Only 2 cats, 7 years old, new behaviour, urine around the house

by Jen
(Shirley, MA)

I have a two cat household, on neutered male and one spayed female. Both are 7 years old and have lived together since kittenhood. I've never had urine problems with them, and now I'm at my wits end worrying about them

I when we found the first few cat urine spots, we went to the vet and both cats got a clean bill of health. Then I dug around the house harder and found the inappropriate illumination has been going on a while. So far the spots are always on the the first floor, most seem to be horizontal on the floor. The radiator at the bottom of the stairs (the litter boxes are at the top of the stairs)and near the door way to the laundry room (where food is stored) are most popular. Neither is an easy spot to clean but I am tackling them with Nature's Miracle. I'm finding fresh pee everyday. We suspect the male since he tends to hang our where most of the urine has been found. We have always had 2 side by side open litter pans and used Tidy Cats multi cat.

1. We don't have a lot of space. One suggestion has been to move a litterbox into the laundry room. But, the food has been in the laundry room since we moved in. We have moved the food dishes to the kitchen and dinning room. The new litter box will be exactly where the food has been since we moved in. What do people think? Will this confuse them too much?

2. If we are making changes throughout the house, how quickly should we act? Our list includes, adding a third litterbox, replacing the boxes we already have (with clean ones), changing to unscented litter, trying feliway, trying cat attract, introducing new cat furniture... How should we spread all these changes out?

3. We are baffled to what is stressing out the cats. We we have found dead mice in the basement (under the first floor), suspect there are more alive, but have not seen them on the first floor. We have mold in the basement. There are outside cats in our neighborhood. Has anyone experienced these as stressers?

Thank you for any advice - Jen

RESPONSE:

All of the things you mention could be stressors for cats. They could be hearing and smelling the mice and are frustrated at not being able to get to them. Also, the prior tenants of your house could have had pets and your cats are smelling them. Anything can trigger this response in cats. All of the things you mention may help. Try them 1 at a time. You may also want to try a different cleaner. Other's we know have tried nature's miricle and have not had good luck with it so a different cleaner may help get the odor out. Try adding an additional litter box or 2 first. Then, try chaging the litter. Adding Cat Attract Litter Attratant will help. Then try 1 additional thing each week and see if anything helps. If there is anyway possible, try to eliminate the mice. Also, try playing with them more, especially the male. His hunting urges may be peaked by the mice and playing will help him to exercise these urges and make him more content. Let us know how it goes!

Donna - House Full Cats Mom