Posted on 11/02/2005 3:44:17 PM PST by meeps
I have a beautiful 2 year old orange tabby cat. Over the last 6 months he has developed a bad habit of peeing on our water bed. Last month, I took him to the vet and discovered he had a UTI. He was treated and seemed a bit better. However, he still will pee on our bed to wake me up in the morning. I now close him out of our bedroom in the morning. (I am an early riser, and get up at 6am). He has now found new spots to pee; the kids beds, a corner in the basement, etc. My husband is ready to make my orange tabby (Izzy) leave. We also have his sister, who is a beautiful calico. Any suggestions to help stop my cat from random peeing????
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Good luck. I would never get rid of one of my animals unless they were a physical danger to people.
"Most of the time, elimination outside of the box is a symptom of a physical problem. You should have you cat undergo a full physical. The UTI may be cured, but also check for FUS,"
Absolutely. I've owned cats for more than 3 decades, and the first step for "inappropriate urination" is definitely a complete physical. Rule out or define any underlying problems, that sort of thing.
Beyond that, highly qualified behaviorists can sometimes work wonders. Sounds like your cat has been a really good pet. I vote you give him every opportunity to remain with you.
Hope things work out. Please let us know.
Please don't give up on your kitty yet.
Cats who have UTI's will often start to pee somewhere else, because they associate the pain of the infection while urinating to the litterbox. They are literally looking for somewhere less painful to pee.
The most important step, as others have already said, is a full medical exam to make sure that the medical problem is resolved and the pain goes away. If there was a problem with crystals in the urinary tract, your vet should have talked to you about dietary changes to avoid future similar problems.
Even then, your cat may still fear pain associated with the old litterbox, so it is a good idea to get a brand new box and put it in a new location.
If you have two cats, make sure you have two separate litterboxes. The rule is one box per cat to avoid accidents or territory issues.
Make sure you get a good enzymatic cleaner and thoroughly treat all areas where the cat has had accidents, in order to deter the cat from returning to that spot.
Finally, cats really don't pee out of spite. Spite is a human emotion, and cats aren't even cognitively capable of it, even though people like to attribute it to them.
If all else fails, consult a cat behavior specialist, as someone earlier in this discussion suggested. Usually behaviorists will charge for a single session in which they evaluate the problem and give you a very detailed plan to solve it. Often follow-up phone calls are included in the deal.
Good luck. I hope your kitty is feeling better, and that you find a solution soon. Cat pee in the house is no fun.
Bacon Man and I have 8 cats and we don't have any problems with anyone peeing on the floors or furniture. But our oldest male cat had crystals in his urnie about 5 years ago and was peeing on one of our chairs. We have ozone generators to keep the cat smell in check and it was a chair we never used so we didn't notice it for quite a while. Finally he got wise and peed in front of us in the bathroom one day. We realized his urnie had blood in it and took him to the vet immediately. Turns out he had crystals in his urnie. The vet gave him an antibiotic and switched him to Feline CDS, a prescription food. We changed all the cats to it and have had no problems since. If we had let the problem continue much longer, he might have had a urinary blockage so we were lucky.
We also use a product called Nature's Miracle. We use it when the cats barf but it is an odor eliminator as well. It would help eliminate the pee smell so he doesn't keep using the same spots.
Good luck to you, I hope you're able to fix the problem without putting him outside. Keep us posted. :)
You might look into a low ash cat food, such as Iams and Science Diet. Years ago when our cat had a UTI we found out this was one of the ways to control it. It might like the water bed because its cold there and that makes it easier to go.
Also there is a spray called Feelaway (sp) you can get at most pet stores that the cats can't stand the smell of.
Yeah. Buy a normal bed. That is what your cat is trying to tell you.
We feed all our cats (4) Purina senior formula. It's easy to find and not expensive. Two of our cats are going on 16 without problems. One of them had UTI problems before we switched.
Purina also makes a line of canned foods labeled special diet.
It's tempting to go for the exotic foods, but Purina actually tests all its foods on animals. They devote a lot of money to research.
Definitely shell out the dough for a full work-up. My friend's cat started this and it turned out she was in renal failure. It can be treated if caught in time, but is fatal if not.
Have there been changes in appetite?
Thanks for the tip. My cats have only had Iams as their diet.
No changes in appetite. I have been working with him, since my husband and I both work out of our homes. My vet did a full physical and urine culture. All was well. I like the ideas about praise and new litter boxes. He is sitting here with me as I type. I love this cat and would just hate to see him go. My husband hates the vet bills.
I was told to buy cat food with NO red dye. 2 eight year old males...they adore Meow Mix but it's full of red dye. Does Purina have dye?
Be sure the litter box is clean.
I had a cat that would go outside the box too if it wasn't up to his standards. He also had IBS and would throw up sometimes.
The UTI should clear up soon enough. I have a dog that has had a quite a few of them. A few things I would add is that if they can smell the pee maybe the cat is behaving like a dog. And going where they went last. Go to the pet store and try some of that cleaning stuff to get rid of pee odors. Just becuse you can't smell it doesn't mean the smell is gone. Also my cat became diabetic and started to pee up a storm. Hopefully since your cat is so young that isn't what is going on here.
Buy a Dog :)
Purina makes a zillion different feeds. Here's what I feed my cats. They're all over two years old. I tried to feed the young and old cats separately, but they worked around my efforts.
http://www.purinaone.com/products_cat_seniorprotect.asp
My cat loved my water bed. He liked how warm the bed was. I had to keep my door shut to keep him off it. He also liked to go under it and in it's drawers.
thanks.....I want to change what these 2 eat without spending a fortune.
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