How to stop your cat from peeing in the house (without moving cross country)

Hi, I’m Dr. Karyn, read my bio to learn more about me and meet my five delightful cats: Clutch, Cyril, Alex, Zelda and Zazzles.

I grew up in Queensland, Australia and then lived in Alice Springs, Northern Territory for a few years before moving to the UK. Before I had the five cats that live with me now, I had two adorable female tabby cats called Gilbert and Sullivan.

Gilbert came first, and two years later Sally joined us. They weren’t as friendly as I’d hoped, but they seemed to get along well, sharing space on my bed and playing on various perches in the cat tree. After about a year, though, Sally started urinating in places other than the litter box, and I began to suspect something was wrong.

Sally’s Urinary Problems

Shopping bags, handbags and shoes were her favourites and were embarrassing, especially if they belonged to guests. There were occasional incidents in my bed, but the worst was when she peed into the steam mop. Cat urine steam is an unforgettable experience. My dad claimed the most unfortunate urination situation was in a fruit bowl. rear He served his breakfast cereal with sliced ​​bananas – at least it was a fruit that he completely peeled before eating!

If you’ve ever had to deal with your cat’s inappropriate urination, you may be familiar with some of the tips, tricks and techniques we’ve used to deal with urination issues.

• Urine testing to rule out inflammation, infection, and crystals
• Keep Calm with Pheromone Diffusers and Sprays
• Install a different type of toilet in a different location to the three toilets already installed
• Cleaning soiled surfaces with an enzymatic cleaner specifically designed for this purpose

Some of these methods worked for a while, but eventually the urination would return. From the places she would urinate, I realized it was territorial behavior, with her choosing vertical surfaces, my bed, and objects that regularly entered and left the house. The problem was clear: despite appearances, Sally felt threatened by Gilbert and was using passive-aggressive tactics to improve her position in the house.

Sally’s Persistent Urinary problems

Unfortunately, even after realizing this was a problem, we didn’t find a solution, but we did discover that even cats who seem to get along can have some pretty intense friction.

This was a constant problem for my family and me until we moved to Alice Springs with Gilbert and Sally. I stocked our new home with pheromone diffusers and sprays, and installed litter boxes in several locations so the cats had plenty of options. When I first let the cats out of their travel cages, they huddled behind the litter box for the first 48 hours, barely moving an inch. Then they began to bravely explore their new home, including our newly installed outdoor catio.

And guess what? We never had a single territorial pee while we lived in the Red Centre, all the urination was contained within the box and we never had to buy any urine cleaner again.

Lessons learned from Sally’s bladder problems

So what has changed?

Well, I have a theory.

When Sally came into our home in Queensland, Gilbert had already been there for several years and was comfortably settled in his established territory, so Sally was using her pheromone defense system. When we moved to Alice Springs, they came into the home as equals and shared the trauma of the move and new territory.

So does that mean you need to move to stop your cat from marking its territory? Probably not! It’s not a particularly economical solution! But a friend of mine employed a variation of this method when she had the same problem with her cats. Like Sally, one of her cats would come into the house later than the others and begin urinating on different objects and places. After trying every other method, she took my advice and placed her three cats in a cat facility for a week. While the cats were away, she thoroughly cleaned the house, furniture, bedding and clothes, and used a UV lamp to check for any traces of pee.

Amazingly, when all three cats came home together, the territorial urination stopped.

It may seem like an extreme way to deal with this problem, but once you have addressed inappropriate urination in a multi-cat household and considered all possible causes and solutions, leaving it for a week may be just what you need to get rid of the cat pee smell, so it’s worth at least trying.