How to help my friend; her new cats are peeing everywhere

[Well1mBack]

Hi, I've been trying to advise my friend, she's got two male ginger kittens, she's had them all summer, she's never had cats before.

They have both been neutered now and are going outside. However, she's now banned them from going anywhere in the house other than her front porch as they are peeing constantly. She's never had cats so is in horror about this and the immediate solution has just been to make their beds etc up in the porch, lock them in there, get a cat flap and that's it.

I think this will run the risk of meaning that they won't be socialised with her or the family. I am trying to give her solutions, I've looked up calming plug ins etc but she's adamant she won't be letting them into main house or upstairs ever again. I feel this is not going to be a good long term solution.

Any tips? Thanks in advance!

We adopted two male cats and they peed everywhere to start with. I think feliway spray helped. I can understand your friend's horror. Cat pee is awful. If they are safe and relatively warm I'd just let things settle for a bit. They'll probably wheedle their way into the house over time anyway. There's something you need to do to the spots they wee on to neutralise the smell - AI says an enzymatic cleaner - so they don't keep going back to the same spot. It does get better quite quickly. Hopefully your friend will have a change of heart along the line. Do they have a litter tray in the porch? That would provide them with a tempting spot to do their business.

do those grass patches help cats?

When my kittens were weeing everywhere I bought several cheap litter trays and put them everywhere they had previously been. I think we had six at one point. As they settled down we gradually reduced the number of trays and now have one upstairs and one down. Also used a Feliway and cleaned the areas with a cleaner specially made for cat wee.

She needs to wash every spot they have peed on really throughly with bio washing powder to break down the enzymes or they will never stop. She needs litter trays everywhere if possible, especially in areas they like to pee in but at the absolute minimum one litter tray per cat plus an extra. If it comes to it, she can actually crate them for a few days so they get into the habit of using a litter tray again. Use a large dog crate with a nice bed, their food and a litter tray in it. It might seem mean, but it really isn't in the long run. Cats learn very quickly. She could use something like Feliway sprays and plug ins, some people swear by them but I've never found that they make any difference, but certainly worth a shot. They cannot live in the porch, especially come winter.

If she’s actually serious about not having them in the house again she’d be better off rehoming them than neglecting them in the front porch. As kittens they’d find a proper loving home quite easily.

If she is willing to work at it then she needs an enzyme cleaner for anywhere they’ve peed. If they can smell it they’ll use the same spot again. She needs minimum 3 litter trays- 1 for each cat + 1 and to ensure there’s at least one on each level of the house and it’s also a good idea to place one wherever they’ve previously had an accident. Ensure the trays are kept clean, they’re deep enough with enough litter to allow for digging and they might prefer covered ones for privacy. I know it’s PITA to have multiple trays but once they’re no longer having accidents she may be able to remove some. Kittens also need company, interaction, plenty of play time and safe spaces like shelves or cat trees to hide away particularly if there are young kids in the home. A vet check is also a good idea but with kittens I’d suspect that it’s because they’re annoyed at dirty or not enough trays or stressed with the dynamic of the household. I’m personally quite skeptical about feliway but may as well give it a try.

Honestly if they are only kittens and she's already insisting they live in the porch she should rehome them as she isn't equipped to be a responsibility cat owner and is currently actively neglecting them

This. Honestly I don't understand why some people even bother with pets. Has she done anything to actually work out why they're doing this. Does she have litter trays for them? They're only kittens and still learning yet are being relegated to a porch and outdoors coming up to winter. Now would be the time to re-home

I’m looking at my ginger boy (who’s three in January) lying in his big fluffy bed by the radiator as I read this - poor little kittens!

PP have given good advice re litter trays, we have three for one cat although he does tend to use the same one mainly. Our boy comes in to use the tray if he’s outside, these kittens could be stressed by something going on outdoors (another cat?) if they are toileting inappropriately, especially if they were previously litter trained. I’d imagine they will be confused and a bit frightened at being stuck in the porch, especially if they aren’t getting much interaction with their people. Cats won’t understand consequences for something they previously did, it’s a bit like with little kids. Our boy is an absolute bugger for clawing at the living room carpet - if he’s caught in the act he gets a stern uh-uh, no, then immediately removed/distracted, but if he’s done it and no-one sees it happen we would never scold him after the fact, because he’d have no idea what he was in trouble for.

Thanks for the replies so far! I agree I am not comfortable that her solution is to just stick them in the porch, and not allow them any interaction in the house or even with them.

I'm going to suggest the enzyme spray, extra litter trays and also the plug ins. I had already suggested the plug ins but I think they hadn't worked.

She does also have young children so I think that's been part of the issue as well, her three year old chased them a lot. It was actually after they got neutered they started peeing everywhere, particularly on the couch. I'd say they are probably just about 6 months old; maybe less, she got them at the end of June when they were small kittens.

I feel sad as they need to be socialised properly.

The cats sound unhappy. I don't think this is working for the people or the cats.
You can't get kittens and then expect them to spend their whole lives shut in a porch.

I do feel like if she doesn't do any of my suggestions I'll tell her I think she's better rehoming them. I'm hating the thought of the souls stuck in a porch all winter. She's a dog person& it was her daughter and her husband who wanted the cats so she's never had cats before and it's a whole different experience I think for her.

She needs to re-home, especially before winter takes hold.

I think I'd be quite firm with her about it tbh. They may not like a household with little kids and need somewhere more suitable.

This is animal cruelty and neglect. All animals deserve appropriate care and love even if it takes a bit of effort - after all they are just babies and you don't shut a baby in a porch when it wees in its nappy or misses the potty.

I've had lots of cats over the years and never had any problem with any of the peeing indoors. They had a litter tray early on but soon got used to using the garden - and of course I had a catflap so they could get out easily AND get back in if they were scared by another animal.

Where did she get them from? If it was Cats Protection or the RSPCA they will advise, but personally I'd be reporting her to that body.

Not everyone likes cats but properly looked after they are usually great companions and lots of fun when little.

Just to add to @Meg8 point, not all cats like to toilet outdoors - our previous cat never used the tray again after we started letting her out. Even in snow up to her armpits she would rather have burst (although we did dig her a “path” and a toilet spot through it because she also didn’t want to get cold wet feet…). We now have a little boy cat who will come in to use the tray, then go back out immediately. He shouts until someone comes to clean up after him, supervises that happening, then off he goes. Apparently they are at their most vulnerable from predators when toileting so I guess it makes sense to prefer a safe litter tray.

I think six months is very young to be letting them out at all personally, they are just babies.

The 3 year old shouldn’t be permitted to chase them, no wonder they’re peeing everywhere if they’re stressed! But it also sounds like she should just re home if she isn’t prepared to work at this.

Her three year old chased them a lot

Well Doh. 🙄

It is a stress response then. No wonder they were peeing everywhere if they were being pestered by a 3 year-old chasing them. FFS. I'm appalled that she allowed her dc to do that. I also wonder whether she got them when they were a bit too young to leave Mum.

She's totally clueless and incompetent, and hasn't a clue how to look after cats. They need rehoming. Poor buggers.

This thread makes me so sad for those kittens - neutered and chucked out to fend for themselves. The likelihood of them making it to spring is pretty low if they’re essentially living in the porch with free access to the outdoors.

Can you not persuade her to give them to a rescue?

It’ll be the 3YO chasing them. They’re stressed and that’s why they’re weeing everywhere. No point getting feliways which are quite spendy unless she can be bothered to parent her child and ensure they do not chase the cat. The cats also need to have places to go that the toddler can’t access like high up cat trees or rooms closed off with stair gates. She could also channel the 3YOs excitement into positive behaviour by teaching them to play with the cat- the fishing rod toys are great for this and he could also feed them treats. But she sounds lazy and neglectful tbh so you might be best just telling her to rehome. And then honestly I don’t think I could stay friends with her knowing she’s cruel to animals but that’s up to you…

How many litter trays does she have and where are they? Also do they have lids/flaps? Most inappropriate soiling is down to inadequate litter trays.

I'm guessing that they didn't come from a decent rescue, if there's a 3 year old in the house - most have a policy about not rehoming to where there's small children around. Probably got them from somewhere on line, or a neighbour.

I think rehoming is probably the best option; she clearly doesn't like or understand cats and will always resent them. Plus if her husband wanted cats, why isn't HE doing something about her cruel (and it IS cruel) treatment of them.

Thanks for all your responses. I'm not actually sure where she got them, it wasn't a rescue centre or Cats Protection so I'm assuming they were just bought from a breeder or someone with cats.

I'll see if I can speak to her again about building high up cat ledges, controlling the three year old better and ensuring that she has enough litter trays and trying to persevere with the training. Also making sure they aren't just trapped in the porch with an outside cat flap to come and go. I think that isn't the right way to socialise them and they'll be lonely.

I did suggest she might be better rehoming them but she didn't really agree or disagree. I'm going to keep checking in with her about this as it just doesn't sit right with me.

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These are good to get them out of reach and the cats love being up high because they feel safe.

I agree, it's a stress response. Combination of being neutered and chased and being young/at the bottom of the pecking order if they come across another cat.

They need to be rehomed, poor little things. This is a stress reaction and no wonder, if she allows a three-year-old to chase them. They must be terrified.

And then to shut them in the porch. They are living creatures, not toys.

Can’t you rescue them?

Slow down, I agree its probably a stress/fear response - in fact keeping them in a small room even if its an indoor porch away from the 3 year old isn't a bad idea for the next couple of weeks and then they can have a bit of a reset, the small child needs to be taught to respect the cats and the cats need the space to explore their new home and family without being terrorised. Also two male kittens might not necessarily become best buddies, I have fostered/adopted many cats/kittens, ferals including pregnant mums and new borns and volunteered in a cat rescue, I have only seen very young kittens pee everywhere e.g. 5 weeks old and just learning to use a litter tray where mum hasn't been the best at teaching them or very frightened cats.