I've had my kitty about 6 weeks and he is 4 months old & fixed. I noticed a week ago a pee smell in my room. I try to avoid him in there. It's in a hard to reach area so I can't even get to it to clean it until this weekend :( !!!! Not letting the kitty in there right now. I was baffled since he has never been locked in there but I wondered if maybe I some how didn't notice. Today though I noticed he peed in my sons closet. I think on a plastic lid. So this is all a new problem. I have him in the bathroom where he typically sleeps right now. I just bought some cleaner & a black light on the way. Should be here Thursday. I'm having a hard time pinpointing where he peed. Anyways I'm in panic mode. Any ideas on how I should handle this? I'm going to clean the areas well once I find them & then can keep the cat from those 2 rooms. I have a small 2 story house with a litter box on both floors that's kept very clean. I'm not sure why he peed. Perhaps the door closed for a few & he couldn't hold it or a medical issue?

This is the #1 problem cat owners see. Usually, peeing outside of the litter box is caused by one of several things. First a urinary tract infection where it's painful for the cat when urinating. A visit to the vet will eliminate that potential problem. Second of all, does he poo in the litter box? Is the litter box (or boxes) covered or open? Many cats do not like covered boxes! Stress can also play a roll in this. Is this a problem that just started or has it been a problem from early on? There are many My Cat From Hell episodes that deal with this. Jackson usually recommends adding more litter boxes to the equation. Cleaning the area of the peeing is absolutely necessary. Closing off the areas he is using is also helpful. I'm guessing he was litter box trained at the breeder -- and normally you continue to use the same type of litter box and litter that the breeder was using. You didn't mention whether you had any other cats which could be aiding the problem. Since you have a two level house, I'd recommend an extra litter box on each level. If you're using covered boxes, take the covers off. Make sure the boxes are large enough for the cat. I've seen some that are so small that no cat has room to use it. If that doesn't work, try a different type of cat litter. Cats prefer to use a litter box! There is a reason he is not wanting to use it. Once that problem has been taken care of, he will faithfully use the litter box once more. Good luck.

_________________
The little monsters 3

for what its worth I can totally sympathise with you and in this situation i would be stressed right out because Of kids being in the house . they dont know to be as aware we do and id be pretty upset if a cat peed in my kids clothing area. However I do think the issue is that he is confined to the bathroom? that is probably quite stressful . i am not an expert but I would open up the house to him giving him ample litterboxes that he can go to without having to go hunting for one

He typically has free range of the house & at bedtime goes to the bathroom. It's set up with a condo, food, water, toys, toy cube, litter box ect. I try to try him out before I go to bed & he seems content. I don't just lock him up in there & I only put him in there until I could get the cleaner & find the spot. I did read on this forum that to leave them in a small room with with litter box to retrain them. I did put him in there when I went to work for 2 hours but I haven't fully cleaned the pee areas & took him for a good walk before hand.

I've had cats pee all over a house years ago which is why I freaked. Want to try & get on this ASAP. I'm not letting him in those two rooms until I know it's been cleaned well enough. I cleaned with what I had but the rest comes tomorrow.

To answer questions - He is the only cat, upstairs box is uncovered, down stairs is covered mostly. Both are good size compared to him. Both are kept very clean & the only litter he has ever used. My house is very very tiny. I don't have room for litter boxes in every room because of the size of my house. It's maybe 1100 square feet total & one room he doesn't use. It's not big but kept very clean & as organized as I can. Still no clue why this started :( he is happy & acting fine. Running around & playful. I'm pretty sure he was not shut in the rooms when he peed. I'm always very careful. Like upstairs he peed in the closet but he had access to his clean box 20 feet away in the bathroom. :(

Children can be a huge stress factor in cats, especially young ones who are loud and boisterous at times. The fact that he goes in your son's room may indicate a dislike for something in that room. There are so many things that could be causing this and only your kitty knows what that is. Owners can only guess and then attempt to rectify the situation the best we can.

I'm hoping the bathroom you're confining him to is huge because cats do not like food near a litter box, just like you wouldn't want to eat your dinner next to the toilet. Sometimes you have to put yourself in the kitty's place. If the bathroom is a standard size, then you have too much going on for him in a very small space. Perhaps he doesn't like to be locked up there at night. Does he have a bed in there or does he have to sleep on the floor?

There is something distasteful, in his eyes, with the litter boxes. One is covered, one is not. They both need to be either covered or uncovered, depending on the cat's preference.

The fact that you've had cats previously who have peed outside the litter box is a telling sign as well. All areas must be cleaned immediately and completely. You may not be able to smell the residue of urine, but a cat's smell is 14 times better than ours, and they can smell it.

I've never had a cat with a UTI, so I don't know if they behave any differently. The only way to tell is a visit to the vet. If it's not medical, then it's behavioral and that's something you deal with bit by bit. The kitty is not happy about something when it comes time to go to the bathroom. And you don't want to go moving litter boxes around to different places in the house as that only confuses the cat, which is why I mentioned adding a couple. Since your home is small and you don't have room for any more, you'll have to solve the problem with the two boxes that you have. There are cat litters that supposedly attract the cat, so you may want to try something different in the boxes.

When all else fails, google "cat not using litter box" and read what has worked for other people. I know this is an exasperating problem and I really hope you find the solution soon.

The past cats I had that did not use the litter box was a orphaned who I fostered who came to me with problems. It took a bit but we got it fixed. It was a lot of work and a lot of work removing the smell. Like I said the first 5 or so weeks he didn't have any issues. I'm still wondering if the door somehow closed & he couldn't get out. I don't think that happened but it is possible.

Yes the bathroom is large, kept very clean & his litter/food are on different sides & levels


Black light will finally be here today which I'm hoping helps find the spots. My carpets are dark brown so it's hard to see & I read they don't always work great on dark carpets

I've never used a black light, but it's better than nothing. Has he gone back to using the litter box? You seem to think he could have been closed in the bedroom with no access to the litter box. Since you were able to solve the problem with a prior kitty, you should be able to get to the bottom of this one. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

I've never used a black light but had seen good reviews online. I bought one but it wasn't much luck. I have darker carpets so that's most likely why. I did find one of the pee spots though in my closet
. Hoping it's the only one for my bedroom! My room is very clean but also packed. I bought some carpet cleaner just to go over it but my bed is very very difficult to move so it's gonna be a project.

He never stopped using the litter boxes and I don't know when he peed in there :( I'm pretty careful but with my room I came in to the door shut & him sleeping on my bed. It couldn't have been for too long but perhaps he peed then. I don't know. He also peed in the closet up stairs though. My house isn't huge by any means and a litter box is close.

It had been 13 years since I had cats & any box problems that started with two fosters at one point. It took months but I was able to correct the problem. Then I took in a foster that turned out to be special needs so I adopted him & that's all I had for the past 13-yrs. we just put him down in March. While reading though posts here I remember reading about reintroducing them to litter boxes for 2-weeks. I can't find it now and wasn't sure how to go about this. I can still smell it in the boys closet some & my room :( I'm going to shampoo & retreat the area I found. I've just been keeping the rooms shut.

Black lights work really really well for finding pee. They are definitely an essential for cat owners. Of course they work best the darker it is in the room (close blinds, turn off lights etc before using one).

Even though my cats have really been flawless about using the litterbox, there has still been a couple of cases where Gaga (my trouble-maker) has locked herself and/or another cat in a room without a litterbox, by shutting the door! (she stands up on two legs and pushes the door closed - grrr). In cases like that, just whipping out the blacklight, and seeing exactly where the pee is, and then after your cleanup attempt taking it back out again and seeing how successful (or unsuccessful you were) takes all the guesswork out of it. Other than that there isn't really anything to it.

_________________
The little monsters 3

My carpet is a dark brown :( I couldn't see anything. Dust and such but I went over the spot that was definitely pee and nothing. My son had an accident and I ran to see if it would work & nope

Supposedly black lights also work on human urine as the phosphorous is iridescent. You may have to get down on your hands and knees and crawl around everywhere with your nose to the ground. Has the peeing outside the litter box stopped or is it continuing! All cats can have accidents. I shut Raiden in my closet this morning as I thought he had run out. The first thing I do is start looking for him and head back and open the closet door and he walks out. It's easy to get them trapped in a room.

I'd asked before about the size of the bathroom. If it's the usual 5'x8' with a tub/shower, there's honestly not enough room for the kitty. I know that Raiden prefers sleeping with us in our bed -- right next to me. I don't know if your kitty is suffering from separation anxiety because most bengals want to be with their humans at all times.

You are super busy having to care for a baby! I understand why you want to limit the kitty's access to your room. It may take you some time to find all the places that he's gone, but they all have to be cleaned up completely. I know it's difficult to get rid of the smell. We had an elderly cat in kidney failure and she would just squat and pee wherever. It would always clean it immediately, but the smell would just not go away. when we finally ripped up the carpet to put down hardwood floors (this was after she was put to sleep), the urine had seeped into the subfloor and it was NEVER going to go away. We sealed it with several coats of primer and finally got rid of the odor.

If you can smell it, then it's especially strong to a cat's sense of smell. And it usually brings a cat back again and again to reuse the spot. Hopefully, he's using his litter boxes -- and you're finding clumps of urine in there several times a day.

Well the baby is up a lot at night so I don't think her & a kitten in the same room would mix well. Working hard at that & then hopefully she'll be in her own room. Was able to shampoo the entire house today with carpet shampoo for pet urine. Hoping it helps. Then will retreat the area again. He is using the boxes great and today I saw him go & he acted find.

Here is a pic of him on his walk being wild yesterday :)