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Subject   change in behavior
Question   I have 3 animals, 2 cats and a dog. The cats previously lived with my husband, and when we got married, the animals all started living under the same roof.

The cats are 2 and 1, both females that are fixed. The dog is a small 11lb chi mix that is 3. The dog and the youngest cat get along fine, the oldest cat tolerates the dog (does not get in fights but avoids the dog). All animals are indoor only.

We have had no previous behavior problems with the animals. The animals moved to their new home at the beginning of August, and had no problems. Two weeks ago we noticed that one of the animals went to the bathroom on a pile of clothes. They had access to their litter box, which was clean. The urine was a different smell, more pungent. We cleaned it up thoroughly. We made sure to leave no clothes in the floor, thinking this was the problem. A week later an animal (or animals) started peeing again, on the carpet, all around the house (although at various times throughout the week). I'm assuming this is one of the cats, I've been around cats that marked before, although they were male, and the smell is similar.

I wondered if there is something we're doing wrong in our behavior towards the animals. We give them all a lot of affection when we're home. We keep the litter box clean, and they always have access to the room its in. We have not punished the animals in any way for this behavior--I don't know how you correct a cat anyway.

The times the cats pee is infrequent, sometimes we are home (asleep) other times we are away at work.

How can we remedy this problem?

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Answer   Hi Ales,

You need to take all the cats to the vet and get them checked out. One of them sounds like he has an urinary track infection. This will cause the urinating out of the box. Also the strong smelling urine was a tip off too.

You also need to clean the areas where the urine was with an enzymatic urine cleaner. This will remove all traces of odors that tempt cats to use the area again. Good luck.

Ciao, Karen

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I attached the initial question, but I'm not too happy with the response. I've noticed that Karen is quick to say all cats have a urinary tract infection.

For the past 3 days the cats have been secluded in a single room for most of the hours of the day. They get free range of the house for about 4 hours out of the day. We cannot have this problem persist because we rent and do not want to pay to have all the carpets replaced. Over the past couple days we have had 0 problems. From what I've read, a cat with a urinary tract infection will go practically anywhere, however they have only used the litter box.

I wanted a second opinion, and after this I'll stop hounding you guys.

PS Love the site, its been comforting to know this is availabe.

Answer
Hi Alexandra,

No worries! Always good to get a second opinion :) To be honest, I do agree with the advice to take kitty to the vet just to be on the safe side- if it were my cat that is honestly what I would do myself.

...This being said, I had a similar problem with a former cat, and it turned out that she only did it when she was mad about something (for example, on one occasion something fell on her food dish and covered it while I was at work, so she peed on my futon) It took me a while to figure out what was going on- any time she was mad about something, she showed it by peeing in the wrong spot.

You're doing the right thing by not punishing the kitties- I reckon they're just trying to find a way to communicate something. Yes, it is a yucky way, but it's the only way they know you'll understand (or at least they hope you'll understand)

I'd look at anything that could be the source of the problem- are they mad about their food? are they upset with  the litter tray being moved? (just as a couple of things it could be)

Do use the enzymatic urine cleaner- once kitty thinks it is ok to go somewhere, they'll keep going there (unfortunately)

I really hope this helps, good luck!