Okay, Lilli is really getting on my last nerve. She peed all over in our guest room, so we had the carpet replaced. Then she started peeing in one specific corner of the room. Using a nasty mixture of vinegar and water, I finally got it clean (it took two weeks - I also pulled up the carpet and scrubbed the backside of the carpet and the subfloor, then primed the subfloor with Kilz - ridiculous). Now the guest room is under control and the door is closed.
However, the other night Niles was hogging the bed so I slept in SD's bed. In the middle of the night I rolled over and was like hmmmm..I totally smelled cat pee. I pulled up the carpet in the farthest corner of the room (underneath SD's desk) and sure enough, that monster cat has started peeing in SD's room now. The pee was extremely fresh so DH and I used a razorblade to cut out that section of the (brand new) carpet. I cleaned the subfloor with vinegar and water.
At this point, I am not sure what to do about this. She appears to be very happy - always purring, cuddles with us in the middle of the night, we still allow her to go outside supervised, her appetite is fine....I don't get it. I do know I can't afford to replace the carpet every three months. I guess I can keep the doors to those rooms closed, but what is going to stop her from peeing in our bedroom or on our wood floors?
Any suggestions?
Re: Cat ladies....
our cat used to do that and she had a urinary tract infection. She had no other symptoms but peeing outside of her litterbox. Could that be it?
I never even thought about this....I will have DH make her a vet appt. Thank you.
I don't have any suggestions, but I am in a similar boat. I am terrible at doing laundry, so it tends to pile up. So, about once a weekish, I sort the laundry in our bedroom floor. I noticed that last time I did it, the white towels had yellow stains on them. The first time I didn't think anything of it. Then I noticed that another pile of my clothes had the same spot. ((To clarify, I didn't get down and smell it to see if it was cat pee the first couple of times.)) Apparently, Fisher had been peeing on clothes. So, then I went on a cleaning/smelling spree because I was panicked that she'd been doing it on the carpet and whatnot, but I have yet to find any. And, our house doesn't smell like cat pee. It makes me livid to find she's peed on our clothes, even if they are dirty. So, Every single room in the house is blocked off. She's not allowed anywhere but the open part of the house - even at night.
I do have a question about letting your cat outside though - apparently it works well? Fisher has recently started trying to go out and it bugs me because I'm always afraid she's going to dart out into the street or something even if we're out there. I have been thinking about letting her out back (supervised)... we've got a privacy fence and she's got those kitty cap things on her nails so it's not like she's be able to escape (I don't think)...
Definitely check out the UTI factor. Is this a new thing? Has it coincided with any other events? Dasher coming into the household? New litter?
Extra does this. She is perfectly healthy. It is driving us batty. I finally got it under control in my office, but it's in H's office. We're going to take out the carpet, treat the subfloor with Kilz like you did, and put down laminate, because she doesn't pee on that for some reason.
At least one of them has sprayed the walls, as well. Maybe more. It can be a territorial thing. The vet suggested if it continues or gets so awful that we can't stand it, we could try putting her on kitty Prozac to calm her down, but this is really for territorial issues more than anything.
We bought a UV light back in the summer. It was enlightening. The dog also peed all over the dining room, and all of that carpet has to come out and get replaced with something else. Now we crate her at night and she signals with a tail wagging against the bars that she needs to pee!
Lilli did this in our old house when she was a baby but she stopped. She started doing it in our new to us house almost immediately. I thought it was accidents but when we tore up the carpet we found that she had to have been doing it all.the.time. She was definitely doing this prior to Dasher's arrival. I think it is a territorial thing but have no idea what to do about it. I hate quarantining her from all her favorite rooms in the house but geez Louise, yuck! Our guest room and SD's room finally smell normal.
DH suggested putting wood floors in the guest room and SD's room but damn! We just put new carpet in there!!