Inappropriate urination in cats can be so frustrating for guardians. Our home and belongings become soaked in urine and the smell is unbelievable. Of course our first reaction being that of upset is natural, it feels like a slight against us. But let's look at why it happens.
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| Not our kitty, but she made us laugh so we shared. |
First and foremost, take your little one to the vet. Trust, a visit to the vet now is a lot less expensive and painful than a visit when it gets worse. Also, crystals and urinary blockages can be fatal. Do not pass go, do not collect $200 (although that might help with the vet bill), just get to the vet. The most common reason for urination that we have experienced here is urinary crystals, urinary tract infection, and in one case, renal failure (our amazing vet was able to fix her up, thankfully!). Another issue that can arise is if the cat has been declawed (please don't do this, it's so barbaric). The pain experienced on the tips of those little toes can be further exacerbated by rough litter. For that, you'll want to try the softest litter you can find. For that we recommend ökocat litter and a perusal through the website for City the Kitty.
If you've ruled out any mechanical concerns at the vet, now it's time to look at the next culprit; behaviour. Now, a lot of people believe that cats will urinate inappropriately because of some vendetta. Let's put a stop to this right now; unlike people, animals are incapable of malice. Period. They do not plan to upset us, they do not punish us, they do not piss because they are upset they got in trouble and they want to exact revenge. Yes, we do need to anthropomorphise animals to an extent because we don't understand much about them and it keeps us attached to them, but this is a thing that can go too far. Not anthropomorphising them at all will keep us too detached, but anthropomorphising them too much makes us get a little more fussy than we ought to be. Strike a balance. ANYWAY. Let's get on to how to suss out why kitty is peeing where she shouldn't.
1. Look at where it's happening. Is it by windows and doors? Look around and see if there are neighbourhood cats hanging out in your yard or worse, marking by entrances to your home. You might have to look pretty hard for that, or even use a black light at night to determine if that's the case. If it is, use the detergent I'll leave the recipe for at the bottom of this post to eliminate the urine and set out deterrents to keep cats out of your yard. We have used coyote piss, bear piss, wolf piss, and cougar piss to keep cats off of our property with pretty good success, but you have to acquire it during hunting season and I won't lie, it stinks. You'll want to spray it around the perimeter of your yard so the smell doesn't get in the house, and I strongly recommend wearing disposable gloves when you handle it. You'll need to renew it every once in a while or if it rains. If you can't get ahold of predator piss, try a motion activated sprinkler. Place it where your mail carrier won't get hit with it of course, but you could put it close to the side of the house near the windows. We've had success with this for keeping cats out of our garden.
2. Is it where another cat has peed in your home? Think hard, you may have forgotten about the habit of a cat who used to live with you. Or maybe, a cat who lived with the people who were in your home before you moved in. You can determine this using a black light. You might need to pull the carpet up a little to see the underlay or subfloor in order to determine just how much work it will take to eliminate the hot spot. Again, there will be a recipe for what we use.
3. Has something changed in the home? Some cats can be kind of neurotic about stuff. New people, new or rearranged furniture, a new cat, sometimes even a new deodorant or scent can trigger upset in cats. (And honestly dear reader, a lot of perfumes make your author here want to misbehave too, so can you imagine having a sense of smell as acute as a cat's?) Check out any changes that have happened in the house. With us having just gone through a major worldwide event, a lot of people were home all day and now that many are returning to work, some of our animal companions will not know how to react to this. If you suspect it may be an anxiety response, we recommend trying a small shirt (we use size small and medium dog shirts, depending on the size of the cat) to help your kitty feel a little more secure. The Thunder Shirt is a well known tool for this, but sometimes people may find that cost prohibitive or heavy for their needs, so we do like to start with the simple shirt. Calming treats and CBD (please be mindful of dosage and do NOT administer THC to your cat) can be very helpful in this situation as well. Please avoid using essential oils without first looking into which ones can be safely used and how. We don't recommend following the advice of those selling the oils because a lot of the time they're misinformed and can sell you something which can cause toxicity. We have a short blurb with a link to the CVMA (click the pic on the article) article about oils. Sometimes you might have to go as far as using an anti-anxiety medication prescribed by your veterinarian.
4. This one is obvious, but is the litter box clean? Are there enough boxes? There should be 1 box per kitty plus one. So if you were like me and had 10 cats (listen, the kids moved out okay? Don't judge!) you would need at least 11 boxes. We have 13 and still sometimes have pissing incidents. If you have 2 cats, have 3 boxes, 3 cats means 4 boxes and so on. Also, does your cat like the litter? Is it too coarse? Is it perfumed? Please don't use perfumed litters, they're awful for their little lungs.
The thing to remember is that inappropriate elimination is almost always a cat's way of telling you something is wrong in their world. Something hurts, they're confused, stressed or anxious. They aren't being malicious or bratty, your kitty still loves you. They just really need you to figure out what it is and help them solve it. Best of luck, and try to remember, scolding or punishing a cat for this doesn't teach them a lesson, it teaches them not to trust you.
