Sinders our cat is urinating everywhere

by Jennifer
(Seattle)

Sinders our cat

Sinders our cat

My cat Sinders has a history of urinary problems. He had the "sex change" operation($3,000.00) to fix the problem because he had a broken Eurethra. He had a blockage around a year later ($1,800.00) even after I was told that the initial operation would prevent any future problems ever again. Now it's five years later and he is peeing every single morning and now each time my boyfriend (who has never been anything but loving towards him) and it's out of hand. I've had him tested for crystal blockages, and his uranalysis and blood work (HUNDREDS of dollars later) came back all negative for every disease that is out there these days. He has a couple of lumps on the base of his tail and has exhibited discomfort and extreme laziness. I'm unemployed and have no car and I can't keep dragging him to the vet. I thought that perhaps he had a broken tail...and was told that there is nothing they can do for this anyways..so no money for xrays. How this would be connected to his peeing problem is a mystery to me anyways He is a nine year old cat. I can't afford to keep paying for expensive tests and operations only to find out that "nothing" is wrong, when clearly something is. What can you offer me as advice before I give him up for adoption, which I can't do in good conscience knowing that he is peeing on virtually every single thing I own and has a perfectly mainained diet and out of the way private litter box. I love him more then anything but I can't live like this and I can't subject my partner to this either. Any advice or suggestions?



Reply
Hi
Poor cat he really had gone through a lot hasn’t he, not to mention yourselves.
Well if he
has had test which have all come back negative all I can put this down to is a behavioural issue.

Now when it comes to behavioural issues like this there is no one answer to suit all situations. But generally as you know cats urine outside of the litter box for two reasons. One to scent mark their territory to warn off other cats or to attract females if they are tom cats and two it is used when they are feeling distressed. My spreading their urine smell around it helps them to feel safe and secure, sort of, if the home smells of me then everything must be ok.

First you have to ask yourself have there been any changes in the home environment. I.e. has your boyfriend only recently moved in? Have you changed things around, furniture etc? Have you bought new things for the home? Have you changed the smell of the home, i.e. different air fresheners etc? Any of these things can trigger your cat to feel anxious.

The trouble is sometimes we can’t see or understand what has caused this anxiety and so all we can do is to try and reassure our cats and help them to calm down again.

I suggest a period of litter training using the confinement method. This gives the cat a sort of time out to relax and to also become re acquainted with the litter tray. The details of this technique are on this page
https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-litter-box.html

You could also try one of the cat calming sprays or medications which can help cats through periods of anxiety. See this page for more on these too.
https://www.our-happy-cat.com/scared-cat.html

It would be a terrible shame to have to re-home your cat due to this problem he is having. I hope you can find a solution to his problem.

Best wishes akte


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try this...
by: kellie

i have a maine coon that did very similar to what you describe. what saved him, was i force him to drink water. while yours does sound like a behavior issue, you may want to make sure the cat is drinking enough water. i mix about 1 or 2 tb of wet food with water. he laps it up.
Thank you
by: Anonymous

Thank you so much for your input. The one thing that I failed to mention is that we did recently get a new baby female kitten. We felt that he has been very lonely and over the last year went from being a free roaming outdoor indoor cat with a cat door to a depressed window staring condo kitty. I didn't mention the kitten prior because he was doing the peeing long before she came into our space. Last night we put him in the bathroom (which is huge) and had him sleep in there over night. I will get another litter box and confine him at night since he pees each and every morning on his blanket.
When my boyfriend went to check on him in the morning, he did indeed wet his bed again.
Sinders has been through allot of changes, all the ones you mentioned. He moved here from Hawaii with me last year around this time, we have moved to two different locations, we did recently renovate our apartment as well. He has been very uncomfortable when trying to sit on his hind end and there are a few lumps in his tail and back end. If it is cancer, I can't afford treatment and would almost rather not know. It's hard enough not being able to afford to take him to the vet for annual check ups now. Since the kitten has come in our home he seemed to be in somewhat better spirits. He is actually used to always having another cat around, and this last year was the first time he didn't have another cat around during our rough transition. I've been going through bankruptcy and all the hardships attached to such an experience and perhaps he is vibing off of me but I am finally getting settled and have love in my life and he simply adores and spoils Sinders so I am very confused as to why he is punishing us in this way.
I will look into the cat sprays ect and hope for the best. Thank you so much for your response. I really appreciate it.

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