Re: our Lola and sraying

Question
Yes, our cat Lola, is spraying around our house. She's been fixed for two years now, and the last year has been traumatic for us all. I suffered a major stroke eight months ago, resulting in our children(9 and 22 months) going to stay with family for five months while i was in the hospital. The kids came home, and we've had our carpets cleaned about one and a half months ago. I noticed the smell of cat urine, and I've cleaned her box. I always wash it with mild soap and a little bleach, and use the corn litter with baking soda mixed in. Idk if she's stressed, maybe sick, or just marking. I've never seen her doing it, just smelled it. Any suggestions please wld help us out so much, and she's a indoor cat only for we live in the city and I wld fall apart if something happened to my "third child". We adopted her as a kitten, so she's been with us only. Thank you for your time, and do you know any natural ways to clean the smell out of the carpets?

Answer
Jennifer,

Lola may be spraying as a result of stress, but I would strongly suggest ruling out any medical causes before assuming that the issue is behavioural. A visit to your family veterinarian for urine tests is the first step in this process. I would also suggest adding more litterboxes, particularly in the areas that she marks. Clean up of any pee should be done with an enzymatic (CO2 based) cleaner... It will permanently remove the smell and stain, just be forewarned it may also remove the color from your carpeting/furniture so spot tests are a good plan... I suggest Petzyme or similar products... You can find Petzyme at your local Petsmart (in my experience Nature's Miracle smells lovely but doesn't do much for stains/odors, so don't waste your money)... If they don't have Petzyme in the cat section you can find it in the dog section - Bissell also makes one called ewww that I've seen at Petsmart which works quite well. If you own a home carpet cleaner Bissell also makes a pet specific cleaner/odor remover that's enzyme based specifically for their machines. If you're interested in learning more about common house soiling issues I have answered other questions on this subject so please feel free to browse back a bit. If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me again at any time - I am more than happy to help in any way that I can.

Kind regards,

Ali