My sister just moved in this house with her beautiful long haired cat, Buddy. Buddy poops and pees in his litter box sometimes, and poops and pees in various other areas of the house (and furniture) other times. I keep the litter box cleaned out a couple times a day to no avail. Any suggestions for this smelly, nasty problem?
By Robyn Wae Hunter from Virginia Beach, VA
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My cat was peeing outside her box a couple months ago. I took her to the vet to make sure she didn't have a UTI or some other medical issue (she was OK) and bought something called Feliway. It's like a plug-in that gives off cat pheromones. You plug it in the room where the litter box is and the pheromones make the cat more likely to use the appropriate place. Humans can't smell it at all and although it doesn't work instantly it should help over time. You can buy them at Petsmart or other pet stores. Hope this helps!
Hi suzyq82. Not sure if this will help. My cat Moon will cry if her cat box is used too much. I have two cats. I went to the clump litter. I love it there is hardly any smell. I bought a plastic bin that is about two feet high, and I keep it almost half full. Each day when I empty it I add more fresh litter, it also keeps the litter in the box. There is no ammonia smell with clump litter. I also add a box of baking soda, every now and than.
I have several ideas. You should have at least two litter boxes if you have one cat. The minimum is one more than he total # of cats that is recommended. We have one cat that liked to poop outside the box and we but cardboard allover the end of the hallway where he went and put out the proper # of litter boxes, we currently have 12 cats, we have 7 and 5 are foster cats. By putting the cardboard down where whiskers kept pooping it covered the scent that keeps drawing him to it again, we put a litter box right where he pooped last. Also I have found that scoop away multiples is the best odor control litter there is. The only drawback is there is a lot of dust in that litter, but it is a trade off, would rather have dust and no smell. It smells when they first go, just like a person using the bathroom, then the smell goes away and the litter controls the smell.
You may want to try changing your litter brand,your cat may not be comfortable with that brand, smell, texture etc. You may have to try several. Whiskers likes the throw away litter trays that already have litter in them so we put that down right where he messed out of the litter. It has cut down how many times he potty's out o the box. I can't tell you which idea worked, we implemented them all at the same time. We changed to the arm and hammer double duty litter that supposedly hid the poop smell. The litter smelled horrific, the poop smelled better than the odor of the litter we switched back to scoop away. I don't even buy the others anymore, used to to take advantage of coupons but none compared to the scoop away, and no I don't work for them LOL.
I have just found through trial and error it is the best one out there. You cannot smell cats when you walk in my house unless one just went, for 12 cats that says something. Of course we do clean them at least 4 times per day. We put a very low box outside the litter box so the paws hit that first and it helps cut down on the litter being tracked over house. If a cat comes out with dirty paws though I just use a baby wipe and wash them off, sometimes we have to wipe their bottom if it was very soft. A quick swipe is easier than having to wash the blankets on the bed where as soon as they sat down there they would leave a stain.
Who ever lived in the house before you, most likely had a cat that either missed it's litter box or sprayed and even possibly both. I had the same exact problem with our cat Webster and I tried everything but in the end we ended up tearing out all the carpeting and locking him out of the office. There was one particular corner that he sprayed and urinated on any chance he got.
I spent a few days researching different websites and learned that cat urine is one of the hardest things to get rid of. Tearing up the carpet helped a lot, it got to the point neither my husband or I could go in there and it made the hallway smell too.
One website said to put down a bowl of vinegar and it would absorb the smell and I was happily surprised
that it worked. I discovered there are a lot of advertised products to clean cat urine and there's one called zerooderpet.com that I've actually heard from friends who use and swear by it.
Also when we first moved I kept Webster and Squirt in the one room where the litter box would be permanently and when it didn't work with Webster, I put another box in the bathroom and kept him in there a couple of days and that still didn't work. I finally put him and another litter box in the largest dog crate we have (It holds a Great Dane) and the smaller the area I gave him, it finally started to sink in.
He also is one of those cats that stands on the edge of the box and pees on the wall, I emptied one of Rubbermaid Storage containers I use for Christmas decorations, cut a hole in the side and that is now the litter box they use.
I just remembered something important that we just went through! Webster started peeing in the kitchen in the same spot for a week and I just didn't get it, I clean their box twice a day because it's in my office and I thought the Rubbermaid that I was using was too large so I got a smaller one. Well when it was all done and over, Webster didn't like the smaller box and when I put his big one back he quit peeing in the kitchen.
I should have taken a picture of it to share with you instead of posting an actual picture of Webster.
Anyway, I hope by now your kitty is happier with less accidents.
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What can I do to stop my cat who once in a while pees on stuff? The smell is so hard to get rid of. The sprays don't really work. We now have to close all our rooms because if he isn't being watched he might just pee on something else! Help what can I do?
By mcastel from Orange, CA
Has your cat been fixed? That could help a little bit. Is it still using it's litter box the days that it urinates on you're stuff? Your cat could possibly be doing it out of spite. Has anything new been going on in the household that could possibly be making the cat upset?
Be sure and have the cat checked for a urinary tract infection. This is a major cause of this behavior. It is also very painful for the cat. Other wise spaying or neutering is a good idea. It often helps. A product called Comfort Zone with feliway is good for stopping this behavior.
