Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat Health & Behaviour => Health & Behaviour General => Topic started by: Arcanegirl on August 10, 2014, 23:18:09 PM
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My kitten can and has been using his litter tray but we've been finding the odd pee on my bed. He is only 10 weeks and we have e an older cat who hasn't been in this room. Is the kitten territory marking? How do we stop the bed Peeing and get him to go in the tray?
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You might find this helpful - and might be worth looking at his "cat to cat introductions" as it's almost certainly to do with his way of dealing with the changes which ahe's found in his life right now.
http://www.littlebigcat.com/behavior/litterbox-secrets/
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Had a read up, we do need to get a third tray sorted. The cat to cat introductions link doesnt work though, I cant seem to find that article.
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Found it http://jacksongalaxy.com/2010/10/01/cat-to-cat-introductions/ (if anybody else needed it)
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Bless you, Arcanegirl - sorry about that, and thanks for re-posting, as it's always a useful link to have to hand. :)
I still think the peeing yesterday may just have been a reaction to your visitors. it's quite a lot for a timid young lad to take in. I know Tinks always legs it if we have family round. He comes back in when they've gone.
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We need a lidded box anyways with the kids about so no biggie to go get one, and will keep the open tray avalaible still too. We will just move it to another room.
We found another little pee last night, nothing major that moving the t shirt he went on didnt fix and also a teeny little poo this morning. Again he has been seen to do both in the tray fine.
You have been so helpful with my threads, thankyou x
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we had this when our bengal was a kitten I had to shut her out of the bedroom for a few weeks to break the habit and that worked, not sure if it is an option?
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Not without intruding onto the resident cat too early. Harvey has taken up the bedroom as his safe place and it was the only room we could use to close off before starting the introduction process. The only other room is the kitchen (too small) and the kids room (closed at night and too busy)
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Try putting puppy pads over the bed to protect it, he may also have paddled on the bed and thought it felt like a litter tray!
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Came home to find another poop on the bed :( he went in the tray fine last night and this morning! He now has a hooded box with the flap off untill he gets used to it. Whats good at getting rid of the scent when i clean up and anything else i can do to try and nip this?
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Yes see my post!
When a puppy pad gets soiled just remove and thrwaway, no scent no cleaning up
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There is a scent already there since he has already done it without any protection there. If i keep putting a pad out, hiw does that help resolve him doing it?
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First You need to get rid of any smell cos that will attract him.
Once that is done and puppy pads cover the bed when you are not in it, you will see if teryhe change of feel makes a difference and if not then its just a protection system and its up to you to maybe keep moving him off the bed everytime you see him on it.
make it a no go area so when moving him its accompanied by a firm no. if you think he wants to go put him in tray.
its all a matter of training.
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Alright, sounds a good plan. Luckily i have toddler bed mats and tons of them so they are out on the bed and the kids painting sheet.
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A few of us like this enzyme powered odour remover
http://www.livingiseasy.co.uk/prod/3005-XERIA_RX66HS_BIO_ENZYMATIC_STAINING,_FOULING_AND_FOUL_ODOUR_DIGESTER_SPRAY_PLUS_HIGH_PERFORMANCE_AIRX_ODOUR_ELIMINATION_TECHNOLOGY._NATURES_MIRACLE._Seeks_out_and_eliminates__surface_and_sub_surface_fouling,_foul_odours_and_stains._500ml.html
You can buy in bulk from the manufacturers if you have multiple issues, as we do :-[
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Do you think he might be protesting about being left alone?
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Just a thought - although they're a big favourite with us hoomans, some cats dont like hooded litter trays - it makes them feel more vulnerable. Cats generally like to be able to watch out for ambush at all times, but particularly when toiletting. Have you tried leaving the top off?
Can you think back to when this first happened. What had taken place that day? Try and plot the day from start to when you noticed the inappropriate toiletting. It may help to give us some clues. :shify: Cats are complex creatures but there's usually something which can give a hint to why the behaviour has started.
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He started off with an open tray before this happened, hence trying a lidded one.
He has had the odd accident since day 1 here, being a farm kitten i guess he was never "trained" to use a specific place to go. He use the cat litter 90% of the time.
I had a friend come round with her son on the Saturday, they were in my bedroom to borrow some makeup. This was the first day of a huge pee on my bed, we originally suspected it was her son who had an accident as it was a large amount.
Sunday we had kids round to play with my son, the kitten was shut in the bedroom and again peed on the bed but also soiled. There is also a tumble dryer in the room (i cant move it, nor not use it) which i have I have for as short times as possible as i know its a big noise for him but he seems to be used it it now and happily comes out to me and plays whilst it is running.
It is since these few incidences that it has become more or a problem.
I dont know if its something we can work out now, or wait it out untill the cats are happier in the same rooms and then cut off the bedroom.
I dont think a protest to being alone, I came home earlier and the bed was dry. Within 10 mins of being home, he had soiled. he has also done a poo in the box whilst I was out.
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Sounds like he wants another grit box for a while to do pee and pooh in different grit boxes and a handy hint is if he came off a farm he is used to soil - I use compost for my ferals when they first come in and gradually add in the litters I use and it takes about 10 days but we then have ferals using grit boxes can be a tad messy but they get the idea
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My hubby just tossed some out last night aswell from an old plant!
So shall I try two boxes in the one room then? Tight for space but will make it work if thats what we need to do.
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It does sound like it may have been a reaction to having his "safe space" invaded, and so now he feels he has to defend it against all comers. If he's not been used to people and being handled, it will have been a huge leap of faith for him to come round to trusting you and your family, so this may have been "too much too soon." The noise and the feet of children can be quite scary to a kitten, and kids just love to play with kittens. (Hell, we all love to play with kittens :evillaugh:)
I doubt that it's from being left alone too.
Good idea too from Liz about the soil in the tray. If you put soil in one tray and grit in the other, you should be able to work out fairly quickly if he has a preference for one or the other.
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I will get hold of some soil and try that. I put a second box back in aswell last night and overnight he used the uncovered tray to pee and poo in. This tray is rather shallow but itll do for now. Leave it be and sort a deeper one once hes settled down? He will use the hooded one on my bed aswell but so far that is just poo.
He has been coming out with the kids about so he is getting used to them which is good. Should I continue to keep Bane out of the bedroom/safe place? He tries to go in as he likes the windowsill but so far turns into a growl fest.
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Good news he's used both trays. ;D Yes. You can get a deeper tray when he's grown a bit more. :Luv:
I would say keep Bane out for now. It could be at the heart of the inappropriate toiletting, so slowly and gently does it. Let's see if we can get Harvey using the trays all of the time, albeit in their slightly odd placements. :hug:
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Try leaving the lid of the high sided one I have a fair few with lids removed withbthe high sides and they use them with no issue having been outside he used to seeing daylight to go so to speak and the lids can scare them - my shallower trays are the ones with the rims and thats stops a bit of tracking as well
But good news on that front
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Do they ever get used to a lidded tray? My only concern is the smallest child raiding the box... But will work around it we really need to.
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Depends on the cat - many use them without any difficulty, but having been a farm cat, your little lad will be less used to confinement and more likely to want openness, I'd be guessing. It's us humans who prefer the lidded boxes.
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Lupin had always used a lidded tray before he came to me and did for quite a while after arriving but my others dont and once he discovered the uncovered trays that was the end of the covered one.
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I must say that as someone who always uses clumping litter, I find open trays much easier - a quick tip and declump is all that's needed - I can't be bothered with undoing clips and moving lids around
do you have a space under a worktop or table you could put the tray, in order to make it a little more inaccessible to little fingers?
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Again, tiny new builds....doesnt allow much room for spaces we do actually need! Ill figure something out.
No accidents today so far, he has used both trays lids on and off but one still remaining on the covered and protected bed. We also soaked cleaner into the mattress and cleaned it up to break down the urine and any remainder smell. Where do we go from here? Just keep this setup for a while?
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Yres keep the current set up and hope it works ;D
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And another accident :( as soon as I moved the stuff off to go to bed and he's peed in the duvet.
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So one thing seems to be solved that the pads are stopping him, now the porblem is how to keep him off the bed when you want to sleep...............sorta out of ideas now.
He needs to be put somewhere else when you are using the bed I guess but where.
One of my cats used to go on a large beenbag I had and can sorta understand that xos underfoot probably felt like litter but not a bed................unless its a been bag texture :innocent:
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So far he does stay off it if we are on it, I'll just need keep him off when I'm in and he jumps and at some point rearrange boxes etc and shut him out. The introduction is slow but moving so should be able to do this at some point.
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Hope the intros go well cos that may solve the problem
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Vet checked today and Harvey is healthy, no signs of underlying issues causing the peeing. He suspects behavioural and with some work and feliway he should grow out of it.
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:) :) :) That's very good news.
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Have you tried just putting a folded newspaper inside one of the litter trays instead of litter? He may not like litter and that's why he gravitates back to your bed. I have one old boy who prefers to pee on laundry/soft furnishings/newspapers/carrier bags etc in fact anything that doesn't get between his toes. :doh: I plonk a newspaper in his tray and he's on it before I've turned my back. May be worth a try?
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I'll try a box with that aswell, im setting up a fourth box to cover another room aswell as hes soiled the carpet in another room overnight.
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As a short term solution, am wondering if it's worthwhile you buying or borrowing a crate for him, and keeping him overnight with a litter tray in there - it would need to be one of the larger sized crates, and I wouldnt use it as a long term solution, but it may be worth a go. If he cries, you would have to be able to put the crate somewhere which will disturb you people or your other cat as little as possible, which may not be easy in a smaller home.
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Would the bathroom work in a similar way? That room is quite small and also has laminate flooring
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It could. Might be avisable to wear slippers if accessed during the night. And to make sure anyone using the facilities remembers to close the loo seat. And also to make sure there are no items in there which could be harmful if accessed. Oh - and no Harvey sized holes behind which he could sneak.
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Definatley no harvey sized holes, its all closed up which is good and seat is always down (youngest had a thing of putting toys down there!).
There is banes litter box in the bathroom but he seldom uses it now as he goes outside. Am I okay to move his to another location and put Harveys in its place? Im thinking itll be better to use his own and not Banes?
So we put him in overnight, if we are out for a long time aswell? And is he okay to roam/sleep during the daytime? Should I put a bed in the room aswell with the risk he might toilet on that?
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I would give him his own tray, and move Bane's, but make a point of showing Bane where his tray is being placed , just in case he did want to use it.
I'd not be too enthusiastic about leaving any cat confined in a small space for too long during the day, especially if he's confined throughout the night as well, to be honest. It's a big ask, and kittens have tons of energy they need to burn off. The advantage of a crate over a bathroom is that they can still keep an eye on most things that are going on if they're in the main body of the house, but with a bathroom that choice is going to be pretty limited I'd have thought.
Some form of bedding would be nice for him. Cats will sleep on most surfaces, but given a choice, they ike something nice and soft. There are quite a few bed pads which are machine washable, so if you had a couple to change with, that would help.
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We tend not to be out for long periods of time mostly so ill just keep it to night time.
Ill see what he does tonight now there's another box in the living room and leave this as a last resort if we still have issues
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http://www.litterkwitter.com/en/index.php
Is this what you have in mind, Arcanegirl? ;)
I bought one of these but soon realised you need to dedicate a toilet to the thing whilst they all learn how to use it, it doesn't work in a busy household with multiple cats, people and only one loo :-[ otherwise I think at least two of my gang would have been happy to learn how to use the loo as Sammy and Tuffers are both grid widdlers now ;D
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Lol not quite, the bathroom is the smallest room we have that I can close off. I have been able to get hold of a dog cage.
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Hows it been since you got the cage up and running?
Sheila - I've seen cats on TV who have been trained to use a human loo, but didnt realise you could actually teach them how to do that! ;D
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I don't get the cage untill tomorrow so not been able to do anything yet. He will be great most of the time and go in the boxes then have a one off pee at the bed again. He did this yesterday evening after using the boxes for the previous couple of days, I came home to another poop on the bed earlier too.
So once i have the cage, put him, the tray, water, food and a bed overnight? How long should I be doing this for? I know you said short term which I would agree with im just not sure how long or what to look for to see a behaviour change.
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Yes, his bed, litter tray, food and water.
I would only suggest doing it for three or four days to see how it goes. If you set up the crate well before bedtime and leave the door open, he will have time to explore it and investigate it without knowing its purpose. Basically, if he uses the litter tray, that's a positive behavioural step.
Continue to leave the crate door open when he's allowed out during the day time, and he may come to view it as a a safe place to retreat to. Ultimately, you may find he'll continue to use the tray in the crate during the day too, and then it's simply a question of when to remove the crate and leave the litter tray in its place. At least, that's the plan..... :innocent: Cats frequently have other ideas. :tired:
Got me fingers crossed. :)
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Got the cute and it's nice and bug as it housed a springer collie mixed dog. Having a re read and glad I did, ill need to move a table as the end result I want to put the box under this table.
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Another question, since we have the crate set up now, when he is roaming daytime. Should I shut off my bedroom now? This was his safe place to go escape and sleep during the daytime. The concern I have is the crate is in the busier room ad the quieter room is the one we have the problems in.
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I think I would keep him out of the quiet room to try and keep him away from the area he's been soiling regularly. How was he overnight?
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He didn't cry too much, I out him in at 8.30 when I went to bed and hubby let him out 10-11pm for a run about. He hadn't soiled except in the box when I left for work this morning
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Well that's a really good start. :)
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This just dropped into my inbox - thought I'd post it - havent watched it myself yet.
http://jacksongalaxy.com/2014/08/18/cat-mojo-why-does-my-cat-pee-outside-the-litter-box/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JacksonGalaxy+%28Jackson+Galaxy%29
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So second night he uses the box then today he's tried the carpet next to the box and onto my bed again. Admittedly I haven't kept him out of my room because I'm concerned he will start doing it in the kids room. If i shut that off too then we only have a living room, Hall kitchen and bathroom left.
I was thinking, we've never had any issues at night just only daytime. Would it make more sense to do the cage at daytime?
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Try putting boxes back there again where he's peed, after cleaning the area.
I wouldnt be wild about the idea of confining him during the day
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If you confine him during the day and are sleeping at night, the little lad won't be getting much interaction or exploration time.
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Alrigty I'll not try that :) Im investigating litter types, see if that helps
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Uses another litter fine, but still pee on a bag and poo in the bathroom floor. I'm nit one for giving up but feeling like he is defeating me.
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Do not be defeated its still very early days, there is a thread I saw recently that it took 7 months to sort nthis problem.
Do you have insurance?
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Yep he's insured, only by a couple of weeks though so nit sure if there's a cool down period before we can claim anything
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I have noticed if Bane is inside at night then Harvey will use a box where he is not, also he doesn't cover up afterwards.
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What sort of luck have you had over the weekend? Does sound like Harvey is territory marking.
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We shut the bedroom off on Saturday and tried another litter (which ended up same consistency ad current stuff) and so far no more accidents outside of boxes. I have moved one box slowly from bedroom door into the bathroom so it now has its place and Harvey knows and uses it.
He does have a preference for the other open box, which oddly is in the busier room but he uses it and I'm happy with that.
II would at some point like to try opening up the bedroom again but could be a while yet, nit sure how long to wait before trying. I've also acquired feliway spray should we need it.
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Well that's great - I'd definitely count that as a partial success, and really encouraging. I would say keep that bedroom door shut for a couple of weeks yet, and then maybe only leaving it open whilst you're in the room, to begin with.
Cats dont mind using litter trays in public - they dont have the same privacy issues we do, lol. :evillaugh:
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Forgot to say, he is allowed in the bedroom at night, whilst we are sleeping in there he doesn't do anything on the bed, we have been taking him off anyways unless keeping a very close eye. New mattress will be here by end of the week so there will definitely be no lingering scent
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Have you tried using a steamer? We've had a few peeing incidents over the last two weeks (believed to be a visiting cat however) and a steamer has worked a treat.
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Blimey Louise - steaming a visiting piddler - that's a bit harsh! :evillaugh: :hug:
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A quick whoosh up the backside works Sue ;)
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:rofl: :rofl: Wonder if Karcher realise the potential.
(Moray does have a habit of peering at the flex when I'm ironing - the sound of the steam shooshing out doesnt seem to deter him but then it isn't being directed towards his netehr regions.... :-: :scared:)
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I've got a spray especially for animals which I keep in the fridge and give them all a quick squirt every now and then as it keeps their coat nice but Simba can't/won't/don't clean himself so he gets the occasional spray of that to err help the cleaning process but then purrs and comes back for more :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
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Lol, I don't have a steamer so haven't tried it. We needed a new mattress anyways so gave us the excuse to go look for one.
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Lol, I don't have a steamer so haven't tried it. We needed a new mattress anyways so gave us the excuse to go look for one.
Always nice getting a new mattress, especially if you have back problems (or a cat with a penchant for peeing on your old one ;))