Cat using house as litter box

[yvebart]

I am having a serious issue with my male cat. He is using my house as a litter box. He has been doing it for many years and I've had to replace furniture, gone through countless bottles of Natures Miracle and spent so much money on Veterinarian bills.

According to the Veterinarian, there is no medical reason for this behavior and that it is in fact a behavioral issue. So I have tried everything from making sure the litter box is perfect, his food is always on time (and thats whenever he acts hungry) and giving him tons of love so there's no jealousy over my other cat.

Everything I have tried is another waste of time. Nothing works. I have been living with my parents now for 3 years after living on my own for 15 and I am terrified one day I will come home and my father will have had enough and my Lewi will be gone. The thing that really hurts is that outside of this one problem Lewi is the best cat. He is sooo handsome and soooo loving and just devoted to me. But I am at the end of all of the ropes I have held onto with him.

Anyone have any suggestions here. I will take any advice I can get.

Thanks and I appreciate it.

Yvonne in Chicago

[bitterrootbullies]

Originally Posted by yvebart

I am having a serious issue with my male cat. He is using my house as a litter box. He has been doing it for many years and I've had to replace furniture, gone through countless bottles of Natures Miracle and spent so much money on Veterinarian bills.

According to the Veterinarian, there is no medical reason for this behavior and that it is in fact a behavioral issue. So I have tried everything from making sure the litter box is perfect, his food is always on time (and thats whenever he acts hungry) and giving him tons of love so there's no jealousy over my other cat.

Everything I have tried is another waste of time. Nothing works. I have been living with my parents now for 3 years after living on my own for 15 and I am terrified one day I will come home and my father will have had enough and my Lewi will be gone. The thing that really hurts is that outside of this one problem Lewi is the best cat. He is sooo handsome and soooo loving and just devoted to me. But I am at the end of all of the ropes I have held onto with him.

Anyone have any suggestions here. I will take any advice I can get.

Thanks and I appreciate it.

Yvonne in Chicago

Sounds like he is spraying, this is a territorial behavior seen in male cats. Is he neutered? if not do it right away, it won't cure it, but it might help.

It is a very difficult thing to correct. My cat started it after about 12 years of never doing it. The way I stopped it was to use a product called Feliway. It comes as both a spray as well as a diffuser you plug into an outlet (much like the air fresheners) it is a pheramone that supposedly calms the cat and prevents the territorial behaviors. In addition to this you will need to make sure you get every single spot of urine out of every piece of furniture, carpets, hard floors even walls. Get yourself a black light (sold at most pet stores) turn off all the lights and shine the black light EVERYWHERE! it will show you where there is urine marks. Clean them all very well with the Nature's Miracle and then spray the Feliway in those spots. Plug in a diffuser in every room he goes into.

I was fortunate in that I caught my cat doing it very early so he had not established a habit of it. Depending on how long your cat has been doing this you may or may not ever get him to stop. If you ever catch him doing it (he will back up to an object with his tail raised and sometimes shaking his tail) startle him with a hand clap or sharp "no". And then praise him when he stops.

You have to keep on this consistently until you get him to stop, that means checking with the black light daily and cleaning and spraying the Feliway every day.
Good luck, its a hard habit to break!
amanda

[Pearly]

errrrr ive seen my baby girls do this ... and drat... here in india, i dont find any of the products that amanda's mentioned

guess ill have to make do with startling them

[bitterrootbullies]

Originally Posted by Pearly

errrrr ive seen my baby girls do this ... and drat... here in india, i dont find any of the products that amanda's mentioned

guess ill have to make do with startling them

You can probably find it on line and have it shipped to you.
Here is one link to it that I've found.
Feliway and Comfort Zone For Cats - Cat Faeries(tm) Online Catalog featuring Feliway, Flower Essences for Cats
I don't know if they'd ship to you or not but its worth a try.
amanda

[latergatorj]

Is there any place your kitty will not poop?

I have a 19 year old American Shorthair that has a simliar behavior pattern. When we leave the house and when we go to bed, he gets shut into a room with his litter box, food, and heated bed. The room we put him in- is one that he doesn't have the habit of pooping in when he's upset.

You might also want to try scooping and changing your cat's litterbox more often and see if that helps.

[Tucker'sMom]

I have had the same problem myself. I have 3 male cats and a female. ALL my males were neutered as kittens, and my female was spayed when we first got her (she was a stray). I could never tell which one (or ones) were doing it, but it was all over my furniture, carpets, etc. My husband complained about the smell no matter how much I cleaned the carpets and the furniture. We were on the verge of getting rid of the cats (all of them), but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I love my cats dearly, but I am a dog person. I got my first cat because I worked long hours and didn't have the time for a dog. Anyway, the first thing I tried was Arm & Hammer litter deoderizer...didn't work. Then I tried Cat Attract in the litterbox...didn't work, either. Then I experimented with different litters. The litters everyone seems to agree on are the Special Kitty (Walmart brand) scoopable, and the Tidy Cats Small Spaces. The experts recommend1 litterbox for every cat plus one. I now have 5 litterboxes. I placed a litter box in all the places they normally went where they weren't supposed to. Master bath, Master bedroom, Hallway, 2nd bathroom, and family room. The box in the family room has Feline Pine in it. NONE of them will poop in that, but it works AWESOME to kill the urine odor. That's also why I use the Small Spaces. I mix it with the Special Kitty (just a little Small Spaces to a large amount of the Special Kitty) to keep it smelling fresher. I scoop the litterboxes almost daily. They will still urinate on any clothes left on the floor, so we keep them picked up. I haven't had a problem since. Also, if they have urinated on furniture, beware that you may NEVER get the smell out. My old couch had a lot of padding, and no matter what I used or how hard I scrubbed, I could not get the smell out. I had to replace it, and I am not going to say anything else...I don't want to jinx it...

[cichlidfreak]

I had a cat that was 6 and I got her too young to leave her mother (no choice) She was a wounderful person of a cat, when I had my first child she stated to pee on my daughters toys and my husbands clothes. She went to stay at my mom's house which she peed all over eventually we tried it again for about a year or two with all the bedroom doors shut so there was nowhere for her to pee. She was doing well this way and we got a cat for my daughter as peaches did not think much of her and ran away, things still went fine untill I got pregnant again and right away she knew somehow and started to pee on clothes and towels sometimes even your shoe!!! Well my daughters cat followed what peach did and before you knew it I was 8 months pregnant and my house wreaked like a litterbox. Needless to say we had to give them away for the new baby's sake. I hope you can fix this problem or you can handle the smell cuz it sucks to lose a cat!!