Is there anyway to just keep her out of those two rooms?

What about placing plastic or large pieces of furniture over the areas that she has marked?

Since she's now pooping there, it sounds like it's moved beyond just territorial marking -- she now associates those regions with acceptable places to go to the bathroom (she doesn't hate you, I promise!). Your wet-vacuuming is not enough to remove the smell for her (cats have a much better sense of smell than us!) so personally, I would physically prevent her from being able to go there anymore by blocking her from the region. Also, beyond just wet-vacuuming, you need to be using an enzymatic cleaner like Nature's Miracle -- have you been doing that?

You mention tranquilizers -- I assume you mean anti-depressants. My cat is on them for the same reason (territorial marking), and seriously, it's not that big of a deal. It's a small pill that you pop into his mouth once a day, and it's not at all expensive. The only side effect is that it makes him somewhat sleepy. If you do go this route, please give the pills at least 2 or 3 months to take effect!

Has she been checked by a vet recently? She is pretty old and it is entirely possible she has medical problems that are contributing to this problem.

Also, you are joking when you say she is doing it because she hates you right??

How about moving an extra litter box to that area. I don't know if I would put furniture over it- what if she decided to mark the furniture?
How about some blinds or curtains to block the sight of other animals?

Good luck with that situation!

First of all, let me say I think you are great for putting up with this and trying so hard to find a solution.

Cats might soil the wrong places out of frustration or irritation, but they are certainly not thinking of it as a punishment for owners that they hate. If the ferals are no longer out there to taunt her, so to speak, then it has to be a case of the scent remaining and making her think it is a good place to "go".

I'm with the suggestions for using enzymatic cleaners that will get rid of the scent, and it would probably be a good idea to keep her out of that room for some time, too, if you can.

In the early days of our marriage, my young spayed female cat used to pee on the puffy comforter we used on our bed. It was awful, especially since DH was more of a cat hater than cat lover. (He is now a cat tolerater, LOL!) This was decades ago and in Japan; there were no enzymatic cleaners. All I could do was pour boiling water on the comforter and blot it up, but I did spray cologne on the spot to cover the scent (another thing you might try, along with the enzymes, just to make sure).

After several months, the cat stopped peeing there, so I assume it was all due to her upset over having a new person in the bed. My mother always said that once a cat became "dirty," you could never change it, but this cat proved that that isn't true. She went on to live to be 15 and never again "made a mistake."

I hope you'll be able to find a solution for your problem. By the way, I don't know what reaction you are letting her see, but showing anger or great upset over the poop would be counter-productive, IMHO--just make her feel more upset, and she wouldn't get the idea that she shouldn't use that spot again.

I know what you are going thru and have no real solutions. My cat, Maddie, did this for years off and on. She died the week before Xmas at 15. I tried everything and since I have more than one cat ,I made sure it was her doing it. I put her in the carriage house last summer. The same behavior happened..Sometimes pooped in the box, sometimes out..Same with peeing. When it got cooler I brought her in and it continued despite trips to the vet to rule out health problems. I have six other cats who NEVER including a 19 year, old go outside the box. .I'd try Natures Miracle and I even laid herbs in the places and she'd pee or poop on them. I miss her but not that.

And as a corollary, I have a cat that does territorial marking that is fully prevented through medication. No offense to lily316, but there are always doomsayers who are ready to come in and say "I had the same problem and never solved it! Woe is me! Sucks to be you!" I think posts like that are NOT helpful, because it makes people who post for help in here think that there is NO solution, and makes them throw up their hands before even trying anything. Please try some of the solutions recommended in here before giving up.

You guys, thanks so much to each and every one of you who have not only lent me an ear (or eyeballs, as the case may be), but also shared your experiences and offered your suggestions. This really has been such a frustration as you clearly all know.

After reading everything here and many months (dare i say years?) of pulling my hair out, i think i'm going to try the sedative route. I had almost decided to do that a few months back, but then she treated us to two consecutive "no-pee-weeks" which made me change my mind. I'd also been informed the pills were quite costly, but that may no longer be the case. And with what i spend on Nature's Miracle, it may end up being a financial wash anyway ...

To address a few specific points, yes, i really was joking about the "she hates us" part. In fact, my humble theory is that she includes us in what she's trying to protect through marking. After hubby and i turn in, she hops on the bed (not as easy for her anymore), purrs up a storm and crawls on our bodies till hubby falls asleep (he always falls asleep before i do). She takes that as her cue to hop off the bed and begin her night patrols. She only marks at night.

She'll also just sit in the front door jams as if her little body of fluff is the only thing keeping us all protected from the perils of the world. Here she is last winter:

{{!gwi}}

In spite of it all, how can you not love her?

Thanks again so much, everyone ... i'll post an update to let you know if the pills end up working for me ...

~ hugs ~

estraya, the cost may depend on what your vet puts your cat on. My cat's Clomicalm only costs about $30 - $50 (total!) for every 6 months...but I'm sure there are other drugs that are more expensive! The Clomicalm has been very effective for us, though, and like I said, not at all expensive.

The only other thing you may try is moving the litter box into the house. She could have a little dementia, plus arthritis, and just doesn't enjoy going thru the cat door any more than she has to.

I just stated the fact that some cats never change no matter what you do. That said I also said I have six cats and many before these who never did it. I am not trying to be negative but am not going to sugar coat my results. Like you, I had good weeks where everything was fine and then BOOM, it started right up again. Thank heaven it never changed the other cats behavior. The Clomicalm did not work for me , or rather Maddie. .It's a frustrating problem and many people I know would have given the cat up years ago when she first started this behavior or had her euthanized. I would never do that.

You MUST give the meds time to build up in the cat's system. A month won't work, (as Lily learned), and the meds can't be discontinued abruptly. You've been so patient with your pretty girl, it's worth it to be patient and give the meds 3 months or more to help her. I also agree with the advice to get a few more litter boxes inside the house. Close to the areas in the living room where she's eliminating now. Then slowly move those boxes to less public areas but do keep them inside the house.

lily316, I don't mean to be rude, but what's the point of posting something like:

I know what you are going thru and have no real solutions.

If you have no solutions, what's the point of posting in a thread asking for solutions?

It's like...someone posting about their daughter having cancer and asking for suggestions for alternative cures. And someone coming in saying, "Yeah, my son had the same cancer, and I tried alternative cures, and he still died!" Can you see what a complete and total downer that is to the person who is asking for help?

Yes, there are some cats who never get over their peeing problem. But they are few and far between. And to be blunt -- you did NOT try the Clomicalm long enough for it to be effective.

And you know this how?? I think my vet knows a little more than you do and he knows all the years I had dealing with Maddie and all the other solutions I tried as well as the Clomicalm. I wanted the poster to know that some times it works and some times it doesn't and it doesn't more times than it does. They are not few and far between. This is the number one reason cats are given up to shelters and euthanized. I don't need any critisicm from anyone about my cat who I took care of for 15 years and she was treated well like all my cats are. A friend said that she wanted to come back in her next life as one of my cats. You don't know me OR my cats and I resent you implying I was not a good caretaker to Maddie. I put up with way more than the average person would have EVER done.

Lily, I'm not going to get into a shouting match with you. In your thread about your cat's peeing problem, you stated that you had your cat on the Clomicalm for only a month. By no stretch of the imagination is that long enough for it to be effective. I'm not implying that you are a poor caretaker of your cat -- you just didn't give the medication long enough to work. I'm sure your cat was taken of wonderfully, and I absolutely agree that you put up with more than most people would.

Regardless -- I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If you have nothing solid to contribute to threads like this, especially if you didn't actually do the suggestions that were given to you correctly, then why bother contributing? People coming here for answers don't need to hear from a Debbie Downer.

And yes, cats peeing inappropriately is one of the main reasons that they're given up. Frankly, I think in the majority of cases, the owners don't know how to resolve the situation, or are quick to jump the gun as far as giving the cat up, or don't even know that medication will resolve the problem in many of the cases. When I said that cases like this are few and far between, I meant that if owners were knowledgeable and did everything right, then there would be few cats that could not get over their problems. But people are human, and don't what they're supposed to do, or don't give medication long enough, or whatever. And then give up and say the cat can't be fixed -- when in reality, it could have.

I can honestly say I know how estreya feels. I have a male cat (11yrs old) who has started peeing and sometimes pooped by the front window. We have figured that there is a cat out there and my cat is not pleased. It's not the first time this cat has been around. I have even fed the cat several times last year because I felt sorry for it. But back then my cat had never marked his area. So, we could not figure out why he started doing it now. Then is occured to us, in the past Stumpy, the one marking his spot, had Sweety, our cat who recently passed away, to take his aggression out on. Now that Sweety is no longer with us, he can't take the stress of this other cat outside and has no one to "fight with". I feel deflated as well. I have steamed cleaned that area so much, I could of cleaned all the houses on our street two times over. I have pulled the carpet up and cleaned the padding, sub floor and back of the carpet. I even taped a big trash bag on the floor to keep him away. That worked for a while until he went to a different area away from the trash bag. I have bought the comfort zone plug in that gives off pheromones to calm the cat. Sprayed "No Spray" on the floor to deter him. I have been on line all day reading about how to keep the other cat out of my yard. By the way, I have not fed this cat in a long time. The cat belongs to someone on our street because it is clean and healthy looking. Also, Stumpy is fine. No medical problems. Our vet suggested the plug in and spray. She said if that does not work, she would prescribe medicine for him. I don't want to medicate my cat, but I may not have too much choice. I think first I will try and get rid of the cat coming around my house and hopefully that will calm my cat down. Keep your head up it is a long process and at times very frustrating but I feel my cat is worth it.

I'm having my own problems with a cat wandering into our yard, getting my cats angry and upset. My house has a brick facade on the lower half of the house -- this stray cat likes to walk around on it; so we'll be sitting there, and all of a sudden a dark shadow will walk right in front of the window and freak the crap out of us! Luckily, my cat who likes to sit right by the window hasn't happened to be sitting right there when this stray cat walks by the window -- I shudder to think how he would react.

I just bought one of those motion activated sprinklers to put in the yard, as well as a ton of chili pepper to put on the facade. We'll see how it goes.

I feel your pain.

We have a cat that we rescued 16 months ago that is doing the same thing. I know cats are very sensitive to change but he is super, super sensitive to any disruption of his routine. He also has kidney disease due to tainted food. We think the spraying was going on well before we got him. We've been trying to resolve this for over a year and after working with a behavioralist, adding litter boxes, trying Nature's Miracle, pheremone plug-ins, exercise, and Buspar our vet agreed to put him on prozac. After 2 months we need to take him in for blood tests to be sure the prozac isn't having any ill effects on his liver.

We just started prozac about 2 weeks ago and so far, so good. In about a month we will be replacing all of the carpets in our house either with new carpet or laminate in an effort to totally eliminate any smell that has gotten into the pad.

Hopefully this will work and we would like to be able to wean him off of the medication eventually but if he has to be on it forever, then sobeit. I know how heartbreaking this can be. I am sorry you are going through this.

My suggestion: get her to a vet and have her thoroughly checked out. Consider a scan of her bladder and kidneys, even though it's expensive. Cats can develop problems that show themselves in various ways for several years before they verbally express pain or have blood show up in their urine (at which point, it can be too late).

If it's any consolation, oddity, my male has been almost fully weaned off his anti-depressant after being on it for about 6 years. I give him a pill occasionally (like once every month or two) when I can tell he's "antsy", probably because he's seen something outside, to get him to chill out. We haven't had a spraying/marking incident with him in months (and hopefully he won't see that stupid neighbor cat walking on the brick facade!) I think age sometimes helps to calm some cats down with situations like this...

Dear Rivkadr,
Please, please do not put down the chili pepper. If the neighbor's cat steps in it the pepper could get in her eyes when she grooms. It's very painful. Maybe you could glue something unpleasant to walk on (but not harmful to the cat) onto the brick facade instead.
Sincerely, ConnieCola

Huh. Chili pepper was one of the things that has been recommended in this forum and several other places. And let's be realistic here -- the cat is likely to get the chili pepper off its paws as it walks through the grass and dirt after walking on my facade. I highly doubt its going to walk on my facade and then sit down immediately and rub its eyes with its paws.

I'm not "gluing" something permanent to my brick, just because some neighbor is too stupid to keep their cat inside. On the extreme off chance that their pet gets chili pepper in its eyes by walking through MY yard, oh well.

I'm sorry but I agree with rivkadr. My cat has never sprayed in the house before this cat came along and started pissing him off (so to speak). I am at my wits end with the cleaning of the carpet and trying to keep my cat happy. I am to the point of taking whatever means necessary to keep that cat out of my yard. And I feel I should NOT have to spend a ton of money to do so. I am spending enough money inside cleaning the floors and buying products to calm my cat. That damn cat outside has upset me to no end. I told my husband to forget medicating the cat, the vet is going to need to medicate ME. I'm not a cruel person and I would never hurt the cat but I wish the owner would contain their animal. Maybe if I could rub the owners nose in the pee spot, they would understand that coming home to the smell of pee is not very fun. I also don't feel I should have to medicate my cat because of a damn cat that does not belong to me.