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We adopted a brother and sister cat about 2 weeks ago, they are about 3 1/2 months old. We were told they used the litter box and seemed to be using it until my daughter said one of them peed on her comforter. We thought it was a one time thing. Then the next night, again with the pee, we also found out that we believe the boy has been peeing on our couch downstairs. We do use a different litter, the crystal kind, so we went and got Tidy cat thinking it was the litter. This morning my daughters friend told me the girl peed on the couch right in front of her!
I'm at a loss. I cleaned the couch, dumped a whole bottle of Odor Ban on it and now I smelled the other couch has pee on it. We do have other cats in the house and a couple of dogs, but we have been careful to introduce them slowly and allow them an area to go to to be alone.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I really don't want to have to bring them back to the rescue.
1) Take them to the vet. Inappropriate urination is usually related to a health issue. If they are not neutered or spayed this may be part of the issue.
2) If you have TWO cats, you should have THREE litterboxes, they must be located in an area which doesn't get a lot of foot traffic, and they must be kept scrupulously clean. The 2nd most common cause of inappropriate urination is dirty/poorly located and/or insufficient litter boxes.
3) Watch your family members' behavior with the cats. Inappropriate urination is also a reaction to scary or aggressive behavior by other cats, other pets, or humans.
Your kittens are stressed beyond belief. They should have been be in a sanctuary room by themselves for at least the first 2 weeks or so of your taking them home. Then very gradually introduced to the others in the household. Instead they have been tossed into what is chaos for cats.
Multiple new people, other cats, dogs( !!!) too much space, They are overwhelmed and you're seeing the result of that. The likely problem is that they are afraid to get to their litter box.
If you can, set up a room for them to be by themselves. It can be a room used by people but needs to be a room where other animals don't go. A room with a door. Give them their own litter box. Put food and water on the other side of the room. Give them plenty of toys. Then close the door and let them be for a couple of weeks. People can visit and play and handle them for short periods of time. All handling and playing must be gentle. They should go back to using their litter box. They need time to de-stess.
In a couple of weeks, gradually introduce one adult cat at a time to them. Let just one cat visit them for a short period of time each day. Several days later, have another cat to do the same. Make sure the cats are all getting along. Keep the dogs away. When you are certain that the cats are peaceful with each other, then open the door and let the kittens into the rest of the house. Keep that sanctuary room set up. The kittens will retreat there when they feel they need to.
For a couple of more weeks after you let the kittens loose, use baby gates to keep the dogs away from the kittens. Slowly introduce the dogs, one at a time to the kittens. Not until the the kittens seem totally relaxed around the dogs do you take down the baby gates.
I'd suggest multiple litter boxes around the house. The rule of thumb is one box per cat, plus one extra.
The boxes need to be away from each other. Two boxes next next to each other is one box to a cat. The kittens need to be able to to get a litterbox without having to go around other pets. They have to be able to find a litterbox that is in their mind, safe, where other cats aren't going to chase them away.
I know this is a lot to do and it's a pain in the butt. However, you're seeing what happens when you don't. What you don't want to do is try and keep doing what you're doing. Your home will soon be a giant litterbox as once a cat starts peeing all over the place the scent encourages it to do it again and may cause the others to do the same. In the long run it's easier to prevent this problem than to try to remedy it.
PS- one more thought. If the kittens were not altered when you got them, try to get it done when they are four months old. Cats can mature quickly and hormones increase the likelihood of urinating all over the place to announce sexual maturity in males or females. Good luck
601-Thank you for your suggestions. They are both fixed. I will get another litter box to see if this is the problem and will also see if they just don't like anything in their box so I will clean it a couple of times a day. I have had cats all my life and I have never had this problem, so this is new to me.
I will also make an appointment with our vet to have them checked out again to make sure this isn't a medical issue.
Willow-We did not throw them into the chaos. They were in a quite secluded room for about a week, this was the usual time with the other cats I have had. Then we slowly introduced them to our downstairs family room only, no other animals there. This is when I noticed poop on the couch one morning right after they were let out of their room. I have ALWAYS given them a room to go to for solitude and quite away from any noise, so this is not the problem. I have gone back to having them in the room and letting them out, supervised by me, for short periods of time, then back in the room they go.
During the day it is just me in the house. We have only one child in the house and 11 year old girl and the other animals don't go downstairs.
I have talked with my daughter and let her know that we will try the clean the litter box morning and night to see if they just don't like a dirty box, but if this continues we will have to bring them back to their foster home.
I have spoken to the foster lady and she said she didn't have any issues with them and she had multiple cats in the house and I have followed all of her suggestions to no avail.
Are the sofas located next to windows? Could there be a cat or animal, outside or inside who is threatening them?
Marking a lot in the same place is usually an attempt to show that this is "their" place. One solution I have seen people use is taking the kitties outside on a leash so that they can get the scent of the other cats who are around and mark outside too.
If this is a kitty in the home who is making them insecure, try playing with all of them regularly before feeding them.
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