Advice on babies and pets?

curlylocks3 · September 2014

I'm a lurker but figured many of you might have dealt with this and you might have suggestions I haven't heard yet.

Short version: Any tips for getting a cat to stop peeing outside their litterbox after a new baby joins the family?

Long version:
Our ten year old cat has long had a habit of peeking on the rubber mat outside her litterbox when upset- in the past when we would go out of town.

I gave birth to twins nearly 4 months ago and ever since the babies came home she's been peeing on her mat. It's not every time, not even every day, but probably every other day. As we have gotten settled into our routine I've been able to link these instances to times the babies are extremely fussy. Obviously we try to prevent this as much as possible for everyone's sake, but it still happens.

I've spoken to our vet who says it's behavioral. We make sure she gets one on one time every day with at least one of us, ideally both. She has free run of our condo, and she definitely goes everywhere. She is just as likely to sleep on our bed, the living room couch, the guest room or the nursery. We try not to bring the babies by her if they are fussing but realistically she can always here them as our place isn't that big. She also seems to recognize their importance and need to be protected because whenever it storms she goes in and stands guard by their cribs.

Anything else we can do to make her feel secure and happy enough to not feel she needs to pee outside her box? Any experience with how long it takes pets to realize a baby is there to stay?

Thanks!

BookitBoo · September 2014

Give her more lovings? Maybe make a point of setting aside time for petting her, or playing fetch with her, or giving her a special treat.

curlylocks3 · September 2014

@bookitboo- we give as much as we can. We have learned that she gets upset if she has to move off my lap because a baby is crying, so "her" time is in the evening after they go down for the night. Naps are kind of hit or miss if they both sleep at the same time but once those become more regular we can add in time for her there too. Unfortunately she hates cat treats too.

BluepointToasted · September 2014

Let me know of you figure it out. My cat pees in the litter box, but poops right next to it every single time. Doesn't matter if the thing has just been cleaned. Seems happy, sleeps and eats fine, plays. No clue what he is thinking

BookitBoo · September 2014

Yikes, that has to be rough. I'm sorry, I have no other advice. If our cat is unhappy she'll go to a different room and pout.

She had bad kitty anxiety when we first brought her home and the doctor gave us this wall-plug in that seemed to help with her anxiety. I have no idea if it will help or if it's a shot In the dark but maybe you could talk to your vet about something like that, and plug it in the room Near the litter box?

cattuccino · September 2014

I know your vet said behavioural, but at 10 years are they sure? checked for crystals?

Also ensure you're using a good pet stain and odour cleaner that breaks down the enzymes of the urine. If they smell they've gone there before, they're more likely to do it again.

In Canada we have a product called Litter Attractant (Dr Elsey's). I've used it before (on young cats). It's a natural herb you can mix in with the litter (or buy with it already mixed into a litter) and it helps attract them to urinate in the litter box.

Otherwise...it is hopefully an adjustment. It could be a territorial thing with the new babies. I know it's hard to give her more attention, but do your best. When you have to push her off your lap when a baby cries, pet her as soon as you can after tending to the little ones...let her know you appreciate her patience with this adjustment....

Also, sometimes when we still come home the cats come running and sniff the car seat as if "oh. It's still back with you. darn". Though this is finally beginning to decrease (6 months)

theimpossibleastronaut · September 2014

I don't know if this will work for you, but we got some litter called Cat Attract that our vet recommended. We also added another little box. The litter is expensive, but it helped our situation.

RondackHiker · September 2014

Feliway sprays and plug ins can help her feel calmer. They're "happy kitty hormones".

Does she have a spot to retreat when she's stressed? Could you add a fan nearby for white noise on fussy days so she doesn't hear it?

ToastieSimons · September 2014

My cat (7) did this when we got new carpet and when we moved.

1) Scooping/changing the litter often.

2) feliway

3) no mark spray if you need it

4) cat attract for the litter. It's like catnip you add to the litter to make it more enticing I guess.

5) did you have your cat checked for a UTI?

6) calm down -it's a liquid you add to their water bowl. it's homeopathic and is supposed to promote relaxation

7) calming collar - it's a rubber collar coated in pheremones that are supposed to be calming and last for 30 days. They're human safe and we've used them without a problem.

In time my cat adjusted and stopped peeing everywhere.

curlylocks3 · September 2014

Also, it probably made it that much harder on her that I spent the last 7 weeks of my pregnancy on bedrest. I not-so-jokingly say this was the best 7 weeks of her life because it meant a perpetual snuggle buddy. She went through an adjustment period (~a month maybe?) when I switched shifts a few years ago and she had a long stretch of no one being home. This time she went from being used to me working full time to pretty much camping on our couch or my bed full time to being at home but essentially unavailable to snuggle her full time. It probably would have been less disruptive to her if the transition hadn't been so totally different but that was unavoidable.

@bluepointtoasted that has to be frustrating!

@bookitboo- the wall plug in has me interested. Is it a sound or odor that it gives off? If it helped I'd plug them in every room!

ToastieSimons · September 2014

curlylocks3 said:

Also, it probably made it that much harder on her that I spent the last 7 weeks of my pregnancy on bedrest. I not-so-jokingly say this was the best 7 weeks of her life because it meant a perpetual snuggle buddy. She went through an adjustment period (~a month maybe?) when I switched shifts a few years ago and she had a long stretch of no one being home. This time she went from being used to me working full time to pretty much camping on our couch or my bed full time to being at home but essentially unavailable to snuggle her full time. It probably would have been less disruptive to her if the transition hadn't been so totally different but that was unavoidable. @bluepointtoasted that has to be frustrating! @bookitboo- the wall plug in has me interested. Is it a sound or odor that it gives off? If it helped I'd plug them in every room!

the feliway has no sound or odor but it does get a bit warm to the touch. It's just a little glade like plug in oil diffuser but is filled with this feliway stuff. They also make spray. I personally would buy a plug in one and put it by her litter box so that it's her safe space.

they are a bit pricy. about $35. So we bought one plug in and a can of spray.

cattuccino · September 2014

theimpossibleastronaut said:

I don't know if this will work for you, but we got some litter called Cat Attract that our vet recommended. We also added another little box. The litter is expensive, but it helped our situation.

This is the same company as the Dr Elsey's I mentioned, if you happen to find it

curlylocks3 · September 2014

Thanks for the name of the plug in and litter add-in! I will order them and hope they help. As for a favorite retreat, it seems to change always. And there are times when she goes and pees on the mat and comes back and hides under a crib- as close to the fussing as possible.

As for getting checked for UTI she hasn't been and the vet didn't seem to think we should when I asked about it since it had such a clear onset and we've noticed the link to them fussing. If we can get a specimen off the mat I will take it in for testing but so far it hasn't happened that we get pee with no litter in it AND within the right time frame for testing. We know from past experience that she simply refused to pee at the vets...and I'm not sure that putting her through the aspiration process will help. FWIW she has had a UTI in the past (~6 years ago) and she peed everywhere in our apartment, no consistency to it.

I do think part of it is marking her territory. Since the pee is contained on a rubber mat I did try a few times (in desperation) leaving it there, thinking that maybe she was upset that we were washing it away. She'd then pee on the bath mat so we clean it as soon as we see it.

I hope this doesn't come off as shooting down suggestions. I appreciate all te tips and feedback

cattuccino · September 2014

I'm really glad to see you're exploring options and recognizing that she is unhappy, and trying to make it better.

fancynewbeesly · September 2014

Thank you for this post! We have 4 cats and they have all been recently checked, no UTI's nothing; but older and one of them has been peeing outside the litter box--in the kitchen on our hard wood floors. Since it is the kitchen we can't put an extra litter box there.

It really started to happen when Reese was diagnosed and lots of hospital visits, etc. New people feeding/giving them water/etc.

I definitely am going to take a trip to petsmart tomorrow and see if we can figure out something.

curlylocks3 · September 2014

@fancynewbeesly‌ I hope some of the suggestions work for you too! Is it at all possible to have the new people feeding them be consistent? When we would go out of town we used to just hve whichever friend stop by. We then started using our vet tech almost every time. She knows our cat well and so it doesn't resolve the peeing completely while we are gone but it has decreased it. On the occasion that the vet tech has not been available we are back to the daily peeing.
I don't know if that consistency would be possible given that you likely don't always know when you will need someone else to do feedings, but I just thought I would pass it along.

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