Help! My cats are marking

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Postby Caroline » April 4th, 2010, 8:14 pm

Hi, I'm kind of new to this forum. I don't have a pitbulls, but have been in the pin-up calendar twice. :)

I have two cats and am having big problems with them marking around my house. They were fighting for a while, and I think the marking started then. I bought a facial pherome plug-in which has helped tame their fighting, but the marking is still going on.

I am sequestering them tonight to collect a sample to take to the vet. I have been using simple solution non-stop to help clean up the problem areas. How do I stop the behavior? How do clean the areas?

Thanks!
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Postby plebayo » April 5th, 2010, 12:45 am

Do you have multiple litter boxes? If not you may try adding 2-3 more litter boxes so they can avoid having to share and pick them out religiously every day.

If their UA's run clean you might try putting them on piroxetine [paxil] it has done wonders for my friend's cat who has the same problem.
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Postby amazincc » April 5th, 2010, 1:18 am

Are they altered?
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Postby TheRedQueen » April 5th, 2010, 9:44 am

I have one female cat (boarding with me for a year) that pees on all sorts of things if she considers the litter box not clean enough...so I'm constantly cleaning...plus I offer more boxes than I have cats (6 cats and 8 boxes) and I offer different types of litter in the boxes too...

I give a lot of options so they don't feel like peeing on everything else! (my laundry, dog beds, plastic bags, etc)
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Postby PetieMarie22 » April 5th, 2010, 9:50 am

I sprinkle about a cup of "Cat Attract"cat litter on top of their regular litter. It costs about $14 for a bag, but the vet said you can just sprinkle some on the regular litter to make it more inviting to them.
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Postby amalie79 » April 5th, 2010, 11:22 am

I have cats that weren't so much marking as they were refusing to use the box. As TheRedQueen suggested, more boxes than cats at various locations in the house helped us; I also tried a variety of different kinds of litter-- from very sandy and fine to very rough clay, and scented or unscented, as well as with powder odor removing additives; I cleaned the box twice a day, and tried boxes with and without lids. I also ended up throwing away a lot of the fabric things that they were peeing on just to get a clean start. Eventually, we found that unscented, fine litter in an uncovered box, with one more box than cats (3 cats, 4 boxes) did the trick. I think one particular cat felt harassed and trapped in such a closed space. Over the last couple of years, we weaned them down to one box, but recently added another cat, and so have 3 boxes. As long as one of the 3 fits the profile, and they get cleaned out frequently (NOT twice a day anymore!), then all is well. :D

If an uncovered box is a problem, as it was for our kitties who peed over the side, TidyCat makes a box with a hinged front; we removed the hinged front and now it's only covered on the back half, but the front is wide open.

We now clean everything with Out! or Nature's Miracle. However, when our recent addition peed on our brand new feather comforter a few months ago :mad2: we found that Denver Mattress's Mattress Cleaner II was pretty great in combination with Out!, especially for something that we can't easily put in the laundry.
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Postby mnp13 » April 5th, 2010, 11:28 am

amazincc wrote:Are they altered?


Yes, altered as kittens and declawed. They are adopted sisters from the same litter, and have always been indoor cats.
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Postby TheRedQueen » April 5th, 2010, 11:03 pm

amalie79 wrote:I also ended up throwing away a lot of the fabric things that they were peeing on just to get a clean start.
.



Yeah, I no longer have rugs around the house (I have hardwood or lino in the house)...I used to have rubber backed throw rugs around, but those are gone since I kept having to clean them. I also picked up the dog beds that are most attractive to the cats, and when I'm gone for any period of time...they get locked up and away from the cats...the ones that were really bad got thrown away. The bathroom door is kept shut now, so they don't pee on the bathmat...and laundry is kept downstairs behind closed doors...so no more laundry baskets with clean laundry getting peed on. The houseplants that were tempting have things in the soil now that make it not as desirable to pee into.

of course they still pull out plastic grocery bags and pee on those :confused: :| but that's okay, they're easy to clean up!
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