Cat marking house - long post
I have two 6 year old cats that I have had since kittens - a male and female. Both fixed and up to date on vet checks, etc. We have multiple places within our home for them - 2 large cat trees, 3 litter boxes, cat beds, toys, etc… They also had free rein of the house.
We’ve had issues with our male cat in the past. He has a naturally anxious personality, can be skittish, and easily stressed. His behavior started to change for the worse after I became pregnant with my first baby, and even after four years of sharing a home with children, he never quite adjusted to being with them. Despite my kids being kind with animals, they can be loud/rambunctious/excitable, and he barely comes out of hiding. He’s genetically predisposed to urethral and bladder issues and the stress seems to onset him developing UTIs and crystals. Knowing this, we have been very keen to any indication he may be sick. We are very quick to take him to the vet to get the care and medication he needs. He is on prescription food and supplements. We have used pheromone diffusers and CBD to help calm him.
I figured after moving into a much larger home, he would be happier with more room and options to find a quiet place when needed. The move was an adjustment as it would be for any human and animal, but everyone settled in fine, except for our male cat, who remained anxious and reclusive. Regardless, I guess he seemed fine for being himself. We’ve been in our home for five months now and about 2 weeks ago he decided he no longer wanted to use any of the litter boxes. He has been pooping on the floor, just out in the open. He also has recently started marking the house, urinating everywhere, on everything.
He hasn’t been acting sick, but the sudden onset of this behavior concerned me so I took him to the vet, and he check out with a clean bill of health - no UTI, no crystals, no inflammation… Vet believes it’s behavioral. The previous homeowners had a lot of animals and despite a deep clean before moving in, he may be reacting to old scents, although it doesn’t quite make sense why he was ‘ok’ for all the months prior. Vet prescribed kitty Zoloft as a mood stabilizer. It hasn’t helped. He continued to pee on everything, mostly targeting our kids’ stuff - clothing, bedding, toys, areas that they usually are in like the playroom. I started shutting doors to keep him out of the kids’ rooms and that seemed to cause him to become more frantic. It’s been a constant lose-lose situation.
My new house smells so incredibly bad, and it’s frankly unsanitary. I have been constantly going through deep cleaning with enzyme cleaners and throwing things out. I resorted to kicking him out into the garage until we can figure out what to do with him. He poops in the litter box out there, but he has been peeing wherever he wants.
Our female is more resilient and adaptable. She’s social, cuddly, tolerates the kids. She’s settled in well no issues, but since I’ve put the male out in the garage, she has stopped using the litter boxes too. It’s been two days and there is nothing in them, so I’m fearing she is now starting to go throughout the house too.
Would him marking teach her it’s ok to pee here and there as well?
I’ve grew up with animals, had cats before and never had issues with them. I also never rehomed a pet before, but I’m leaning towards having to get rid of our cats. I feel like I’ve exhausted my options and my children shouldn’t be subjected to their stuff being constantly ruined and for us to live in a home permeating of cat urine. As heart broken as I am at the thought, I know our male is just not happy being around kids and maybe it’s not fair to him to keep him with us. He would love to be a one person cat, so I’m hoping a trusted single family member would take him for us. I’m hoping our female gets herself in order because the kids are bonded to her, but I’m fearing that maybe they can’t be separated…
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I’m so sorry you’re experiencing this. My male cat was kinda like that. But my female cat doesn’t like kids. 🤷♀️ but she’ll come around my child every now and then.
females will use anywhere that seems clean to them. such as a dirty litter box cats don’t like using the bathroom where it’s nasty which i highly doubt is your situation with the male there may be a underlying issue like he wasn’t fully fixed correctly sometimes it does happen and a line grows back to the testicle and allows them to spray again, he may also think that he has to claim the baby as his bc he doesn’t know who it is or what but can smell it. I know when my cat was 6 months old i was waiting for him to start spraying so i could fix him but months went by and now he’s a year and 4 months old and he has never sprayed when he was 8 months old I had him checked he didn’t have any problems and the vet said there’s nothing wrong that he probably hasn’t started spraying bc he’s been with us since he was a day old and has already claimed us as parents so he sees no reason to mark he knows he has already claimed the people he wants
Yeah, I have postponed painting/recarpeting until I can get this situation resolved. I dont want to replace anything only to have him pee on the new stuff. I was considering allowing him to go outside but my concern would be that he would continue to do this in the house once he came back in. I think he either needs to be a completely outdoor cat or find a new home.
he’s not legit spraying, but he’s marking why just squat-peeing everywhere. Both of my cats were adopted together from a shelter when they were around 8 weeks old. The shelter fixed them before letting them be adopted out, so they were spayed/neutered around the 8 week old mark, which is very very young. I wonder if because he was so young, they essentially gave him a vasectomy versus actually doing a full-neuter by removing his testicles - I’m not sure if a cat’s testicles actually drop that early… I wonder if that could be why he’s peeing.
But this is the first instance since we’ve had him where he’s been marking. He’s always been anxious and would be susceptible to urinary tract issues, but this seems to be the first time he is deliberately peeing all over vs it being because he’s sick.
He also doesn’t have that exaggerated features like intact males, nor does he act ‘studly’ - no aggression or mounting. Idk…
So it sounds a lil silly but hear me out; cats are trainable in the exact same way dogs are if you’ve got some treats or a toy your cat loves you could try rewarding with it when potty happens where it’s supposed to. The theory of remaining smells could be possible, but could also be a form of acting out in relation to being uncomfortable since the move! If he had lived there most his life & he’s already struggled with anxiety (genetic or not) the move could’ve rattled him quite a bit. I do specialize in dogs more than I do cats but the behavior theory remains the same with both!
he’s had 4 years to adjust to living with kids and my kids don’t even approach him anymore because they know he’s “scared.” We’ve been in our new home for 5+ months… Both cats have been great using the litter box with no issues until a few weeks ago when he suddenly started peeing all over. Took him to the vet - nothing wrong with him. Considering he was fine for a while, and nothing has changed since within our home, I don’t understand why he’s suddenly doing this. Respectfully, I don’t see how ‘training’ is going to work in this situation. It’s not like he doesn’t know where he’s supposed to go to the bathroom - he knows how to use a litter box, he’s been using the same one his whole life. He’s deliberately choosing to relieve himself elsewhere now for whatever reason.
It was just a suggestion, cause positive reinforcement helps all learners, humans & animals. My comment about the moving bit was about the actual physical space itself not those within it at all, cats & dogs thrive off familiarity &routine it’s why their domesticated pet animals. A huge change in the physical environment (like moving to a new big house) can be cause for behavioral changes in animals. Training would help counter condition the habits they picked up in hopes to self adapt. That’s all. You’re more than welcome to ignore my suggestions or advice.
I work in the field of applied behavioral analysis within animals, my suggestions align with all the things you’ve heard from your vet. They said it’s seemingly behavioral; I’m trying to shed light on a possible reason for the behavior changes; moving house typically takes animals 7months+ to fully adjust & settle. Moving house/new home adjustments are my area of expertise, that’s why I commented at all. Again you are so more than welcome to just ignore my suggestions I wasn’t trying to be rude at all, I was trying to be helpful. I even started it noting I may sound silly suggesting to put effort into training a cat, but you would’ve never ever thought of the possibility if I didn’t go ahead & mention it. 🫶🏼🫡 hope you find a solution that works for you & your family
My response wasn’t meant to doubt your profession, I just don’t understand. We lived in the new house for 5 months… He went almost 5 months without these issues and suddenly 2 weeks ago he started peeing all over nonstop and there’s no medical reason as to why. Nothing in our home has changed within the last 2 weeks yet he’s urinating everywhere…. So without knowing why, how can I train him? He’s also not a motivated cat - he doesn’t play and he’s on a specific diet because of crystals so treats aren’t really an option for him. Plus, if he knows to use the litter box, but refuses to go in it now - to train him, am I supposed to watch him 24/7 waiting for him to go to the bathroom? This cat hardly ever comes out, so I think most of his peeing happens when we’re away or sleeping.
All of that is super fair & extremely valid! & also info I didn’t have or understand fully, but your right I wasn’t suggesting being there 24/7 to watch it, my suggestion was more like when you witness the correct things happening, somehow reward it however, I did not know that where limited options due to diet & or the temperament of this individual cat, I wasn’t assuming to know these things either, I was again just trying to float helpful suggestions
I have trouble occasionally with my cats and don't know why usually. At one point it was bc of arthritis so I bought a different type of litterbox and that helped. At one point my male cat developed diabetes and was peeing too much so my female cat started pooping on the floor. Then that was fixed. But now occasionally they will still have accidents and it's annoying.
Honestly it sounds like you’ve tried everything and I think rehoming is the way to go. My sister in law had a cat that started pissing in all my baby clothes. Boxes of stuff that doesn’t fit yet or whatever he would just piss in there and it WREAKED. there’s no way I would be able to handle two of them doing it. I’m so sorry you’re going through this. But you sound like an awesome pet parent to be so dedicated to them and their health. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out.
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