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Courtney
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Posted: Aug 28 2006 at 9:14am | IP Logged Quote Courtney

My cat is driving me crazy! He's 3 yrs old. He's recently started urinating in the corner of the formal dining room. I've sprayed Petzyme and it's not helping. It's gotten so bad that one day I opened a kitchen cabinet on the other side of the dining room wall, and could smell cat pee from inside the cabinet!

Today when I went into my sewing room, he had left a pile of pooh in the floor. I checked his litter box and there was hardly anything in it.

Any advice for 1. getting the smell out of my cabinet and my carpet. 2. keeping him from continuing this nasty habit! I have a very sensitive nose and can't stand the thought of my house smelling like a barn! Help!

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Posted: Aug 28 2006 at 9:53am | IP Logged Quote Dawn

Oh Courtney, I feel your pain!

I have four cats. All except one are very well behaved. One of them can sometimes lapse into this nasty habit too. It makes me CRAZY.

Has anything happened lately to set off your cat - any stress, construction or remodeling, strange people coming and going, cat fights etc.?

As far as getting the smell out - have you tried Zero Odor? It seems to work very well. (If there are natural methods for this problem, I'd love to hear of them.)

If you can get the area *completely* odor free (you might need to reapply the Zero Odor daily till the smell is undetectable) your cat won't smell the pee there, which would prompt him to continue the marking.

Now the question is though, is he marking or just going outside the box? If he pooped somewhere that sounds like it might not be a stress/marking issue. He could have a medical issue and in that case I would call your vet and have him checked. How is he acting otherwise?

p.s. please excuse all the *p* words, it's not a very delicate subject!



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Courtney
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Posted: Aug 28 2006 at 11:19am | IP Logged Quote Courtney

He's a bit of a strange cat to begin with. My kids were recently out of town and he LOVES them. He cried a lot while they were gone. I think he had started his dining room escapades before that though. I made an appt. this morning with the vet for tomorrow afternoon. I figured I can at least find out if it's physical or not. I'm kind of hoping it's a urinary tract infection. It seems easier to deal with than a behavior problem!

I'm going to try the Zero Odor! THanks for the tip!

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Posted: Aug 28 2006 at 12:17pm | IP Logged Quote Taffy

What a stinky problem!

I always get as much of the urine out of any carpeting that I can with paper towels, then spray with vinegar and add baking soda and let the soda sit on it overnight. The cat gets banned from the room and/or house for the day (at least). If the smell is really strong, something like Febreeze or the pet odor removal products might help.

I also remember seeing a TV show where this was discussed. Apparantly, the location and type of litter box is very important. If you have more than one cat, there may be an issue with territory - the dominant cat won't allow others near their litter box. Also, many cats don't like to feel "boxed in" - they need a quick excape route. The person on the program was saying that the "box like" kitty litter trays are the worst kind to get.

Another idea that popped into my head is the location of your cat's litter tray? Is it in an area that is hard for him to access? Your vet should be able to help you determine that.

Good luck - I hope the problem ends soon!

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JennGM
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Posted: Aug 28 2006 at 12:58pm | IP Logged Quote JennGM

Okay, a few thoughts.

To remove the odor, the best thing that worked for us was an enzyme "eater" of some kind. We moved into our townhouse 5 years ago, and one room just reeked of cat urine.

First, buy a black light to find all the places where your cat is gone. Don't look too carefully at the other things that showed up....it could really make you want to revamp the whole house.

We tried many products, but ended up with "Nature's Miracle" which was available at a local pet store. Now, here's a warning -- it takes some time to let the enzymes break the odors down. It's not an instaneous solution. This link has loads of info to help you.

My mil's cat had some problems like you talk about. He would act up when he wasn't getting attention, when she left for a while, or when she had guests. She would find puddles and piles in places to show he was angry. One time we arrived late at night and I found on one of the guest beds where I was about to put my head signs that he had been there.

But he started doing this excessively because he had a urinary tract problem. So you might want to get that checked out.

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Courtney
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Posted: Sept 01 2006 at 3:43pm | IP Logged Quote Courtney

Thank you, all! We took Oliver to the vet on Tuesday and he did in fact have an urinary tract infection. He was given an antibiotic shot and some pills for us to give him, as well as prescription food. He doesn't like the food and I had to feed him from my hand this morning to get him to eat. He does seem happier, though! And Jenn, I did buy the nature's miracle. I think my dh used the whole bottle already! I can already tell a bit of a difference. Today I cleaned out the cabinet and sprayed some more in there. I'll going to let it air out and wipe it down before I put all the dishes back in it. Thank you all for your kitty advice!

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Posted: Sept 01 2006 at 6:12pm | IP Logged Quote Dawn

Courtney, I'm so glad to hear Oliver is OK! He's lucky to have such a loving, attentive family.

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Posted: Sept 01 2006 at 6:46pm | IP Logged Quote Courtney

I wasn't feeling loving when they gave me the estimate for all the things they wanted to do !

I was sorry to hear about your cat, Dawn. How's everyone doing?

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Posted: Sept 02 2006 at 7:03am | IP Logged Quote Dawn

Courtney wrote:
I was sorry to hear about your cat, Dawn. How's everyone doing?


Thanks, Courtney. Everyone is OK but feeling sad and missing Patty. We have had our cats 15 years! It is hard to realize he's gone (and we lost Mama Kitty last fall). My other three cats sense the sadness too. My calico, Penny, has not left my side since Wednesday morning.

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Posted: Sept 02 2006 at 8:20am | IP Logged Quote Courtney

Oh, Dawn. When my ds was 2 wks old, I had to have our Mr. Wiggles, who was also 15, put down. It really stuck with me for several days. We still talk about him and miss him!

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Posted: Sept 02 2006 at 9:34pm | IP Logged Quote Maddie

So sorry to hear about Patty. Our Miss Moppet was put to rest 3 years ago and I still miss my girl.

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Posted: Sept 03 2006 at 5:52am | IP Logged Quote Dawn

You know, as hard as it is to lose a pet, one thing it has done is made me realize we might not have a lot of time left with our remaining three cats (all 15). They are all in good health (one has diabetes but it is being managed) but I have to realize our time together could be short.

I was looking over my journal from last year this time and found my entry about Mama Kitty's passing. I had pasted in pictures and written my thoughts. Oh, so sad and yet so nice to remember her.

My husband and I stayed up late last night watching a movie and I just held and patted my Smokey the whole while - enjoying his purring and *his* enjoyment at all the attention. If anything this has made me remember these sweet kitties need a good dose of daily attention. Of course it makes me wish to have Patty back just for a few days to hold him and pat him a bit more.

I'm sorry to go on about this. I hadn't realized how much I needed to talk about it.

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Posted: Sept 04 2006 at 7:09pm | IP Logged Quote JennGM

Courtney wrote:
Thank you, all! We took Oliver to the vet on Tuesday and he did in fact have an urinary tract infection. He was given an antibiotic shot and some pills for us to give him, as well as prescription food. He doesn't like the food and I had to feed him from my hand this morning to get him to eat. He does seem happier, though! And Jenn, I did buy the nature's miracle. I think my dh used the whole bottle already! I can already tell a bit of a difference. Today I cleaned out the cabinet and sprayed some more in there. I'll going to let it air out and wipe it down before I put all the dishes back in it. Thank you all for your kitty advice!


Great news! I'm glad it wasn't serious and the odors are clearing up!

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