Please help - she is weeing everywhere!

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

If she's doing in in front of you, could it be attention seeking?  Jaffa does that - he will spray right under my nose if he feels I'm not paying him enough attention.  He did it once when I was on the computer - sprayed the wardrobe which was only about 12 inches away because I was ignoring him - and he has done it in the early morning when he wakes up and I'm still in bed not being attentive enough. 

Your vet is the best person to refer you to a behaviourist as most reputable behavioiurists will only take on cases that are referred to them by a vet.

You can see APBC behaviourists here - if there's one in your area you could ask your vet to refer you to him/her.

http://www.apbc.org.uk/help/regions

[s3becky]

Update - We went to the Vets yesterday and they have said that they are happy that it is not cystitis and feel that it is not a medical issue but a behavioural one. I asked if we could be referred to a behaviourist but they do not know of anyone, they have given me details of a dog behaviourist and suggest that I ring them to see if they know of anyone...

I have had a look on-line and there does not seem to be many anywhere near us. I have emailed the closest one I can find, fingers crossed!

If anyone know one who is happy to travel, we are in Northamptonshire, any recommendations would be a real help.

Thanks

[s3becky]

I am really shocked, I have just watched her fluffybanana her leg and wee up the wall! To be honest since we were given the antibiotics by the vet last weekend, she has got a lot worse. She has never blatantly done this infront of us!

This sounds a lot more behavioural than anything else!

[Lotzy]

msrisotto, my cat has had five bouts of cystitis.  It starts off with suddenly weeing in the house (she always uses outdoors or her litter tray when really bad weather).  My cat wees in the corners of rooms and I know this, entrance ways and beds are also common). This can go on for a couple of weeks or so and then one day she will be trying to wee every 2 mins and passing very little urine. The third, fourth and fifth lots of cystitis have had wee present.  My vet carried out a urine analysis and xray which ruled out any lumps, stones (formed by crystals) and infection after the third bout.  She came to the conclusion it was cystitis and kept her in for observation (she was worried I had taken the wrong cat in, but I knew it was the right one!).  I now get Cystease from the vet (which relieves irritation in the bladder) when my cat has cystitis and within hours it is starting to work. 

[msrisotto]

How do you know if it is cystitis though?

[Lotzy]

Hope all goes well at the vets and let us know what is said. You will see from my post below that I was concerned with medical issues, so just in case that's what it is, I would just say if matters get worse, she starts doing small wees or you see any blood in the meantime, to get her in sooner.

[s3becky]

Thank you all for your posts.

Cassie is the only cat/pet we have. She does have two open trays which she does use some of the time! We are cleaning with the biological solution, I will get some surgical spirit.

I also was advised to brush her with a damp cloth to get her scent on it and then to brush this over the window ledges and other places that she had sprayed on - I have done this and she has not sprayed there for the 24/36 hours, so fingers crossed!

We have a check up at the vets on Saturday and I will ask about the Cystaid/Cystease. We will see what the Vet says and look into the behaviour side of things...

Thanks again!

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Not sure I can help much but do make sure you clean everywhere she has been very thoroughly - use biological washing powder and/or a commercial product and make sure you penetrate wherever the wee has - so if she's weed on the carpet, you need to make sure the product reaches through the underlay and into the floorboards if necessary.  When dry, spritz with surgical spirit.

How many litter trays do you have in total?  And how many cats?  no. cats +1 is the optimum number of litter trays.  It does sound as though it's either cystitis or she doesn't like the litter in the tray.  Do you have the same litter in all trays?  Are the trays open or closed?  Perhaps try different types of litter in different trays.

One of my cats was using the hallway and part of the kitchen for several months following workmen, but an extra tray in the bathroom (near where he was going in the hall) seems to have solved the problem.

[Liz]

Crate training is popping them in a large dog crate with all they need at night so they learn to reuse the litter tray - I call it crate training as this is what I do with My Dogs!

[Lotzy]

Obviously make sure you keep her litter tray in the same place, somewhere quiet.  Clean up accidents with warm water (disinfectant & similiar products are scented and attract the cat back to the spot) and then apply surigical spirit or a special urine deorderiser.

My cat started getting cystitis and inbetween the second and third occasions there was a period of two weeks. The vet had initially treated with antibiotics on the first three occasions, but suggested it was worth having an xray and urine analysis done.  Therefore, I think it would be worth asking the vet if any tests are worth doing as these can rule out irritation by crystals or other, or infection (and the vet can treat accordingly).  The tests were inconclusive for my cat and the vet came to the conclusion it was cystitis and prescribed Cystease (Cystaid is very similar) which is great and can be mixed in with wet food to avoid pill pushing.  It really helps.  If the tests reveal don't reveal anything, then I would guess it's cystitis or behavioural. If the vet thinks it's cystitis, ask about Cystease/Cystaid. Obviously if this helps you've solved the problem.  If not, then it could well be behavioural and you can get further advice from the vet and others on here.

Your cat may not have cystitis, but I know it's very stressful to have them weeing around the house and to keep cleaning.  Let us know how you get on her with.

[msrisotto]

What is crate training please?

[Liz]

Have you tried crate traing her with litter box it makes her reuse the litter tray and also helps keep the incidents in one place

It also means she is is a safe place to use the grit box and will remember that

Have you also tried urine off and gone over all the places she has been - if she can smell it she will go to reaffirm thats its ok

Going through it currently with an 18y.o. on diuretics so have upped the number of trays and and this has helped to

Confinement is needed to reaffirm the litter tray useage it does help and isn't as cruel as it sounds - i have done this with my ferals who move indoors

Also have you changed the litter type as this can also be an issue - we use 4 different sorts here for our mob - wood pellet, paper pellet, clumping clay and a mix of compost and sawdust for the 2 ferals still in training

[s3becky]

Hi
I would really really appreciate some help with this!
Cassie has been spraying/weeing  in different areas of our house. We moved here three years ago and have had lots of building work etc done here. At first I thought her spraying was caused by this as she would have found it unsettling, however it still happened only very occasionally.

When I have seen her use her litter tray she perches on the edge rather than in the tray, I have tried different litter and have also introduced a second tray, which she also uses. She seems to prefer/use her tray more often when there is very little litter in it and also when it is just newspaper & no litter.

I also realised that other cats were coming in & out of the house through her catflap and Cassie had started to stay home a lot more. We blocked up the cat flap and let her in and out, which seemed to help a great deal.

We then had some more building work carried out and the problem got worse. When the building stopped it seemed ok for a few weeks but then occurred again. I bought Feliway diffuser & spray but this does not seem to do much. I took her to the vets and they thought she had cystitis so they gave her an anti-inflamatory and also thought she was a stressed/anxious cat so prescribed her a course of Amitryptalene and Zylkene.

This seemed to work for quite a while but over the past couple of weeks I have started to notice that she is spraying/weeing again. I took her back to the vets who are not sure but think she may have cystitis so once again gave her an anti-inflamatory and a course of antibiotics which we are giving her. The first night after the visit to the vets she used her litter tray & the kitchen floor! The second day she used the kitchen floor twice and two window ledges in the house!!

There has been no pattern to her weeing/spraying habits until after the most recent visit to the vets, she has now used the kitchen floor and the same two window ledges three times.

I am really at my wits end and I really don't know what to do but I just can't keep going like this and the last thing I want to do is to re-home her as it would break my heart!

I would really appreciate some advice.

Thanks
Becky