Cat started weeing indoors.

[Roscoe32]

Hello. Wondered if anyone could give some advice. We have a two year old male cat. He developed a habit in the last six months of sometimes weeing indoors. At first it was in one particular spot in the corner of the room, it then evolved to doing it on anything scrunchy we left on the floor, so sometimes plastic bags or bubble wrap, he's aslso started using the shower mat in the bathroom. We've kept on top of it by keeping the shower room door closed and not not leaving things we think he'd like to wee on lying around on the floor. Anyhow, this morning I've found that he's done a huge wee on the spare room bed, right in the middle of the duvet. He's not done this before so I'm worried it's going to start to become a regular thing and maybe he will start doing it on our own bed too. He's fully trained and uses the outside garden to use the toilet but this is a strangely sporadic habit. He can be a tiny bit nervy sometimes, if our doorbell rings he runs to hide under the sofa and he's wary of strangers but apart from that he's a confident happy go lucky sort of cat. Thanks for any advice.

[Ruth B]

Firstly, I am assuming that at two years old he has been neutered, if not then that is the first place to start.

Secondly does he have a cat flap and if so is it an exclusive entry one.

My first thought is that something has happened to him while outside that has made him not want to use the garden, which is why he is trying to find somewhere acceptable to go inside. It might be there has been a visiting cat either into the garden or even into the house and he is trying to mark the territory as his or even just a loud noise when he was about to go. Our Ragdoll had a problem one year, he had just dug his hole in the garden and sat down, when a firework went off over head, he refused to use the garden for months afterwards and was always scared of loud bangs.

Going forward, my first advise is to get him checked at the vets and make sure that there isn't a medical problem that might be causing it. Also get him a litter tray and put it somewhere away from any outside doors so that he has somewhere safe to go with in his home den. I would also suggest getting some of the special odour removers meant to be used for cleaning up cat urine to clean the carpet etc. The bedding and mats can hopefully all be washed to get any scent out of them.

You might also want to consider getting a hypo allergenic mattress protector as the ones we have are also water proof. We got one as I am asthmatic and when one of our previous cats developed incontinence due to old age it saved our bed. We hadn't realised he had developed it, but as he obviously wasn't well that morning, i had made an appointment at the vets for the evening, we took him and it was a one way trip, his body was already shutting down, so we just speed up the inevitable. It was only when we finally decided to go to bed did we find out he hadn't moved all day and the bedding was soaked through. The protector meant that the mattress was a least bone dry. I will never be with out one again.

Hopefully there won't be anything medically wrong and he will start to feel better and return to going where he should.

[Roscoe32]

thanks Ruth

He has been neutered yes, secondly we have two cats in the house, he lives with a ginger main coon that's three years old, they both have a chipped cat flap so only they can come in and out. There is a cat that sort of lives more or less full time our garden actually. He rarely comes in but now and again, especially in summer when we open the patio doors he runs in and sleeps on the armchair. He's a harmless fellow but can get a bit rough in play with our two cats, we had noticed recently that him and Herbie (our one that is doing the weeing) have not been getting on that amazingly outdoors, they don't fight but Herbie just avoids him and it seems to work 'ok'. There's been the odd growl. I wonder if it might be an issue with this other cat. The other cat sadly lives in a shed a few houses down, his owners don't let him in their house, so we sort of take pity on him and give him a treat sometimes.

[Ruth B]

Just because they don't fight doesn't mean there aren't dominance issues. Cats will normally only fight as a last resort as an injured cat couldn't hunt and feed themselves in the wild. Dominance displays, marking territory and passive aggression are all ways that cats will establish dominance without resorting to fighting. The other cat might have intimidated him sometimes while he is out doing his business which means he doesnt' want to go out.

As I suggested before i would still advise getting an indoor litter tray, possibly more, in a multicat household i have been told that litter trays equal to number of cats plus one is the ideal. I haven't managed it, but until you know where the problem is it might be worth a try if you can find separate places for them. I mention this now as you have mentioned you have two cats. While I think the one outside might be the problem, there is always a chance that you other cat is more the issue and guarding food and litter trays is one of the standard passive aggressive moves. If the Mainecoon is stopping Herbie going outside when he needs to then that might be where the problem lies.

Hopefully, if it is intercat problems it will come to light who the problems is and you can work from there. I can't understand why anyone would have a cat and then not let it inside unless it was a feral that refused to come in.

It could be that I am on totally the wrong track but it would be a place to start, and maybe some of the other members can give alternative suggestions.

[Roscoe32]

thanks for taking the time to reply Ruth. Just give you some background, Herbie is the cat who is doing the weeing and our other cat, the main coon is called Jeff. I am 100% certain there are no issues between Herbie and Jeff and if anything Herbie is dominant over Jeff on most issues especially as to who gets access to the cat flap so I think its more to do with Mumu who is the cat from the outside. I will try these pointers and just see what arises like you advise.

Yes, I have no idea why the poor thing is left to sleep in a shed, if I could I would get someone round to rehome him so he can live indoors and be cuddled and looked after and go outside when he likes. He's a sweet cat but can be a bit gnarly and aggressive, not sure what's happened to him in the past but he can hiss if you try to stroke his back end and I have had a few swipes in the past!

[Crewella]

I agree with Ruth, it does sound as though there may be issues developing with this other cat that make him feel vulnerable peeing outdoors. Do try giving him a litter tray to use - it may not be ideal to have one but it's better for both you and him than the alternative!