i need cat advice!!!!!!!!!!!

one of my ex-neighbors has a cat, Sylvester, a wonderful, loving, spirited cat.

when they lived on my street, sylvester was an indoor/outdoor cat (and I hated that fact) who frequently slept on my porch, and in my topless/doorless jeep (which I didn't mind at all). On a couple of occasions, I 'found' sylvester when they couldn't, one time before they were going out of town and they were very worried about him, I got a bottle of wine for finding him. He had been away from home for several days.

when they were about to move, they said 'if you find him after we move, grab him and call us and we will come and get him' (they moved about five blocks away, crossing one very busy street) two nights ago, he showed up. I got him, put him in my basement (flea does not like cats, and we have family that are allergic), called them and ended up bringing him to them. the dad said 'if this doesn't stop, he's going to the pound' half joking i think. I said 'I think he needs to be an indoor cat'. (smart advice for any cat imo)

he said 'he pees on everything if we don't let him out, clothes, carpet, shoes, the bed, the tables, everything.' sylvester is fixed, so that is not the problem. dad says this started after sylvester got in a fight with a stray and got 'his ass kicked'. I know this fight ended with sylvester going to the vet and getting stitches and antibiotics for an infection. That was about six months ago.

the advice I need: how do you get a fixed male cat to stop peeing on everything and be content with an indoor life?

Sylvester is going to get run over when he crosses the busy street eventually, and he obviously loves his old turf, because he is back tonight. I am scared for him getting run over, and getting sent to the pound if they continue to have a problem with the pee.

HELP!

problems or UTI, by taking him to a vet. Usually, when cat pees everywhere, that means he has some sort of urinary problem.

thanks!

Neutered Male Peeing in House-
Your not alone...this is a common problem with male cats. First, it is important to know that male neutered cats are susceptible to Urinary Tract
Blockages that can be life threatening. Any change in bathroom habits can
be a symptom of a medical problem. If he seems lethargic, has a loss of
appetite, has trouble urinating or has blood in his urine, take him to your
veterinarian immediately.

Since you said that he goes outside, I am assuming that he does not use a
litter box. Have you tried litter boxes in the house? Even male neutered
cats are capable of spraying. Is it possible that he is spraying to mark
his territory? If so this is a different problem altogether, probably
related to have a multi-cat household. Below are some tips on how to
correct this behavior.

1. Get two or more cat boxes until retrained. Place the litter boxes in
areas that he uses frequently. Give him a course on litter box etiquette.
Try catching him in the act and sternly telling him no while showing him the
correct place to go potty. Most cats will instinctively go in a litter box
with little or no training.

2. Be sure to completely remove any smells to prevent return visits. You
can also try double sided sticky tape in popular spots to deter him.

3. Has anything changed in your household recently such as; a new addition,
a move, a loss, etc.? Stress can cause behavioral changes. Try giving him
as much attention as you can and reassuring him.

http://www.planeturine.com/catpethappy.html (lots of different info on urination problems).

great advice!

except my cat is about a year old and has never been outdoors.

He insists on peeing in a corner of the bathroom-- NOT in the litter box on the other side of the same room!

Now we put waxed paper and newspaper in the spot, and he usually does his business there-- but occasionally chooses another area of the room-- or the kitchen, bathtub, etc.

No physical problems, and he is one of 3 neutered male cats.

He's lucky he is sweet and gorgeous, or I'm not sure what would become of him!

My cat had cystitis, which is similar to cystitis in humans. It's diagnosed by symptoms mostly.
He was also peeing all over the house, but now has improved a lot since being put on special food for cats with urinary problems. Cats could have crystals, bladder stones, etc. It takes a lot of tests to rule out medical problems, and even then, as I understand it, cystitis might just manifests itself as cat peeing all over the house and having blood in his urine, without vet being able to detect anything else.

If he learned to spray early on (as in being neutered after he reached maturity), it is almost impossible to get him to stop.

I had a female once that sprayed. I had to give her to someone for a barn cat.

Our male doesn't spray, so we're pretty lucky. One of our females started going on the sofa, though, and we discovered (after ruling out illness) that she didn't like the litter we were using. She had a bad bout of diarrhea when she developed IBD ... that's when it all started. We changed to a new litter two weeks ago and she hasn't had an accident since then.

If there's nothing wrong with Sylvester, they might want to confine him in a room (like in a bathroom) with a litter box and a bed (and water, of course). He probably won't go in his own bed. From what I've heard, it is pretty tricky getting them to stop spraying once they've started, but it's worth a try.

I believe that's the name, it keeps cats from spraying or marking. They should be able to get it from a pet supply store or vet. I've heard it works very well.

Cleaning stuff that uses citrus oil repels my cat like nothing else. Ditto for when you get it all over your hands after peeling an orange. One sniff and she heads for the hills.

As for transitioning a male cat to indoor life, I've yet to see it accomplished without serious psychological damage to the cat, and if you don't drive the cat crazy, he'll drive you crazy with his howling. In my experience, female cats are more content to stay in the house (although ours sneaks out on rare occasion when the weather's especially nice).

This is a synthetic cat pheromone, a product developed specifically for eliminating urine spraying behavior in cats. What it does is replicate the pheromone cats excrete when they rub against things, which indicates "this is mine," to the cat. And this is something cats do when they're content. Though it's undetectable to us, it sends a message to the cat. It now comes two ways, spray bottle and diffuser. You spray it on corners of things kitty might choose to pee on, or let the plug-in diffuser dispense it automatically. It also has the effect of calming the cat, which is the reason I got it when I first rescued a very scared kitty from living outdoors, on her own. It's especially useful for a cat placed in a new or changed environment, because of the calming effect, and this is also a likely reason for a cat to spray. They boast a 90-some percent success rate, so it's definitely worth a try. They also have a good help/support line, which I called. Good luck to you with this and thanks for caring so much about Sylvester. He sure has an excellent friend in you...O8)

http://www.catfaeries.com/about_feliway.html

on edit: I just read the previous post, and it reminded me. I got mine at PetsMart, but most pet supply stores should carry it. You can also order it on-line, but you shouldn't need to...:hi:

I knew it feli something.

I got it for my cat for the calming effects, but they boast a 90-some-percent success rate in eliminating cat spraying and they couldn't have been more helpful when I called their support line. I recommend it.:-)

It might only work for spraying-- my cat pees in the wrong places..

came with mine.:shrug:

My friend who is in animal rescue, and has placed two dogs with me, said that the only way to discourage this is to throughly clean the area of cat urine, so the cat can no longer small it. I believe she uses bleach. That would eradicate any smell and replace it, IMO. I'm sorry, but this is my only further suggestion, other than talking with your vet, which I assume you have. Mine is a miracle worker, and I'll try to remember to ask him about this, as well. He has treated both my dogs and cats, but his specialty really is cats and, since he's one of us, I've brought him a couple of tough cat questions, from DU, which he managed to answer. He was pleased to help.:-)

We are really at our wits' end with this adorable and maddening little creature.

Fortunately, he is so pretty (amber eyes, long soft gray hair that is an absolute pleasure to stroke) and so sweet-natured that we can't stay mad at him long.

Next step will be to tile the bathroom, since the wooden floor soaks up the urine and doesn't take well to bleach.

would rather stay with you.

I had a cat that did that. He would pee on shoes that were left out, plastic bags, clothes lying around and a couple of places in corners.. It wasn't a constant thing, just every once in a while. I pretty much had to keep the cat outside. Fortunately he never went anywhere and seemed happy enough outside.

I tried the cat off spray. It worked but smelled so bad I hated to use it in the house.


I put bowls of water where he liked to pee and that seemed to help.

Getting rid of the odor is hard - even with the enzyme sprays. You have to use a black light to check to see if you got it all. For some reason cat pee shows up under a black light.

Unfortunately, some behavior is so ingrained that is is impossible to break. Sylvester may be so locked into peeing where he isn't supposed to that there won't be much alternative but to keep him outside.

Mz Pip
:dem:

...You're sure to get many responses there...

the house." In reality I would recommend at least 1 litter box on each floor of the house. Any cat with peeing issues should also be checked by a vet to make sure there isn't a medical problem.

Just trying to join threads.