Dealing with cat peeing problems
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from August 1998.
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If the cat is urinating on a person's clothing or bed, the cat often feels some frustration related to that person. Sometimes schedule changes and spending less time with the cat starts the inappropriate elimination problem. As stresses are cumulative, it may be that some combination of the above causes are responsible for "Cally's" loss of housetraining.
Disease may also cause a cat to soil. Anything that causes the cat to drink excessively will also increase the frequency of urination, which can lead to "mistakes" around the house. The most common disease-related cause of house-soiling is urinary tract infection or subclinical cystitis. In addition, gastrointestinal disease and nervous system disturbances may also cause the problem. For this reason, your first step should be to have the cat examined by a veterinarian who will do a urinalysis. Once medical reasons are ruled, out, you should focus on the following: * Address possible problems with the litter box. (Cleanliness, location, number, type and amount of litter)
* Clean the environment. The smell of previous messes will stimulate the cat to use that location again. Cats have a very sensitive sense of smell, so it is impossible to totally eliminate it – mask it instead. Use mothball crystals, Pine sol, Dettol & water. Never vinegar or ammonia.
* Remove or alter environmental stresses which may cause anxiety. I realise this may not always be possible. Antianxiety medication may have to be prescribed short term while you determine and deal with the cause. Keep the cat out of target rooms and spend more time together.
* Retrain the cat to the litter box. Confine to a small room for 1-2 weeks. Once she consistently uses the box, gradually allow supervised access to the rest of the house. Lastly, remember, punishment does NOT work. Your cat is not doing this to get back at you, or out of spite, but rather due to some problems or conflict.
Felines are innately clean creatures and hopefully with some help, "this too will pass". Good Luck! Please address any questions to Dr. Lana Watler, c/o Cayman Veterinary Associates, P.O. Box 1609 GT, or fax 949-4150.
