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We have a household of 3 cats one female and two males. The most recent adult male came to us from a deceased friend about 2 years ago. He has recently started to urinate in odd places most notably on clothes which are on the floor and throw rugs. He knows where the litter box is and defecates there and urinates there but he likes to sometimes urinate in other places. He is altered and declawed.
Last evening he walked from the bedroom down the hall to a shoe box on the floor which he decided to urinate in. Today my daughter walked from her bedroom to the bathroom where she was getting dressed and the cat urinated on her clothes she was about to put on.
I have watched the cat go into a room right next to the litter box to urinate on a throw rug. We have one box for three cats.

Nothing has changed in the case of litter size. Behavior wise he is a rather "chicken" cat and hisses at the dog and the established male cat. But he has been getting along with them (not best buddys but..) in the past.

I'm kind of fed up with him. He has been difficult to integrate and I am afraid that I may have to just restrict him to one room of the house for the rest of his life.

Thoughts advice?

 

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1) Uti - has he been to the vet to rule out medical issues? Moving into a new home, losing his person and having new cats/dog to deal with are incredibly stressful. That could cause a urinary tract infection.
This is a *new* behavior and he has been here for 2 years now so I would hope he has gotten over the moving stress? But no I have not taken him to the vets yet, I guess I need to rule that out. He shows no behavioral signs of a problem.

2) He is declawed, this added on top of the stress above and KNOWING he has no way to defend himself against other cats/dogs is very stressful.
He came declawed and I understand your point. He sees threat in the dog but the dog is small and not interested in the car at all. The other male established cat will occasionally stalk him, and I see your point.

3) One litter box for 3 cats is really not enough. Especially if he wasn't used to sharing. How often are you cleaning the box. He may not feel it's clean enough. The house only has one area for a litter box but we may have to look harder and include another box somewhere else, perhaps he can claim it for himself but I bet the other two cats will also use it.

Since he's been there this long and the peeing JUST started I'd rule out the vet first. Then add more litter boxes and be more diligent in cleaning them.

Thanks for the advice. I think I will try a new box and the vets visit. I Just took in the established male for a blood test and found a thyroid problem that was $175 so Vets can be rather expensive. I can get my blood test for half that ammount for humans! But I will start there and add the box and see if it helps. Thanks again.

 

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The usual recommendation for litter boxes is 1 per cat +1. The fact that he's a somewhat timid cat, this is his way of asserting himself in a new household with another male and possibly dominant female cat. Besides the extra litter boxes, preferably in other locations that are quiet and out of the way (e.g. corner, but not near noisy machine like a clothes dryer or washer), with a cat that wants and has developed a preference for peeing on clothes, you have to pick up any clothes at all off the floor, so he can't pee on them...everything hung up or in a drawer or in a closed laundry hamper. You can't give him any opportunity to pee on clothes; otherwise it will be a very difficult job, if even it can be, to correct. Give him every opportunity to use the litter boxes which should be scooped 2x/day. Hope you can get on top of this behavior before it's become too engrained. Good luck!

Female cat in the house is passive and they are great friends, sleeping together and such. The other male who is 15 can tolerate him but does occasionally stalk him. Problem cat is also peeing on throw rugs which is not easily removed and washed. I have watched his behavior and he will use the inappropriate location without the slightest regard. He looks very casual as if he is too lazy to go to the correct location. I will try the additional litter box probally first as I see no overt medical signs of stress and the box is something that can go into play quickly.

 

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This is where I am at now.
We now have two boxes in the house. Both is quiet undisturbed places. The "new" cat has stopped eliminating on clothing probally because nothing is available for him to do so. He also liked to soil throw rugs but that behavior seems to have dropped off since the addition of the second box.

His new thing is to walk up to the clean or slightly used box and urinate right in front of it on the floor.

Both boxes are covered types so I removed the tops to see if this had any effect. It did not.

After he urinates I scrub the area down with bleach killing all odor and wait for it to completely dry before allowing any cat to return. Older female and male have no problems and never "miss"

I placed a rubber mat around the box the kind that is in front of your door so that the litter would get stock on it but he just pees on that too. Now iI have removed that and the box sits on vinyl floor.

I have used Dr Elsey's Litter attractant to no measurable influence on him.

I have watched him walk to the box and walk away to a heavy mat that is sitting in front of a near by door that leads outside and he will lye down and scratch and then urinate on the mat. I have cleaned that mat with bleach as well.

Vet says there is no medical reason for this.

Any suggestions?

I took this cat in for a friend that was dying of cancer and his dying wish was that the cat would be treated like family but never disclosed to me that the cat had any quirks or problems. I'm disgusted with this cat.

 

[v194]

Peeing right in front of the box is an obvious territory marking. He's saying "this box is MINE."

Do the other cats use it or is it him alone? Also, he might be nervous of the box, if the 15 yo dominant cat is stalking him while he's doin' his business.

Hopefully someone can help you get passed this. Most cat "quirks" have very solid cat-reasoning behind them, and it's just our job to figure out what's causing the problems and fix them.

The 15 year old has stopped all of the stalking and ignores the "new" cat. The 15 year old has his own food station that the others do not use. The female the ruler in the sense that if she approaches food the other two males let her come in and eat first. She is very passive in the sense that any new animal in the house she greets by rubbing and purring on them. Including the 35 pound dog.
Dog steers way clear of "new" cat that always greets dog with a hiss.
Vet checked for any blocking and said there is no reason for his behavior but he is a cat and they can be very quirky.
"New" cat is a little older and usually sits next to a human on the couch, never really see him "play" He likes sunning and sleeping and watching us humans go about our lives.

The plus is he uses the box to defecate and he must urinate into it some time because I have found no other soiled areas. He has never relieved himself under a bed but he did like throw rugs, or plastic grocery bags.
As my friend was dying he kept his box in a shower stall. It is possible that he could "miss" and no one would know the difference. I have seen him in the box urinating but not squatting, so the urine just hits the surrounding wall.

 

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If I did not mention he is declawed and neutered.
He has been that way for a long time.

 

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Female Vet. If the tests show nothing then how do I convince the vet that there is something wrong?

Dry food only - IAMS Proactive Health Digestive Care.

Have used Dr Elsey's for 2 months now. Appears to have no effect.

 

[v194]

EVO is not available in my area. Other suggestions?

 

[v194]

Hopefully looking for something I can start on tonight. Suggestions for canned. Not interested in RAW.

 

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I have fed Taste of the wild and Blue Buffalo and Natural Balance dry and all of the cats will eat it but they dont really care for the Blue Buffalo.

 

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Yes I did read the article but honestly its one Vets opinion and I can find dozens (with stealer credentials) who will contradict her. Having said this
I'm willing to try anything and I want to start the trail right away.

 

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2) He's missing. Have you seen him pee outside of the box? If not then it may very well be this. Both of my boys sometimes forget to turn around, and end up peeing out the door. Technically they are in the box...but they miss. I've mostly solved this by repurposing two huge storage totes into litter boxes. The cats all love them, and they stay cleaner because there's more litter in them, plus since the sides are so high the boys can't miss!

I'm not going to comment on the Vet aspect anymore. I have been involved with Vets and veterinary schools with canines for over 40 years (I am a triple major) so I have a good deal of background on this subject and you are right about some of it. I am disappointed that the article quoted does not reference any imperial studies to back up her claims. Either Way I am willing to try the wet food method to see if this might help out.

In reference to the box size I have done the same thing today and increased the size and height of the box so the car while standing should not miss. This might be an issue I have seen what looks like this might be a problem in at least one case.

Fingers crossed as I try some new suggestions. Hopefully I will get some more suggestions on canned feed as I now have Friskies (all below the suggested 10% Carbohydrates)

 

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Thanks
The dog avoids the cat at all costs, never approaches him or even looks at him. The dog is scared of the cat in essence. The cat will retreat up to a second floor bonus room to sleep and lie in the sun during the day with the female cat. By the late afternoon they both come down to see the humans.
Nothing stands out behavior wise when I see him urinating, I am always finding it after it is completed. When I did catch him 2 times, one he was scratching on a door mat 6 feet from the box. After he scratched he just started to urinate. The other time he stopped in front of the box and never entered but urinated on the wall while standing in front of the box.

I guess Feliway might be next on the list.

In my mind he would rather be a single cat in a home like he was with his past master. When my friend was well they would play rather roughly, now that his master is gone he is not aggressive nor plays aggressive but rather sleeps a lot while sitting next to the humans. He has full access to the house just as all of the cats do.

Right now the only problem is the urinating near or next to the box. We seem to have eliminated all other problem urination spots.