Urinating EVERYWHERE

Question
Hi Ali, I have a 10 year old blue persian who is COMPLETELY urinating ALL OVER MY HOUSE everywhere. He is out of control. I believe it is behavior related b/c we had him checeked and the Dr. Said he is fine. Urinalysis shows nothing abnormal. We have a family next door that has at LEAST 8 cats that arent being cared for and they pee all over the outside of my house as well. I think my cat is guarding the house, he is an indoor cat. Is there anything I can do for him ? My vet suggested amitriptyline... ? Do you agree? I'm not sure HOw i feel about that? Any advice on how I can stop this would be great, bc my parents are threatening to get rid of him... :(

Answer
Kristen,

There are a number of reasons that cats will urinate outside of the litter box. If there was no blood work taken it could be possible that there are issues that haven't been found. Blood work would rule out issues like kidney failure. It is also very possible that the cats who urinate all over your cat's territory are upsetting him. You can things like putting a privacy film over any windows that the cat can see the neighbor's cats out of. These films vary in price and design, they can be temporary or permanent. You could try using an enzymatic cleaner to remove the smell of the other cats' urine from the outside of the house and then applying an outdoor cat repellant or even something as simple as the peelings from citrus fruits. Most cats don't like the smell of the oils in peelings from lemons, limes or oranges. You can also try buying as hot a pepper as you can find in your local grocery store and mincing it up and spreading it around the worst areas where the neighbor's cats have peed and you have cleaned with an enzymatic cleaner. An enzymatic cleaner works by using good bacteria to eat the components of body fluids that account for the bad smell. You can also try using a homeopathic remedy called Bach's Rescue Remedy which is a blend of flower essences that is designed to calm and reassure your cat. You can usually find Rescue Remedy at health food/natural health stores and it is fairly reasonably priced. I would recommend a dosage of about 10 drops in fresh water every morning. If anxiety is the issue you may notice a substantial difference in your kitty fairly quickly. It is important that you clean any places that your cat has peed in the house with an enzymatic cleaner so that he doesn't make the same mistakes based on smell alone. If you try cleaning urine with other household cleaners you may not notice a smell, but your cat can smell the components that identify urine and will continue to eliminate based on that. I would also recommend that you make sure that the litter box is cleaned at least once a day and that you have one litter box per cat plus one per level of your home. I usually recommend that people not use air fresheners or scented kitty litter in the vicinity of the litter box as some cats have sensitivities to scents just as some people do. If the litter box is regularly cleaned and washed and dumped completely once a week or so you shouldn't have any bad odor at all unless your cat has just finished going to the toilet. It is also important that you make sure that the litter box is in a quiet, low traffic area of the house, cats prefer to eliminate in private without being disturbed much like people do. If your cat has specific areas that he uses outside of the litter box you can try pheromone based products or placing a bowl of food on the spots as the cat will usually not mark where the pheromones or food sit. You can certainly use an anti-depressant/anti anxiety drug like amitriptyline, but it is important that you realise that these drugs aren't without risk or side effects. If the choice is between the drug or euthanasia then the drug should always be tried. It is also important that I emphasise the importance of cleaning with an enzymatic cleaner, if you go to a larger pet store like Petsmart you will find better deals on cleaners like Petzyme which works really well. If you look in the cat sections there are much smaller quantities available at a higher price per mL in general. I hope that some of the information I have provided will prove to be helpful. If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me again.