Multiple cats and litter box problems.

Question
QUESTION: I have 14 cats in  my house, because I live in the country and rescue homeless hungry cats, and have found several cats in abandon houses that needed a home.  I love all my cats, but there are several cats that are not using the litter box, and I have tried everything I can think of.  I have 15 litter boxes scattered through out the house, that I clean every day.  I have gotten the kind of litter to detect infections, I have gotten cat attract litter, I have given the "problem cats" medicine from the vet for behavioral problems, and I have gotten the flower essence (bottled blessing) and tried that.  Nothing seems to work.  There are 3 of my cats (at least) that go behind a piece of furniture or in a corner to urinate.  I have had to rip up the carpet and put vinyl flooring in areas because of this. I have cleaned the areas with every kind of cleaner made for pets.  I've asked my vet over and over what to do, but he doesn't seem to help me at all.  I'm hoping you have some ideas.................

ANSWER: Michelle,

Besides not being neutered or spayed, The most common cause for that behavior is that they have a urinary tract infection or urinary crystals. Both are painful and the cats associate that pain with the litterbox and go elsewhere. Has the vet checked for that?

Some cats do not like the feel of litter under their feet and will not use a litterbox. I would try a couple of puppy pee-pads and see if they use that.

Sometimes they will use children's play sand (from Home Depot or other building supply store instead of litter.

Here are a couple of good websites with articles that may give you some more ideas:
(copy and paste, or type, the whole links into your address bar)

http://www.geocities.com/heartland/pointe/9352/litterboxhelp.html

http://cats.about.com/cs/behavioralissues/a/outsidebox_two.htm

You may find this helpful also:

Here is a 'receipe' for cat urine odor removal:

1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda
1 teaspoon of liquid soap

(3% hydrogen peroxide can be bought at most grocery and drug stores in pint and quart bottles).

Gently mix all ingredients in a non-metal container. Do not mix or shake vigorously!

The mixture is best used when fresh but can be stored. Do not keep mixture in an airtight container.  Have a VERY loose lid as baking soda and hydrogen peroxide when mixed together will release oxygen and an airtight container will explode. You can mix and keep it in large spray bottle (Home Depot, etc.) but a plastic liter or 2-liter soda bottle works just a well.

Always test for color-fastness. Hydrogen peroxide is a bleaching agent in stronger concentrations and can lighten materials that are not color-fast.
HOW TO REMOVE CAT URINE ODOR FROM CARPETS

FOR INDIVIDUAL URINE SPOTS ON CARPET:
If fresh, sop up as much cat urine as you can with a paper towel first. Use a spray bottle to saturate the spot completely with the recipe - do not blot. The recipe must penerate the padding and possibly the floor boards underneath, where the urine has penerated for it to work.

Wait 24-48 hours until dry then vacuum. If the urine odor is still present - repeat the procedure. It usually takes 2-3 applications to completely neutralize the cat urine odor.

FOR LARGE AREAS OF CARPET:
You can use a carpet cleaning machine - one of your own or a rental and use the recipe instead of the shampoo. You will have to make several gallons of the recipe depending on the size of the carpet. Don't use the vacuum part of the machine - you will want to let the solution soak and dry for 24-48 hours before vacuuming.

Please bear in mind that most carpet cleaning machines are not made for this use and baking soda can clog the nozzles of the machine - so use it at your own risk. Instead, I used a 1 gallon garden bug sprayer I bought at Home Dept for about $20.00. It worked great and if you ruin it, its not such a big expense to replace it. I had to rinse the nozzle out frequently by filling the tank with hot water and spraying it in my bathtub until the nozzle was clear but it worked!

If using the sprayer saturate the entire carpet with the recipe, let dry for about 24-48 hours and vacuum. You will have to probably repeat the procedure again. One of my bedrooms only needed 2 applications but the other 2 that where heavily saturated with old urine took 3 applications over a week.

Also, if the cat urine is old and dried, the smell will probably be worse a day or two later. This is because you are rehydrating the uric acid crystals in the urine to neutralize them. The smell will get better with each application!

I hope this helps. It's a nice thing you are doing for the cats.

Carol












---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Carol,
        In reply to your answer above, all 14 of my cats have been spayed/neutered.  I've sometimes wondered if my vet might not have possibly done the proceedure correctly because I've also noticed some spraying, believe it or not by my females.  I've actually seen them back up to a wall and do it.  
My vet has not checked for an infection, because he said he needs a urine sample, which I can not seem to get.  Either it is in the carpet, or in the litter and I can't get a good sample.
I did read the websites you gave to me, and I have tried most of it already.  I just got the feliway  sprays and am trying them now to see if they help.  They have plenty of toys to play with and I have bought those tall carpeted things for them to climb and play on and look out the windows.  We have very deep window sills so they can sit on them and look outside. It's not like they are bored.
Your advice about the cats not liking the litter doesn't make sense in this situation, because they did use the litter boxes faithfully when they were younger and still do, sometimes.  There is a litter box in every room in my house, some rooms have 2.  I have different kinds of litter in different ones, in case they don't like one kind.  I also have food and water bowls in 9 different locations, so that they are not fighting for food or water. Our house is 3000 sq ft with about 12 rooms, so there is plenty of beds to lay on, hide underneath,and plenty of rooms to just hang out in to get away from the rest of the cats if they want.  I'm running out of ideas.  I did get the vet to let me try a round of antibiotics and see if maybe it is an infection, but it seems odd to me that 3 or 4 cats would all have that problem?  I clean the litter boxes out faithfully every day.  These cats are almost like a full time job.............

Answer
Michelle,

Wow, it sounds like you have tried most everything!

The other things I can think of are Redirected Aggression, where cat see a stray cat outside and get stressed because they can't get to the cat to protect their territory, which can cause some cats (even females) to 'mark' inside and improperly eliminate because of the stress caused by the stray cats; or that there is a territory issue with some of the cats who may think and want their territory in the house to be bigger, or all their own.

Have you considered having a cat door where the cats can be indoor-outdoor cats? Some cats don't do as well being locked inside after they have had the freedom of being outside and able to hunt and explore. It can make them stressed, and the bladder is the stress point of a cat.

I agree that taking care of alot of cats is like a full time job...in fact it is!

Carol