<p>My cat will be five years old at the end of this month. She is a short hair white cat with yellow/green eyes (not a blue-eyed deaf one). She is the most affectionate cat I have ever encountered and convinces every visitor to my home, from the UPS guy to the in-laws, that they are her favorite person. She loves to be carried around the house and actually hugs her holder around the neck. When not being carried she follows me around and keeps me company. She would happily be mauled by young children and would be a great companion for an elderly person.</p>
<p>Here’s the rub: I have two other cats and the white one is the alpha; she pees on the carpet in a a particular spot, we think to assert her position as top cat. We have tried everything to get her to stop: three litter boxes (kept clean), put food in the spot (she pees nearby), aluminum foil in the spot (pees nearby), pheromone diffuser, you name it, she still pees. She needs to be the only cat in the house so she doesn’t need to claim her supremacy–no guarantees, of course, but that’s the theory.</p>
<p>I spent nearly $800 to have my carpets cleaned yesterday and she has peed in the spot twice already! Please believe me when I tell you I love cats dearly and I don’t want to let her go, but I am selling my house and moving and I will not put up with it in another house and won’t be able to sell if I put up with it any longer in this house. There was a time when it would have broken my heart, and maybe it will after the fact, but, frankly, she is no longer loved here and she is such a sweetheart she deserves to be loved.</p>
<p>If anyone is willing to take a chance on her, I will do my best to get her to you anywhere from northern Ohio or Indiana to the greater Chicago area or anywhere in lower Michigan.</p>
<p>Probably a dumb question, but have you had the cat checked out by a vet to rule out health issues? </p>
<p>I had to go through this when my cat began spraying inside our rental house after my first daughter was born. I can understand where you’re coming from. There’s only so much of that you can take.</p>
<p>I wish I could help out, but we already have 3 pets in our little zoo…</p>
<p>She sounds wonderful - I would love to have an affectionate cat, but we already have a very dominant male who is incredibly entertaining, but who is not the cuddly type. I thought only males sprayed to mark their territory. Are your other cats male or female?</p>
<p>Have you talked with a vet with an animal behavior background? It sounds as if this cat is very attached to you and your family and it would be very, very sad if she had to be separated from you because of a single behavior that could conceivably be addressed by someone who understood how to change cat behavior.</p>
<p>It breaks my heart too. I contacted a local animal saving group and they will take her and keep her in a volunteer’s basement cat room and find an adoptive family for her. I just don’t know if I can do it. I cried when I read their email. The response was so swift and decisive it shook me. I guess I’ve calmed down some since this morning’s discovery too.</p>
<p>My other cats are also female. I read that only 5% of females do this. She IS a rare one!</p>
<p>I had her checked out for medical issue some time ago, but I haven’t seen any kind of cat behaviorist. I can maybe find one in my new area, but not here in Podunk I don’t think.</p>
<p>I just went off investigating on the internet (again) and found a veterinary website that talks about two possibilities I’ve not addressed before. She may be marking in response to a visit from an outdoor cat. The spot is near a sliding patio door in the walkout basement. I guess I can try taping paper over the bottom of the glass doors. Vets have also had some success with treating cats who mark like this with anti-anxiety medication. I’ll look into that too.</p>
<p>The good news is we got a good offer on the house today (after less than a week on the market!) and I suppose I can undo any more damage before we close, so she gets a reprieve. I just haven’t got the heart to get rid of her now that I actually can.</p>
<p>My white kitten peed on our bed - right in the middle of my H’s beloved king-sized Tempurpedic :eek: - every time she would sneak into our bedroom. She is pure white with greenish eyes, just like your kitty, and is absolutely fearless. I think she was also trying to establish her dominance by doing this. Luckily for us, we kept her out of the bedroom, and she forgot about her nasty habit.</p>
<p>I discovered that Oxiclean solution in water took care of the urine and the smell better than any other cleaner, so give it a shot. Pets are part of the family, and once in a while they drive us nuts, just like some family members do. Hugs and good luck.</p>
<p>Schmoo – So happy about the offer on the house, but mostly happy that you’re thinking about keeping kitty!!! Given that you’re spending vast sums on carpet cleaning, I wonder if, if kitty maintains the habit in a particular place in the new house, you can go with a hard surface floor that could be easily cleaned for that room. And of course, the animal behaviorist, especially if the new house is anywhere near a veterinary college. (Also, your state’s vet college might be able to make a referral to a cat psych person in your area.) Good luck with this. Your cat sounds like a love…apart from this one habit.</p>
<p>What are you cleaning the “pee spots” with? If you use products with ammonia, it will still smell “peeish” to the cat (because pee has ammonia in it) and the cat will be more inclined to pee again on the same spot. I recommend the enzyme based cleaner Nature’s Miracle. It’s amazing!</p>
<p>Have you tried changing kitty litter brands? </p>
<p>How long has the cat been doing this? All five years, or has it started more recently? How long have the other cats been around? Did the problem start when the other cats came on the scene?</p>
<p>It sounds like you’ve already had her checked for a URI?</p>
<p>If you need to rehome her, there’s a non-profit trucker group that transports pets across the country for a VERY low fee ($25 or something like that.) Just google “Operation Roger.” (You’ll still have to locate potential adopters yourself, of course.)</p>
<p>I would also make one more effort to change her litter box habits. The scent of prior accidents is probably adding to her confusion, so everything needs a good scrubbing. Can you remove the carpet where she has urinated? It’s almost impossible to thoroughly remove the urine scent by cleaning carpeting, because it soaks through to the pad. </p>
<p>Move the box to a new area with a tiled floor. Scrub the area to make sure there are no cat odors anywhere. Try a new brand of litter. I use a brand called “Ever Clean” which is really fantastic. No odor at all. When I initially brought my cat into the house, I mixed one part Ever Clean with one part “Cat Attract” litter, as suggested by a few online articles. My cat immediately started using the box and he’s never had an accident. I gradually stopped using the Cat Attract when it was clear that he knew where to go.</p>
<p>Perhaps you can try using 100% Cat Attract to begin with and see how she does. I purchased both brands of litter at Petco.</p>
<p>Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I’ve tried everything everyone has suggested with the exception of the behaviorist vet, which is a great idea and I probably can check with the state U and find such a vet in the new area.</p>
<p>The feliway was my latest attempt–I read about it on another thread on CC a couple weeks ago. It’s plugged in and operating as of last Saturday.</p>
<p>Gourmetmom, this is not accidental. She is marking, no question. We have replaced the carpet and pad and used a blocking primer on the slab below and removed the nail strips…all to have her begin again! Ughh!!!</p>
<p>Bunsenburner she has done exactly that too!!! We don’t let the cats in our bedroom at all, but of the few times they have gotten in for any length of time we have twice found cat pee just below the pillow on my side of the bed (also on a tempurpedic bed, queen size). With all the house showings we were not able to control shutting the bedroom doors and I was scared to death she’d do it on our brand new Tempurpedic king size. Fortunately the pee never penetrated the bedding into the bed.</p>
<p>The enzymatic cleaners are definitely the best. We are fortunate to have a resident expert on cleaning solutions. Oxygen generally enhances their action I am told.</p>
<p>Okay, cat, I’m gonna put up the paper before you get let out of the unfinished basement!</p>
<p>While you make a decision, you should at least give Boundary a whack. It is a cat repellent. You can spray it on stuff directly or on paper towels, etc. It smells bad but the smell dissipates and the cat still smells it. Boundary takes an area and removes it from the cat’s territory, marking it as “no go.”</p>
<p>She never has been around dogs, but since she’s got territorial issue that could either settle dominance once and for all and make her beta cat or she’d spend all her time peeing everywhere in an effort to establish herself as alpha! For years we thought she was the most submissive of the bunch because she’s so easy-going, but we’ve decided that she’s actually passive aggressive. If another cat is in my lap, she’ll jump up and snuggle into that cat until it leaves–works every time!</p>
<p>I have had intermittent problems with not one ,but two of my neutered males. The first one was from the dominant male and began ( as I have seen on previous posts here ) when a stray male was within view of the windows outside…it was brutal and involved a lot of carpet treatment and products , most of which were worthless…vetrinary visits, tests to rule out underlying conditions…meds ranging from female hormones to kitty anti-depressants.
I think I have bought every pet odor product out there that you can buy…only one works to remove the odor, but didn’t stop him from peeing there again…you have to buy it online , but it works very well and doesn’t just use perfume to mask the odor. It is called SCOE 10X
My other cat who sounds a lot like schmoo’s cat in terms of personality and being a love-bug has been peeing on my bathroom floor…driving me nuts but I am exhausted dealing with it and to be honest would rather deal with the inappropriate behavior on linoleum than on carpet…the whole battle has worn me down and even though I love my cats , I am tiring of this nonsense and trying to figure out why they mark their territory when I am so diligent about cleaning their boxes</p>