This is a story so please bear with me. We have 2 senior dogs and 2 senior cats that have lived together and with us for better than 6 years. We rescued them. They have moved with us and the cats have always adjusted to the litterbox no matter the change, even in an RV when we moved from NJ to TX. 6 weeks ago my FIL passed and we adopted his cat. She has only been with him and never around other animals and always hid when he had company. Originally we setup her litter box, food and water away from the other cats. This lasted 2 days as she wanted to eat with the other cats and was also using their box. Now the new cat is urinating on our wall to wall rugs once a day in different areas. How can we stop this? She has really adjusted well to all our animals and is learning to stay off the counters. It is just this issue that appears to be difiant/behavior issue that we need to break before the house starts to smell like a cat box.

Thank you in advance for all the help and suggestions.

 

That's a difficult problem with so many other animals already established in the house. I think your new cat is marking out territory. You might try watching episodes of "My Cat From Hell" on Animal Planet. The host is often helping people with your situation. Basically he focuses a lot on how the animals interact, creating separate spaces for each animal to claim as theirs and that they have their personal secure spot to go to when things get too hectic.

 

Two things come to mind:

1) make sure you keep the litter boxes clean. If you use the scoop kind (the best IMO) clean it out every day.

2) Put out extra litter boxes. Sometimes cats seem to forget where the box is and will just go where ever they can.

 

I have to concur with what Dane and Tolyn have said. It sounds more like a territory or claiming issue, thus behavioural rather than medical, BUT To be sure, take the cat to the vet to be checked for urinary tract issues. Often times in times of high stress, cats will not drink enough to keep their urinary tract healthy, so it may be a mild or even severe infection in the urinary tract causing the issue.

 

Out of the clear blue sky (well, not out of the sky) our female began spraying the walls. So uncharacteristic of her previous behavior. Eventually we discovered another cat coming onto our deck and looking in the windows. Our cat was spraying the same wall. The other cat doesn’t appear to be around anymore. It was a territorial thing. In your case the new cat may get used to the other animals soon, I don’t know. It is a frustrating behavior.

 

Hi All ~ things are getting worse. We have always kept a clean litter box emptying it daily and sometimes twice as needed. We put another box down in a different area for the new cat and it doesn't use it. She is now peeing everywhere my 2 cats sleep hide or lounge. We are at our wits end and cannot keep cleaning up after her several times a day. This morning see peed in the pantry in a corner as we were cleaning that see peed on our bed, the chase in the corner and one of our other cats bed. Can this be corrected or does she have to go????? Forgot to mention that she does drink plenty.

 

Drinking a lot of water is a sign of diabetes. I knew nothing about feline diabetes until 1-2 years ago. Our male has diabetes and requires 2 shots a day, which are easy enough to do. A blood test revealed his diabetes, but sometimes a urine test is necessary. His weight has stabilized just fine, still drinks more than normal. Has to eat expensive cat food now.

The urine locations that your cat is using still indicate a territorial/defensive behavior. The vet may be able to help with ideas and suggestions.

While our male and female comfortably share the litterbox, apparently the female would urinate in such a way that it would fly up and over the litter box edge and onto the basement floor. I bought a large plastic bin, the kind that you would use for storage. I put a plastic bucket with lid at either end of it so they could use the buckets as a step-up. Now her urine stream hits the side and no longer goes up and over onto my area of responsibility.

I hope you can get the figured out; it is so frustrating.

 

I would have to agree with PABugman, sounds territorial still. But having said that have you taken her to the vet yet? You definitely need to rule out medical issues first and foremost. Then perhaps the vet can suggest some things other than what has been suggested here. Also, the vet may prescribe a mild tranquilizer or anti-anxiety med for her to help her adjust more easily. But to be sure, get her fully vet checked before making and decisions you may regret or question later.