Kitten peeing everywhere... at wits end! Haaaaalp!

AoifeCork

Hey guys. Serious problem here. We have three cats-all adopted from the same organisation. They're all neutered, vaccinated, chipped and checked for HIV/cat flu. The oldest is 1, the second one is 9 months and the baby is 4.5 months. Since we got her in December, she has struggled with the litter situation. We have 4 trays for the three of them. The second cat (male, ginger so a bit dumb!) will happily pee and poop outside but still uses the tray when he's in at night. The oldest religiously uses the one covered tray and has always been clean but the baby is a nightmare. We clean the trays every 3 days and empty them at least twice a day. We wash them with a special cat detergent and basically, they are immaculate. Sometimes the baby will use them, most of the time she will pee on the floor. We've checked her with vet and she has no urinary problems so the vet said just to be patient with her but this is driving us insane. Sometimes she's fine and will use whichever of the trays she wants but generally speaking, it's a free for all. Does anyone have any advice what to do? We love our kitties so much but are very very close to rehoming her. We're cat people but have never come across this inconsistent behaviur before...!?

Nody

Ok for starters stop cleaning the toilets with cat detergent every three days; the smell for a cat signifies where to go so if you keep removing it you may confuse the kitten on where it's actually suppose to go. Secondly how and what do you use to clean up the areas where the kitten pee? Third what's the common things of the areas she goes in? Put down a simple colored tape piece each time she goes outside at the spot she goes and you're going to see a pattern emerging; is it in rooms without toilets? Is it after she's eaten? Is it at a certain time of the day? Is she going directly after you clean it or after another cat has gone? Is it because of a new litter/scent in there? Kittens don't go around peeing outside the boxes for fun so there's a trigger here that you're currently missing. Fourth tip is to change the litter in two of the boxes not used by your oldest to something else such as wood pellets and different clay litter; once again this is to see if the litter could be the cause of some issues.

AoifeCork

Nody wrote: »

Ok for starters stop cleaning the toilets with cat detergent every three days; the smell for a cat signifies where to go so if you keep removing it you may confuse the kitten on where it's actually suppose to go. Secondly how and what do you use to clean up the areas where the kitten pee? Third what's the common things of the areas she goes in? Put down a simple colored tape piece each time she goes outside at the spot she goes and you're going to see a pattern emerging; is it in rooms without toilets? Is it after she's eaten? Is it at a certain time of the day? Is she going directly after you clean it or after another cat has gone? Is it because of a new litter/scent in there? Kittens don't go around peeing outside the boxes for fun so there's a trigger here that you're currently missing. Fourth tip is to change the litter in two of the boxes not used by your oldest to something else such as wood pellets and different clay litter; once again this is to see if the litter could be the cause of some issues.

Thanks so much for this

She is confined to kitchen/dining room at the moment as we don't want to let her out u til she's 6 months. She tends to pee right at the doors leading into other rooms.

We use a biological enzymatic cleaner (that the vet suggested) to clean each area. She didn't like wood pellets or lightweight litter and has been most consistent with the clumping litter but is still only use it at most 40% of the time.

Would it be worth bringing her into our sitting room away from the other litter trays and setting one up here for her? Thank you for all your advice!

metaoblivia

If she's confined to the kitchen/dining room and peeing at the door leading to other rooms she's not allowed access to, it may be that she's urine marking. She can sense that other cats are around and this could be causing her stress, so she's sending them a message that the kitchen and dining room are her places.

Do the other cats have access to her space? Does she have enough "escape" routes, especially places high up?

Nody

I'd agree with Meta at this stage; if it is consistently at door it is likely marking due to feeling territorially threatened; has she been introduced to the other cats and are they on friendly terms? Does she have boxes/high areas she can retreat to if she feels threatened?

AoifeCork

Yep, they all get on really well and have a couple of towers and beds they call their own. She was one of 6 kittens and was very sociable when we got her. She took to them no problem. Shall I try letting her have access to more areas of the house?

forgodssake

Try moving one litter tray away from the others and make it just hers . agree with keeping the scent so maybe scoop a small bit of used litter into the tray and then place her in the the tray for a few mins . Has worked for me with similar problem in the past! best of luck