Lillie, What you are going through would drive me crazy too!!!!!! There is nothing worse than cat pee!!!

Lillie: I have a suggestion that might work. I have acat, Riley, who is very strong willed. For several months, he was defecating all over the cellar drain. I'd clean it up, back he'd go. I read somewhere that cat's hate a citrus smell. Purchased on of those orange cleaner spray bottles, sprayed all over and around the drain. Riley is now back to using the litter box.
Allie, our other cat, recently took to peeing on my sons bed. I told him about the orange spray. Every few weeks, he sprays the bedding on his bed: the blankets and quilt. End of problem again.
You might want to try some sort of orange citrus spray and see if that works. Good luck! - Ellen

Can your vet give you anything to help you with it? Our vet gave us clomicalm to give our male when we had issues with him peeing inappropriately (and being aggressive), and it did help.

Cats with urination problems can be helped with a variety of drugs and behavior modification.

But the easiest solution is to keep the bedroom door closed.

Ellen-are you talking about the citrus cleaning stuff or the citrus room deodorizer? Thanks,I will try that.
rivkadr-This cat is a very laid back cat,not high strung or agressive at all. My vet thinks this is totally a behavioral problem,and I don't think drugs are the answer.
Meghane-Keeping the bedroom door closed is not going to solve the problem because that is not the only place she pees,just ONE of the places. I have confined her to the computer room,where her food and litter box are,she pees in inappropriate places there also. The computer room is connected to my bedroom and master bath. I can't confine her to only the computer room for very long periods because her water is in the bathroom sink and she WILL NOT drink from anything else. She has been confined to the bedroom/computer room/bathroom area only and she pees where she isn't suppose to pee! And before anyone asks,there is no other place in my home where she can be confined,so that is not an option. Remember,she only started this a few months ago. Before that I had no problems with her peeing ANYWHERE besides the litter box and she was allowed into other areas of the house before the peeing started. And this isn't just "territorial" spraying,it is full fledged squatting and peeing and soaking into the carpet,bedding and whatever else she decides to pee on! Anyway,this is getting on my last nerve. I put clean linens on my bed yeaterday and even washed the comforter and guess what! Went to bed and she had peed right in the middle of the bed! Thankfully the thick comforter and quilt caught it all and I didn't have to change the WHOLE bed! I'm afraid if things don't change really soon,she will either go outside or somewhere else to live! She has never been outside and I'm sure if she were put out she would go berzerk,so I don't want to do that to her. So there are only 2 other alternatives,
one of which I won't EVEN bring up,and I'm sure someone else is not going to want a problem cat.

My vet thinks this is totally a behavioral problem

That's the point -- the drugs address the behavior problem. Clomicalm is a drug used to address many behavioral issues, one of which is territoral peeing. It (or a drug like it) could also be used to address your cat's inappropriate elimination. You've tried just about everything else with zero result so far -- why completely dismiss drugs as not being the answer? As meghane stated, drugs are commonly used to resolve situations like this.

I would try at least 3 different litter brands in 3 separate boxes, give her with one of the drugs mentioned and confine her to either a bathroom of one of the kitty condos. It should be an area that's easy to clean..........and slightly confining.

I know you feel you've tried all options, but there are still a few left. Drugs 'are' used for behavioral problems............time to call your vet for a prescription.

I feel for you as there is nothing worse than cat pee. I agree you should try drugs to help modify the behaviour. If you are sure nothing has changed in your life to upset her highness, then behaviour has to be changed by chemical means. I have not gone that route yet but would be pulling my hair out if I were you. I have a cat who poops beside the one litter box every day. I know who it is and if I see her I yell at her but she still does it. But that's way easier to deal w/ than what you're experiencing. Good luck.

Maybe she's just extremely fastidious and won't use a box that isn't meticulously clean. Or perhaps something traumatic happened to her while in a litterbox, so now she is avoiding them like the plague. Do you have other household animals or human visitors who may have cornered and frightened her while using the box? It's all too easy for an animal to experience something traumatic without our knowledge (until we start seeing behavioral changes, that is).

Is there any chance that she might have a sore or tender paw or a damaged claw? It's not uncommon for declawed cats to avoid using a litterbox if their feet are tender post-operatively (sadly, such tenderness can become permanent in some declawed cats). It stands to reason that even cats with claws might avoid using the litterbox if one or more of their feet hurt. It can't be comfortable scratching around in gritty litter with sore feet.

Try what annz suggested - use different types of litter in different boxes. You might even try sawdust or shredded paper in one in case your cat needs a soft texture. She might even have a preference in terms of an open or covered box, so try both. There might be odors imbedded in your current litterbox that she finds repellent, so buy her a new one.

There is a product on the market called Cat Attract Litter Additive that might lure her back to the litterbox. You can read about it at the link below.

Laurie

Here is a link that might be useful: Cat Attract Litter Additive

My cat was doing the same thing. After trying to medicate her for infections I had her tested for stones. We discovered that her urine wasn't acid enough to disolve calcium and she had tiny crystals in her urine. The vet changed her food to Prescription diet w/d and we have been pee free since march!!! :o) It's such a relief to stop worrying about where she could have pee'd when we weren't watching. The food isn't cheap but if you measure it out in the appropriate quantities a 2 kilo bag will last about a month. It is SO worth the money.

Good luck!!

Karen

Laurie-Her litter box is in my computer/craft room and there is hardly ever anyone in here but me. I don't see anything happening here that could have been traumatic while she used the litterbox,or at any other time for that matter. She is basically alone in here when she might be using the box,and her litter is always very clean. I clean it at least once a day,sometimes more if she has made a really stinky deposit. She has not been declawed,(I would never do that to a cat anyway) and there is nothing wrong with her paws. I have tried several different brands of litter and she never objected to any of them. I have also been trying Annz suggestion,to no avail. She won't use any of them,just goes back to her old box,to poop. I think if it was the litter she objected to she wouldn't be using it at all,and she does poop in the litterbox. I opted for Tidy Cats because I like it best as far as clumping,ease of cleaning and less tracking. She prefers the covered box. I tried both when I first got her and she used the covered one more,so that is what we ended up with. Her box is clean,as I scrub it every few days when I change the litter,just as I have always done. Nothing has changed in that respect. I have heard about the Cat Attract litter and plan to get some next weekend.I have to drive to another town 40 miles away to get it. However,from what I read about the product it is for attracting the cat back to the litterbox so I don't know that it will help. She knows WHERE the litterbox is,just doesn't PEE in it!LOL It is however worth a try. She is a lively,healthy cat and the inappropriate peeing is the only quirk she has! There are no other animals in the house and during the day,only me. DH is home for an hour at noon and from 5 in the afternoon till he goes to work at 7 AM. My DD lives here but moved in more than a year ago,long before this behavior began. My other children and grandchildren come in often but she loves all of them and is familiar with all of them and has been around all of them all of her life.
Karen-She has had the testing done for the crystals and stones,all negative. I feed her a food recommended by my Vet and she has been on it and done well since she was a kitten.
Ellen-I found a citrus odor eliminator spray at Wal-Mart today and have been spraying everything! Hopefully that will be the magic bullet. Keep your fingers crossed!LOL I took a small load of washcloths out of the dryer today as we were about to leave for Wal-Mart and rolled them up in a towel because I didn't have time to fold them and put them away. Thought about putting them on the bed then decided to lay them on the counter in the bathroom,thinking she might decide to pee on them if they were on the bed,but maybe not so likely to on the counter. Well,came home and she had peed on them! So I guess it doesn't matter to her if they are on the bed or somewhere else.LOL I'm telling ya,I'm about to loose my mind,or at least what little of it I have left!
I really appreciate all the suggestions and I haven't completely given up,YET!.........Lillie

Lillie: My understanding is they hate the smell of citrus, so anything that smells really strong of orange should work. I had one of those orange cleaning sprays, we ran out (thanks to my son!), so my DD went out and bought a Lysol brand of spray cleaner that is orange scented. Both cats have gone back to using the litter box. Good luck! - Ellen

The citrus smell is very unappealing to cats. Reading your posts above, it sounds like your cat likes to pee on fabric rather than what's in the litter box. I would suggest extensive citrus spraying, washing, etc or laying down aluminum foil where you don't want peeing and a second litter box with folded towels or what you think she prefers to see if she will use that to pee in. Thank goodness that's not my problem. My cat thinks I'm another cat!

I hope you figure out a way to stop her from doing this, you certainly have more patience than I would!
is there any citrus based laundry detergent or fabric softner or frebreze out there?
I really, really feel for you. we had a dog that did pee on my bedroom floor for awhile, and I hated that! I cannot even imagine crawling into bed and running into that!!!

My cats used to pee on the aluminum foil!

"My cats used to pee on the aluminum foil!"
Funny you should mention that!LOL
When my cat first started peeing on my bed I cut a huge clear trash bag down the side and end,unfolded it and laid it across my bed on top of the comforter after I made the bed every morning. It covered almost all of the bed from the pillows down. I thought it was doing the job untill one night I pulled it off to go to bed and here was this puddle of pee in the middle of it!
I thought the citrus spray was working until I went to bed last night and could smell cat pee. I pulled back all the covers because the comforter on top wasn't wet,and guess what? She had crawled UNDER the comforter and peed on the bed! This is the last straw. I'm finding a barn home for her this weekend. I know someone who is interested in some of my outside "strays" and she will get this one too.
Believe me Saphire,I know what you are going through! I can only imagine dealing with that and five kids to boot.

Good luck with your kittie Saphire.........Lillie

Lillie -- I'm so sorry you couldn't get to the bottom of your cat's behavior. And I understand your decision -- no one can live in a litterbox.

At one point, my male cat began to urinate on everything. I lived in an efficiency apartment, and there wasn't anyway to get away from the smell. We looked for medical, chemical, behavioral problems and finally came to the conclusion that he had developed a sudden aversion to my boyfriend of three years. They had a weekend together to sort out dominance issues (which luckily worked!) but the boyfriend told me later that had it been his cat, it would have been shipped off a long time before.

Sorry you couldn't figure out what's up with the cat; but I'm glad you have a place for it to go.

Are you anywhere near Long Island, would they take Nicky too! LOL

LOL....No,I'm in West TX! That would be an awfully long trip for Nicky.LOL

I hope the barn you find for her includes someone one who feeds her regularly.

Elly-I will be sure that she will be given to someone who will feed her. Why would you even think that would not be the case? This is the reason she hasn't already been take to the barn. I haven't been able to contact the woman that wants the cats for her barn to talk to her personally. I want to know exactly what the conditions will be for the cat before I take her and just dump her out. I am not totally irresponsible! Thank you for your concern.......Lillie

I belong to several cat lists and one thing that comes to mind re your bedding, laundry, etc. is that many cats will react to fabric softener and laundry detergent odors. There is something in there that makes them want to mark over it. Try washing with fragrance free detergent and use vinegar as your fabric softener in the final rinse cycle and see if that helps.

Also, instead of making that long trip to buy the special cat attract litter you can try throwing a handful of plain potting soil or garden dirt (Not chemically treated with pesticides or fertilizer) on top of the litter. It's basically the scent of the dirt that will attract them.

Do you have any stray cats hanging around your house? Often just the sight of them can start an indoor cat urinating in the house. Even worse if the stray is marking outside near the house.

Michele

Michele-Thanks for the idea but I already use fragrance free detergent,no fabric softener or dryer sheets because I am alergic to that stuff. Makes me itch like crazy! LOL
I will try the potting soil although I really don't think that is the solution. She poops in the litter box so I'm inclined to think the litter doesn't have anything to do with it. Looks like if it was the litter she wouldn't use it at all??
I do have cats outside but they have been here for a long time,long before this started,so I don't think that is the problem.Thanks.......Lillie

I know you have a lot of suggestions on this problem. Ive read the three most common reasons why cats STOP using the litter box are illness, stress, and unsprayed females will mark territory almost like males.

If she is spayed and you are 100% sure she is not ill or uncomfortable, it must be stress. Experts write volumes and conduct tests on cat stressÂthey are very prone to it. A sudden nose, loud TV, accidentally stepping on a cat foot, a scolding from owners for an unrelated reason, a dog or other cat Oddly almost any reason can cause a cat to associate stress with the litter box.

They suggest litter box location is very important. Some cats want several escape routes from an litter box area. Never scold, hit or throw water on a catÂit can backfire. Cover critical things like furniture, carpets and beds with plastic or aluminum (visqueen, paper grocery sacks, aluminum foil). This is temporary. Cats will avoid areas covered in these materials and save you the stress of buying a new mattress or carpet. Try one of those new pheromone plug-ins. Spend a lot of time holding, petting, playing with the cat just in case you are the one stressing her. Experts suggest your own stress can transmit to the cat and frighten her. Obviously keep her out of the bedroom for the time being. Do not leave clothes, towels, pillows on the floor. Google cats, litter box, problems, etc. and read some thought and remedies from others.

I'm so sorry, I meant unspayed females of course. Duh, note to self, proof read.

Posted by turtle_haven_farm (My Page) on Mon, Oct 23, 06 at 9:31
Lillie: My understanding is they hate the smell of citrus, so anything that smells really strong of orange should work. I had one of those orange cleaning sprays, we ran out (thanks to my son!), so my DD went out and bought a Lysol brand of spray cleaner that is orange scented. Both cats have gone back to using the litter box. Good luck! - Ellen

I know this is an old thread, but I thought worth bringing it back up: Lysol contains phenols that can be absorbed through their paws. It is toxic to cats.