who found no problem (other than being elderly). I hired a cat behavioural expert (recommended by the vet) who came to the house, met the cats, and made some suggestions, all of which we implemented (more litter boxes, cleaned more frequently, and on both floors, plus enzymatic cleaner). Nothing has helped.

My husband has declared an end -- it's either put the cats outside all day (which I am convinced will kill them, as they're not used to roads/traffic/outdoor animals), or give them up to a shelter (which would kill them, because who would adopt them?).

I hate the idea of my pets dying, suffering or being scared, but I also hate that my children live in a house stinking of wee, which is the first things visitors notice. I don't want my children to live in 'the cat wee house' (I definitely have bad memories of kids being terribly bullied for this when I was a kid).

Any ideas on how to stop this?

Have you tried putting puppy pads in a litter tray without any litter inside? Also what kind of litter trays do you have; are the sides possibly too high for them given their age? There are litter trays with one lower side so elderly cats can easily get in and out.

Have you tried using different types of litter? Biological washing powder to clean areas is recommended to remove the smell. Another thing to consider is arthritis? Are the trays too high sided, sometimes kitten trays are better for elderly pets. There could also be some subtle bullying going on stressing your cat out. Are your kids boisterous? Cats hate sudden movement/unpredictability. Basically it's a lot of detective work to to sort these issues. Rehoming would be an awful thing to do to an elderly cat. They all get old age problems, pet owners should expect this.

I completely agree rehoming old cats is terrible. However, it is also terrible to expect my children to live in a house that stinks of piss. We use an enzymatic cleaner and also a Dettol animal smell spray, and we clean immediately after noticing, yet the house always stinks.

We did try a different litter (they hated it, so we switched back). Getting a lower box is a good idea and I should try it, but they are using the box daily (for poos and some wees) so I'm not sure why they just decide to wee on the floor sometimes.

We added the multiple boxes per floor for arthritis reasons -- the cat behaviour specialist suggested it was a good idea for them not to have to go up/downstairs for a wee, so we now have two boxes on each floor.

I really have been trying everything possible to resolve the situation, and it's coming up to two years of detective work, vet appointments, a behaviourist, scooping 4 litter boxes 3-4x daily to make sure they're always clean, etc. I am clearly desperate for a positive resolution and trying everything, whilst living in a house that reeks.

Sounds like you have tried everything, we're in a similar position with one of ours who is peeing on clothes/bedding etc. I'm not sure what the answer is but I wouldn't rehome at that age. We are going to think about our options too as we can't live in a house that is also starting to smell

I don't think you can even thinking about re-homing two fourteen year old cats who toilet outside the litter - either you find a way to cope or you have them put to sleep.

Could they have UTI? My female ginger had UTI fairly frequently as she got older, we bought homeopathic treatment from the pet shop which helped a lot. Another tip I got was to use surgical spirit to wipe where the cat was peeing, they hate the smell and avoid the area, incase another corner of a room is chosen, put in all four corners. Of course you can’t rehome cats of that age, that would be so cruel. The only other option could be a catio perhaps. I hope you find a solution OP, it must be worrying for you.

I mean our cats get there litter changed twice a day or it stinks anyhow if there's more than one of them, we also have a larger size as they didn't like the small one

I don’t think there is an easy answer here but I agree that rehoming or kicking them outside isn’t it.

When my elderly cat did the same, I wouldn’t let her out of my sight when she looked like she wanted to go. That meant following her around, keeping her in one room and just being on it the whole time - totally exhausting and wasn’t always successful but I loved her and no matter how mad I was and tired of the stink of pee, she was worth it.

However, this was the last year of her life so doable. As I said, I’m not sure what the answer is for you and I do know how it gets you that constant smell of pee!

We've bought some washable mattress pad things from a disabled aids online place. They are washable and cover a largish floor area to catch wees that go over the edge. Much cheaper than puppy pads and more eco friendly.

One of our elderly cats weed in the lounge on the carpet. By the time we found it, it had soaked through the carpet , underlay and into the floorboards. The carpet man explained that once it's in the backing hessian no amount of cleaning will get rid of the smell. So it was an insurance job to get the 18 month old carpet completely replaced 😮

Point is thy no matter how well you clean, once there is residue they will go there again.

In your circumstances I'd consider confining them to restricted rooms only and get damaged flooring replaced. A pain and expensive but necessary.

Re cat litter we use the cheap stuff from lidl. It has no residual smell at all unlike cats an and others we've tried. It's not very environmentally friendly but it works and is very absorbent.

I feel your pain as the smell of cat wee is just horrible.

We also had this, which meant about two years of pulling my hair out and sobbing every time I opened the front door at the smell, and every time I stepped in a puddle, it was bloody torture. I was of the mind that human quality of life was equally important as the elderly cats and we should pts. DH was of the mind that the cat still had a decent quality of life otherwise and didn't want to press the trigger as it were. It wasn't a happy time, cat hung on on and hung on, we rowed and scrubbed and sobbed until it was clear that cat was unwell otherwise and we eventually pts.

Tried everything, it was so ridiculously stressful, and DH with hindsight agrees we should have moved quicker.

We bought these from age uk

https://www.ageukincontinence.co.uk/catalog/product/view/ignoree_category/1/id/47641/s/vivactive-washable-bed-pad-white-2000ml-single

Have you tried putting cystophan in their food? My 15 year old female was developing a problem and since giving her these the random accidents have stopped.

The harder problem was a particular section of the carpet that she had got used to using. We tried the enzyme spray but she was still in the habit of going there. In the end we bought some spiked plastic mats that people use to keep cats off of flower beds and put them down and it stopped her completely. We have tried to remove the mats but she goes back to using that area so we will just keep the mats in place now until she is no longer with us. House no longer smells and that's the main thing for me.

You can’t rehome elderly incontinent cats, nor can you put them outside. It’s not fair on them.

You will likely have to PTS at some point, it’s just a question of when. How long are you prepared to live like this and there anything you can do to improve the situation?

We have hard flooring throughout and by keeping doors closed are able to contain our elderly cat (18 and blind) to the livingroom and kitchen. We switched from dry to wet food only, and it has hugely improved UTIs and also diabetes. Very seldom do we get an accident now.

There’s been times when he’s pissed everywhere, and it was unbearable. I could not cope with that long term.

I have firmly, but gently, told my husband that he won’t be alive for ever and one day we’ll have to make the difficult decision to PTS.

Is the litter tray with hood or open?

Aren't there any other cats visiting your garden- so your cats can see them?
Either from the window or from the door?

Any specific places where they repeatedly go?

Any draughts under the door etc?

my mums cat lived to be 19.
She had access to the garden through the cat flap, and as a younger cat would not have dreamed of weeing indoors.
In her last years she went to the loo everywhere.
It was soul destrying having to clean up all the time.
In the end they had all bedroom doors shut, and she was only allowed in the lounge when with them. She lived in the utility room with basket food and litter tray, unless they let her into the kitchen or lounge with them.

In retrospect they should have put her down about 2 years before they did.

14 is a ripe old age for a cat. They have lived a good life. Now is time to let them go.
Weeing all over the house is a sign that things are not right. It may just be old age, but it is time.

We have had a similar issue with our 17 year old cat. We now religiously clean his litter box every day and confine him to the kitchen diner with tiled flooring unless supervised in the living room. He also loved to wee on bags or items put on the floor so we make sure there is nothing left lying around now so our house is quite a bit tidier off the back of it and under no circumstances is he allowed upstairs
He also now has a heated cat mat which he loves to sleep on which I think helps with his arthritis and generally keeps him in one place most the day
As a result the issue has largely resolved itself we just need to deal with his dementia and screeching throughout the night now (the joys of cat ownership)

Cystophan in the food
plug in feliway
more cat litter trays

if this doesn’t work and you can’t cope anymore then pts would be kinder at their age than rehoming. Because let’s face it who is going to rehome them. They’d just die in the shelter.

This happened in the last few months of my old girls life - I confined her to one room when we were out and surrounded the litter tray with puppy pads. She was 21 though. 14 seems relatively young to me!

When our cat got to 14, she started leaving puddles everywhere. The vet recommended a dry food diet - Royal Canin Urinary, to help with possible kidney issues. It did the trick!

I've had elderly cats. Firstly, I stopped using litter and changed the box to one they could walk into - technically it was a large plant tray. Instead of litter I used shredded paper on a puppy pad. This really helped. I also gave them a calming tablet each day and sprayed Feliway on the large puppy pad that the tray sat on.

Our elderly cat weed in DD’s room and it took ages for us to figure out where - in the beanbag, and soaked into the wooden floor. It had seemed like it was the other end of the room so we washed duvets, pillows etc for no reason.

Anyway - we bought a spray called Urine Off - purple bottle. It did an amazing job - got rid of the smell completely.

We had this and it was relentless. We tried everything.

Eventually we rehomed them to a place that looks after old cats until they die - you obviously have to pay. My two were around the same age - I thought they were too young to be pts just for being unreliable. We tried shutting them in the utility in the end but it was no life for them. Google cats retirement home Lincolnshire.

At the end of the day it was starting to impact the family and our stress levels were through the roof. Should have done it sooner.

I think it’s kinder to PTS than try to rehome elderly incontinent cats. Our last cat was 10 when he rehomed him, and it took months before he wasn’t actually frightened of us. Previously outgoing at last owners home, so purely down to the move. Some cats cope with rehoming, some don’t.

You haven’t tried any diet supplements for the bladder lining or ultraclumping litters by the looks of it.

Cystease helps the bladder lining not slough away during stressful periods and doesn’t cost very much. Ultraclumping litter is soft on old paw pads (paw pads are very sensitive) so the litter needs to be as close to soil as possible.

If it is stress related vets can prescribe amitriptyline which is a very old well tolerated anti depressant in a low dose. It’s widely used in healthcare for nerve pain conditions.

I would also cut all dry food from the diet if they have it.

Your dh is not showing his best side here, a lot of women get left if they get ill when their older and his solution is to either pts or keep outdoors in this weather when they have always been indoor cats honestly in your shoes I’d do my best to stay healthy.

We had a Bengal with recurrent uti and my dh was supportive.

Where can you get Cystease?