Moms - I am currently living with my husband, 3 kids, and my girlfriend's five cats in her house. They are away in another country and we have been blessed to be able to stay in her house, rent free, as long as we take care of her kitties.
No problem!? HA!
Here is some background. Two of the cats have been with her for about 5-7 years. One around 3 years, and then the last one was only with her for about 8/9 months before she left for Japan. The people that lived here before us were supposed to take care of the cats and they did a horrible job, although I do understand the frustration. The cats were peeing or marking everything and she finally decided the cats could no longer come in the house. She put a cat door in the garage and put their food out there. They had access to the deck and garage. They are outside cats. So, she lost one of the cats about a year ago...we found him. But, he doesn't come to the house much anymore...we have to walk and call him and then he follows us back to the house. He has come in once or twice, but he doesn't stay.
So, we moved in here in July. We took the block off the cat door that leads into the house and the cats all know they can get in this way. They know because I have seen them all come through that door. We blocked off the door to the garage, we showed the cats where we are keeping their dry food. They eat it. I give them all wet food every morning. They are starting to let me pet them. All of them but one. We shall call her "T". T is the youngest and the one that was with the original owner the least amount of time. I am not sure if it's T that is marking everything, but she is my guess. The cat(s) are marking everything!! Pillows, toys, the babies toys, clothes, the dirty clothes hamper...even the TV (3 times!)!!! What can we do? We tried putting in the "plug ins" that are supposed to discourage marking. Those didn't do a thing. The owner (my friend) has suggested keeping the cats outside at night, but they are marking during the day! The house is huge, 3,000 square feet and 3 stories, so I am not able to keep an eye on them all day long.
Moms! I am desperate! What can I do to make them stop!? I am talking sweetly to them, petting them, feeding them....I am at a loss.
L.
All the cats are fixed. I have been reading up online and see that this is going to be a major problem. She doesn't have litter boxes for the cats since they are outside cats and just go outside. Should I get them litter boxes? Would that even make a difference. From what I read, they are peeing AND marking. The marking is on the furniture and the pee seems to be on the floor and carpet. She left me a small bottle of something to put on the carpet that is supposed to take away the smell so I did that in my daughters room today. I know they are pissed (pardon the pun) since they have now had 3 owners in the past 2 1/2 years. She left me a credit card for her vet, so maybe I need to be calling them and seeing what they have to say. Until then I will have everything locked away in our bedrooms....but that doesn't help our furniture or TV!!!
Normally only male cats that aren't neutered spray.. at least in my experience. They sell products that keep them from doing it just go take a peek at either Walmart or a Petco/ Petsmart.. good luck! I think its in a spray bottle but it's been a while since I've looked into it..
The cats may all be spayed and neutered, but they will still urine-mark and spray (both males and females), often because they are stressed out and unfortunately, as the urine smell gets established on materials and surfaces, they are more likely to keep going back to it. There are many, MANY factors that play into this behavior, including numbers of cats, numbers of litter boxes, the litter box set-up, and other sources of stress (such as people coming and going and household changes). Because it's been going for so long and there are 5 cats, there is no quick easy fix. First step is consulting with their veterinarian and possibly a referral to a behavior specialist. Sometimes anti-anxiety meds can help. However, since these are not really your cats, you need to talk to your friend about this - hopefully she will be willing to reimburse you for veterinary costs if you have to do all the work. Anything that the cats have been peeing on needs to either be thrown out or properly cleaned - sometimes that means replacing carpeting or furniture. There is a product called Nature's Miracle which does a really nice job of getting rid of the urine odor, but again, that's only one step in this whole process.
EDITED TO ADD: They need litter boxes if they spend any amount of time inside but if they are used to going outside, they may not actually use the boxes. Personally (and I very rarely recommend this but sometimes it's the easiest solution), if you say they have all been outdoor cats, let them still be outdoor cats ONLY. I love cats (obviously) and I am all about advocating for their welfare and fostering the human-animal bond, but everyone also has a limit. The damage cats can do urinating all over the place is tremendous, and as stated, there is no quick and simple solution. As long as they have shelter in the garage and access to food and water, and have been acclimated to living outdoors, they can do very well for themselves. But you should have a serious talk with their owner first and see what she is and is not willing to do about the problem.
Oh God.
There is nothing worse than cat pee.
First of all, it sounds like there are too darn many of them.
Second, they may be mad that their owners aren't there and other people have come and gone.
I don't know.
I've had cats that never once peed in the house and then I got two in a row that were chronic offenders and they had to go. Litter trained since kittens and fixed, they peed everywhere. The last one peed on clean folded laundry that I put on my son's bed for him to put away. That was the last straw.
One went to a friend to be an outside cat and keep gophers out of her garden and the other to a farm to be a barn cat.
I have vowed I will never have another cat because there is nothing like that smell and I can't take it.
You can't get rid of the cats that aren't yours. I wouldn't want them in at all.
I hope someone has some good advice for you.
All I can do is sympathize.
Best wishes.
Nothing in life is truly free. This is the hidden cost of your free house. Frankly it is better to let them be outside cats. Not every cat sprays. What is wrong with your friend that she needs five cats when she's gone so much of the time?
Two cats are enough for any home no matter how large. I put baking soda over the pee spots which takes away the odor totally in a day. I use Clorox wipes first. I no longer keep cats nor do I babysit them. Cats own the house and just let you live there whether you are their owner or not.
You know dogs have owners and cats have servants.
I've had fixed cats that continued to mark until they got another hormonal shot. Also, if there is another cat's marking on something, they may be trying to over-lay it.
Talk to your vet, and see if they can give them anything. Meanwhile, I used a combination of "nature's miracle" and something else - Trail? to remove cat spray smell from a car that had been inundated. It is very hard to get out.
I read a little on www.thecatsite.com and perhaps it's a urinary tract infection.
Another suggestion they had was to buy "Feliway" which has pheremones in it that calm the cat and so the cat won't want to mark/spray there.
Awful situation. If it were me, I'd talk to my friend in Japan and tell her these cats need to go! Or be outside only!
YES, get them litter boxes. Also take them to the vet, one or more could be sick. (bladder infection or UTI.) We have 3 cats, all indoor. Our male cat has had problems urinating/marking his whole life. 80% of the time he has had a raging UTI, the other 20% was because he was stressed out, (moving, new baby, new cat) and our vet put him on Prozac, seriously.
Call the vet in the morning, I'm sure the first thing he will want to do is see them and test for UTI's. You will probably have to take them in a few at a time since there are so many.
ETA- since there are 5 cats you should have atleast 4 littler boxes.
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Are they a spayed & neutered? One might have a bladder infection. One of mine did & he viewed the litter box as a painful place because of it. I had to make him an outside only cat after that.
hmmmmm... maybe ask your friend to send you money to get them all fixed.
It sounds like either they aren't fixed or there is a scent there that they are peeing on.
If they are not fixed you can ask you friend if you can get them fixed. It is better for their health anyway.
If they already peed on some parts of the carpeting they will keep peeing there because of the scent. If you put something on top of the soiled carpet they will pee on that object as well. The only way you can stop that is to clean with enzyme cleaners that you can get in a pet store.
You'd have to ask a vet for sure but back when we had cats, our vet told us the only way to prevent marking is to neuter them. And....once they've started marking neutering doesn't always help. It is usually the male cat that marks.
Once cats have peed in the house they or subsequent cats will continue to pee in the same spots. There isn't a way to completely get rid of the smell. Even when we can't smell it, the cats can. I tried enzyme cleaners as well as a professional carpet cleaning service who used enzymes and my new dog peed in the same places as the old. This is both a cat and dog behavior.
They can be outdoor cats and not come into the house and you can still interact with them. Schedule a time each day to go out and be with them.
In a 3000sf home, there has to be some set of large rooms you may be willing to give up using to give to just the cats and out in 4 litter boxes.
I have 13 cats.... and they started peeing on the carpet, floor and piles of clothes or paper. My husband built a beautiful back screened porch for them and now they are all out there. We have a very SMALL house... so we didn't have any internal room to spare, so it had to be an outdoor addition - but in your case, there should be a room or two you can close off for just the cats.
