Please help! We simply don't know what to do... cat peeing all over house

[gtexan]

In order to give the full background, this is a bit of a long story. Apologies in advance!

I have a female cat, about 6 years old, siamese mix. She's not very intelligent, but she had always been very healthy and very friendly. She had the occassional Urinary Tract Infection, but a switch to urinary tract health formula food cleared that up.

About a year ago, she was having trouble peeing and after a day or two, she had a little blood in her urine. We of course took her to the vet and they diagnosed her as having a urinary tract infection. After receiving IV fluids, switching to a prescription food, and a long course of antibiotics, her problem resolved but then, despite remaining on the treatment paradigm, came back.

Throughout this treatment, she began using the litterbox less consistently. Perhaps because of pain associated with urination, we think she may have begun to associate the litterbox with an unpleasant feeling. We would find tiny amounts of pinkish urine in the corners of the house, behind the sofa, etc.

After having the problem return, we took her to another series of vet visits. After spending a lot of money, time, and general discomfort on everyone's part (particularly the poor cat who hates the vet!) we were told that she has mild, recurrent, chronic bladder infections that are brought on by stress.

A major issue here is that the vet said "stress" could be anything - even something as minor as moving furniture around.

We give her special food, and whenever we notice that she seems to be straining, we up her liquid intake (by mixing with food) and give her some urinary health meds.

Here's the issue: Despite resolving most of her health issues, she has continued to avoid the litterbox. She uses it most of the time, but not always. As anyone with a cat know, their pee is horrific. It smells very badly, is very strong, and is an incredible challenge to get out of clothes, furniture, etc.

Over the past months, she has peed on the couch, the dogs beds, our bed, my sons toy bin, any clothes which happen to be on the floor, the list goes on and on. Anything that's loose that she can stand on or anything that is roughly "litterbox" size that happens to be on the floor is a risk.

We are doing our best to monitor the situation, but with other pets to care for, a 2 year old child, and jobs, we can't watch her 24/7 and so we spend a lot of time trying to clean up her mess. The amount of time I've spent crawling on the floor sniffing areas to try and find the spot is embarrassing to admit.

So... HELP! What do we do here? She uses the litterbox - just not consistently. I used to think it was from associated pain, but now I think she may just be lazy or a lack of intelligence. I've seen her slowly wake up from a nap on the couch, stand up, walk to the corner, and just relieve herself right there.

I feel like we are completely lost on what to do. I feel bad saying this, but we're having a difficult time even enjoying her as a pet because her urination has become such a problem. My 2 year old even smells his toys to see if they've been peed on. It has permeated our entire life.

Has anyone ever had a problem where a cat stopped using the litterbox regularly? Not 100%, just not regularly? What can we do?

[Winston]

Welcome! I so understand what your going through as so many others here as well. If you search the previous threads for peeing or idiopathic cystitus you will see many discussions about similar situation to yours. Here is a link to my thread:
http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread....ystitis&page=2

I will come back and post when I have a few more minutes. I am aslo hoping some of the other members that have a ton of knowledge post here for you....
Ill be back

Cindy

[Longblades]

My guess is it IS associated pain and she has not forgotten it. Some things you could try are:

• New litter boxes
• At least Two boxes
• All a different size, shape and material if you can find that.
• New, different litter.
• A new place for the boxes. A new room if possible. Maybe start by putting them in her choice of pee spot, if you can identify one she has used on her own over and over.
• Be scrupulous at keeping the boxes clean for a month or so, till she begins to associate them with just relief and not pain. You will have to always be diligent about keeping them clean, more so than most of us.

Poor kitty. A human friend of mine has recurring bladder infections, it's not nice for her. I'm sure kitty is miserable. My male had problems like this and it's not at all uncommon in older cats as arthritis hinders their ability to get in and out of high sided litter boxes. Good luck