Cat Continues to Pee Outside of Litter Box

[GiantFish]

Hello,

My cat was diagnosed with diabetes around November and has been on 1u of Vetsulin. She is on a wet food diet right now and until around February has been pretty okay - some accidents here and there, but I chalked them up to the stress of hosting a family member's dog for a time.

Recently, however, she has been urinating everywhere. She'll use the litter box, the upstairs, downstairs, basement, wherever she feels like going. Regardless of the state of the litterbox, whether it is freshly cleaned or if it has some waste in it, she will still sometimes just go outside the litter box. I'll be calling the vet tomorrow to schedule another appointment, but the last one around a month ago to check her levels ended up coming back fine, and the vet recommended remaining on 1u of Vetsulin.

My problem is that the house stinks. We tried a few different rug shampoos 'for pet urine', but they seem to have made things smell far worse. My parents are telling me that if we can't figure out what's wrong with the cat, why she's urinating, and can't figure out how to get the carpets back to a normal smell, that I will have to get rid of her. Being a 13 year old cat with diabetes requiring shots every day, I highly doubt I would be able to find someone to take her - I'm afraid that the only option would be to euthanize her, which is something I do not want to do. She's a good cat that seems perfectly happy, she just has her problems right now. I don't want to get rid of her or put her down unless absolutely necessary, I just want to find a solution.

I was hoping someone could give me some advice on some of these issues:

1. The only things that changed when the cat really started peeing were that we put on one of those seresto flea/tick collars on the cat (previously used Frontline) and she potentially ate part of a mouse that she caught in the basement. Has anyone heard of the seresto collars causing bladder infections or something? If the cat got worms or another parasite from a mouse, could that be causing her to mark/urinate in places?

2. The cat has begun drinking a loooot of water. I've caught her sleeping with her head in the water bowl. We recently purchased a water bowl with one of those bottles that fill the bowl automatically, and she drains that pretty quick. Could this tie into question 1?

3. How in the heck do you get the smell of cat urine out of a carpet when a carpet shampooer+solution doesn't work? Is there any way to save this carpet?

 

[JanetNJ]

The urge to pee is stronger in diabetic cats, especially if not regulated. If she's still drinking a ton she's most likely not in good numbers. Insulin is not a set it and forget it dose. It requires home testing and frequent adjustments to get them into good numbers. If you are willing to learn how, we can help you learn to test and set up a spreadsheet.

Have a box for every level of the house so she doesn't have far too go.

Flea collars teens to do more harm than good. You are better off with a product like front line. I doubt this is the urination problem but thought I'd mention it.

My favorite urine cleaner is called Anti Icky Poo Unscented. It truly had no scent and works very well. I by the gallon size and refill smaller spray bottles as needed. You can get it on amazon.

 

[Meya14]

The diabetes probably is uncontrolled on your current treatment plan. In diabetics, they lose much more fluid in the urine when sugars are high, and also drink more to compensate. Cats have pretty small bladders and don't normally urinate much, so the diabetics constant need to urinate can make them have litterbox issues. Controlling the blood sugar is the solution. Home blood sugar testing is the #1 way to get a handle on this disease. Once you are home testing, you can learn to adjust insulin and get the disease under control. It's possible that there is a UTI, the sugar that is eliminated in the urine is like a feast for bacteria.

 

[Meya14]

3. How in the heck do you get the smell of cat urine out of a carpet when a carpet shampooer+solution doesn't work? Is there any way to save this carpet?

Shampoo with straight vinegar. Then shampoo again with laundry soap and water mixture. Then wait a week and repeat vinegar.

Use a black light at night to make sure you have all the spots.

There are proteins in the urine that the enzymes in the laundry soap can break down. Once you got most of the urine out, the lingering scent will take a few weeks for the remainder of the protein to naturally degrade.

 

[Tracey&Jones (GA)]

How in the heck do you get the smell of cat urine out of a carpet when a carpet shampooer+solution doesn't work? Is there any way to save this carpet?

I used Nature's Miracle and loved it. A little expensive but never had a repeat location. When you find the spot mop up the excess urine, with a towel, stand on it, do it over and over until there is really no more moisture coming up. You can then wash the towel in Nature's Miracle added to the wash as well. Then re-soak the spot with the Nature's Miracle. Rub it in and make it foam - you need to get to the underneath part and make the spot bigger (things spread underneath). Then you let it air dry - I used a fan to speed up the process. Then repeat the soak in Nature's Miracle again and let air dry.

causing her to mark/urinate in places

• Could be an UTI and worth checking out.
• Could be unregulated diabetes - which yes, can still occur in a cat getting insulin. Jones started peeing outside the box after starting insulin as I was not injecting with the right dose or using the right knowledge at the time.
• Could be behavioural - maybe she is still upset about the dog.

 

[AlphaCat]

Like the others above, sounds like home testing is necessary and should help.
Flea collars are more trouble than they are worth. I've always used advantage as necessary (when the dog brings them in) on my indoor only kitties.
My kitties are excellent mousers and I've never had it lead to a urine problem.
I've had stress and diabetes lead to urine problems (different cats).
But start with checking the diabetes. With the water consumption, that sounds like the best lead.

About the floors... I moved a couple years ago, and we're renting now. I didn't want to have to deal with any pet damage, so we cut up an old air mattress that never stayed full and I put it like a mat under the liter box. It goes up the wall for my 'high sprayers' that miss, and extends all around it on the floor. This has SAVED me since my cat got diabetes (before diagnosis). In my old house we used Natures Miracle, and we steam cleaned the carpets regularly. When we moved out I had a professional steam clean it for the new renters moving in. The pro said every time we used our home steam cleaner all we did was dilute and expand the cat urine further into the carpet padding. So the Nature's Miracle helped on the carpet, but actually made the underneath padding worse. So now my process is... anything wet on the carpet I blot gently with paper towels to soak up standing liquid. Then I pour salt on the area and leave to dry. The salt will draw the liquid up and out of my carpet and padding. I clean up the salt with a dust pan and broom then vacuum the area. For urine I will then spot clean with Nature's Miracle. We do still steam clean for normal wear about every 3-4 months. (But not specifically for urine.)

I hope you can figure out what's going on with your kitty!

 

[Squeakycats]

Nature's Miracle has always worked really well for me. My understanding is that it's best to do what @Tracey&Jones explained and use it before any kind of detergent/rug cleaner so the enzymes in it work properly.

Some cats react really poorly to flea collars--I don't know if the collars make them feel ill, or they don't like the smell, or what, but they seem to feel stressed. If you were having success with Frontline before, I'd definitely go back to that.

I can't think how eating a mouse would affect anything. But I think it's always worth checking for a urinary tract infection in a cat that has changed its urination pattern. If you've ever had one, you know how uncomfortable they are and how they make you constantly feel like you need to pee!

I agree with the others that the excessive drinking suggests the kitty's diabetes may not be well controlled--it's almost impossible to tell that from a single measurement. If you're able to home test, you could get some really good information to help you figure out whether that's the issue!

Would it be possible to confine her to a smaller area while you get this sorted out? I've had to do that with several cats over the years for different reasons; I put them in the largest room I had, with all of their favorite toys and beds and scratching posts and so forth, and then put up a baby gate so they could still see what was going on in the house and I could easily see them. With one who was peeing everywhere, I was able to cover all the furniture so it wasn't damaged, and the room had a linoleum floor, so it was easier to clean up. Any change in their routines is upsetting to cats, of course, but if it ever gets to the point where it's confinement vs. euthanasia, it seems worth trying.

I hope it works out--keep us posted!

 

[storm]

Cleaning vinegar .. walmart sells it where normal vinegar is sold, on bottom shelf .. 1 gallon jug under 4 bucks .. its concentrated white vinegar .. i use it on everything that is used for or on the pets .. i wash the pet towels in it, i use it full strength in the spot cleaner machine and also have it in 3 spray bottles so i can spot spray when needed ... it is the only thing i know of that will break down the enzymes found in pet urine .. not one of the commercial pet urine strainer/odor remover products ever worked for me .. my cat is not on insulin yet so is not regulated .. he pees on the bath mates, area rugs, throw rugs .. any carpeted surface in my bathroom, bedroom and closet .. i put heavy duty plastic sheeting down on the floor in all 3 rooms, put doggie pee pads on top of that and used old bath towels to cover the areas the bath mats, area rugs and throw rugs dont cover on top of the pee pads .. i use the spot cleaner daily and switch out the rugs and towels every other day when i wash them .. some i can get into the washing machine .. the bigger ones i have to spray down with the hose back and front for a while until i see the water running clear