My cat is peeing in an inappropriate spot

Question
I have a female cat who is not declawed and she is a little over 1 year old.  She developed a urinary tract infection and started to pee on my futon. I took her to the vet and got her medicine and solved the problem (or so I thought).  I also had her stay with my best friend for a week so that she could get well and give me time to replace my futon because it was ruined.  So I purchased a brand new futon and covered it with tin foil (because I read that cats are scared of it).  That worked at first and she was peeing in her litter box fine until one day she decided to rip off the tin foil and pee all over my brand new futon.  She obviously didn't smell her pee on the new one and continues to pee on the new futon and in her litter box.  I keep the box clean at all times.  She no longer sits on the futon because she believes she is supposed to pee on it.  So now I am in the process of exchanging the futon for another new one but I am at wits end.  I even stood the mattress up against the wall when I wasn't home so that she wouldn't pee on it but she climbed up onto the tip of it and peed.  What do I do?

Answer
Hello Kara,

She is likely, as a declawed cat would, associating the litterbox with the pain from her infection.  Urinary tract infections also recure so I would rule that out if you haven't allready.  Until you get the problem solved I would buy a plastic mattress cover for your futon, in the meantime you don't need to go out and buy a new one every time she pee's on it, any enzyme cleaner will get the smell out, nature's miracle is a good one or depending on the color of your futon bleach works well too.

I am not sure you need to go as far as litter training 101, 102(which is more like training you) might be more appropriate here ;)  I will paste the intructions for the first one just in case but before having to resort to that there are a few things you can try first.  I would have a minimum of three litterboxes in your house, put them in convenient and varrying places.  If your litterboxes are covered now uncover them and vice versa.  Make sure you have at least one in a very private spot and one in a very open spot close to where she sleeps most.  You need to fill each one with a differen't litter to see which one she prefers, wood pellets, clumping, shredded newspaper and there are also crystals.  I would also buy yourself some cat attract, this stuff works miracles.  Try and catch her in the act, when a cat is about to urinate they will sniff around in differen't spots then they will paw an area to pee on and then squat to go, watch for the signs and if you are lucky enough to catch her a firm and loud NO! scruff her and bring her to the litterbox immediatly.  By doing all of this you are going to learn a lot about what she likes and doesn't like concerning her litterbox habbits.  Once you figure out what she prefers I would set up three identical boxes in area's that she prefers, all private or all in the open etc.  I believe this should do the trick, if not see below!

Good Luck,

Natoma
Chenza Maine Coons
www.chenza.com

I can tell you are beyond frustrated and I assure you I am not here volunteering my time, of which I don't have very much of it free thus the often very late replies, to hand out stock answers.  I will start by saying I have honestly never experienced a problem as severe as this with my own cats but I am more than willing to do my best to help you out.

First, and this will suck for both you and the poop cat, but she needs to go back to litter training 101.  It's going to require about 6 litterboxes, a commitment and a lot of patience but it sounds like you're willing to try anything!  While cats are smart and can use bad litterbox habbits to make a point, I don't think that's what is going on here as it's gone on far too long for that.  It's possible this is how it started out but now she has just gotten to a point that it's habbit to go wherever she feels like it, unusual for the normally clean cat but absolutely not unheard of!  

You have allready answered most of my usual questions for this type of problem but I have a few more.  What kind of litterbox and litter do you use?  How many litterboxes do you have and where are they situated?  How have you been cleaning the area's that she has defecated?

This may seem drastic but she needs to be kept in your bathroom for now until we can get her using the box regularly.  With of course her litterbox and water dish, free feeding is out for now so that you will have an idea of when she is going to go.  You will learn her digestive system better than she knows it ;)  By doing this you are creating a smaller living area for her and by using her natural instinct not to poo where she sleeps she will be forced to use the litter box.  You need to buy Cat Attract litter, it is generally for use with problem pee'ers but does work for poo too.  She needs to be fed once a day only, most cats, dogs, people etc will eliminate the previous days food one hour after they've eaten the new meal.  This will help you monitor her bowel movements, doesnt that sound like fun?  ;)  It's going to take a week or so of the once a day feeding to regulate her system which is where the bathroom comes in, by keeping her in here you are going to be sure she is using the box and it sounds like your older cat will get a much needed break from her.  We all spend 1/4 of our day in the bathroom plus an extra visit or two to see her so I am sure she will not be neglected.

If you are currently using uncovered boxes, cover them and vice versa.  Some cats want the privacy, others hate the closed in boxes.  You should also provide her with two boxes, if space allows, yup you read that right!  I have had more than one cat who wants two boxes, one for peeing and the other for pooping.  Some will also not touch a box that another cat has used nor will they go if there is even one mess in it, so what I would recommend is staying on top of the boxes as much as possible.  Since you're in the bathroom and, I believe, cat attract is flushable this should be easy enough.

She should remain in the bathroom until you are relatively certain you've got her system down, it really shouldn't be tough as mentioned it is generally an hour after eating so I would feed her around 6-7pm.  Once this is settled start letting her out during the day but putting her back in the bathroom to eat and then use the box, I would do this for another week or so.  After that I would begin to let her out during the day, put her back to eat but then let her out immediately after leaving both the litterbox in the bathroom and one that is fairly close to the bathroom.  By this point in time she should be back in the habbit of using the box regularly but by knowing her system you will be able to monitor where she is when she should be about to go and best of all you will catch her in the act if she is about to eliminate inappropriately.  She *should* be trained by now but if she is not and you can catch her 'in the act' grab her up and immediately put her in the box.  During the first few weeks that she is out of the bathroom you should have a variety of boxes out in a variety of places, they should be convenient for her to get to.  Over time you can remove one or two but for your situation I would have no less than four boxes in the home.  Keeping in mind that having four is not going to make them go more so it won't be more cleaning it will just be spread out a bit more.  This will help avoid recurrances if she is particularly picky and this may have been what started all of this in the first place.

I have used this type of training with more than one cat and it works like a charm.  It is a lot of work and takes time but I agree that you can not continue to live like that.