I'm a full time college student and work almost full time to pay for all of my expenses including the $$$ vet bills that have been adding up trying to find solutions to Basil's urine problems- this has been going on almost a year FYI. I have no problem with that. He's my baby and I love him to death, I'd work as much as I need to make sure he is healthy and on the right track to help/ease his UTI's and his crystals- If you don't know his situation its a never ending cycle of UTI's and crystals.
I don't mind spending my money on that, he's my little bazebabe, I love him SO much.

But I spend over 100 dollars PER MONTH on urine remover/urine destroyers, etc. Nothing ever works- it still smells, and he still re urinates. If I ever want my mom, family member, friend, etc. to come over for the day, I can't have the entire house and couches smell like cat piss all the time. Especially considering Basils urine is extremely potent in smell.

Basil has peed in money safes, card board boxes, cat beds, purses, bathroom floor matts, computers.... and many other things.
Among them, Basil has single handed destroyed 2 couches, and may now pissing on a 3rd one... or at least around it somewhere.... I tossed one of them because it got to the point of beyond salvageable, and were going to toss the second one this week, but there's so many random areas around the house where you just get whiffs of urine in the air. I can't keep affording to just replace couches because of the continuous urinating. I mean, I'm a college student... I don't even think full time employed individuals are able to afford to replace 3 couches a year, every year either!


I have litter boxes in three bathrooms of the house, and clean them AT LEAST every other day.
The vet has suggested the medicated food hes been on for months for his crystals (which he is on permanently) may also help with the mis-urination, suggests feliway plug ins, feliway sprays.... all kinds of stuff that just doesn't work. The vet thinks that although he does often get UTI's and crystals, that some of his mis-urniation is also just behavioral.
The vet has suggested maybe interacting with his urination. She mentioned how some train their cats to use the human toilet, and perhaps training him to use that but also leaving the litter boxes out will give him more of incentive of the "right" places to go and the "Wrong" places. We will see on that, I haven't started yet. Don't know if that's a great idea that will reward him to go in spots more suitable and give him treats/training and if he will may find that somehow interactive, or if he will just see it as another place to also go to the bathroom. I haven't decided yet.

So, I need some of the greatest, serious expert advice you've got on how you've successfully gotten your cats to stop urinating on particular things? Or just at least on your couches? please.

Gosh it sounds like a real tough time on basil as well as a massive financial hit on yourself, is there any clue as to any underlying condition that is causing the recurring UTIs? Have you considered getting a second opinion from a different vet to see if this could be the case? Especially if he is sometimes getting results from urine tests that the vet doesn't even recognise..

The problem here really is that if he has recurring UTIs, it will be difficult to identify when he is just inappropriately weeing and when he is genuinely unable to get to the litterbox :(

Personally i would be REALLY wary of toilet training to help with his inappropriate weeing because many people find that toilet training actually causes even a well trained cat to have accidents as they can become stressed / confused about this new place to go. Obviously i am sure it works for some people fairly easily but i know of more people who have had trouble than not..

I think huge positive reinforcement and treats each and every time he uses his tray is definitely a good idea. I know of some people who have even gone right back to the basics of keeping their cat in one room with no soft / downy items and toilet training them again as if they were a kitten, until this behaviour has been reinforced to the point of no accidents and then slowly re-introducing the rest of the house - so that's another option to try.

I also wondered whether you have tried the plastic covers you can get for sofas that will at least protect it (and your finances!) for the time being?

My previous moggie had the same problems! We also went through quite a lot with him including multiple living room sets and many, many visits to the vet. They had us put him on a prescription diet for his urinary health, but he continued having issues. So finally after he had been on the vet prescribed food for over a year without any results we switched him cold turkey to RAW. With a month all of his urinary tract issues disappeared! The vet couldn't believe that the issues had resolved so quickly when we had been battling it for so long while on their recommendations. Unfortunately he had to be pts for other reasons, but his bladder was always healthy while on the raw diet, and his inappropriate urination cleared up as well.

When we decided on a Bengal as our next cat we made sure to find a breeder that fed raw, to make it easier on both us and the kitten regarding food, that way she didn't have to transition to something new. Yuki is now 9 months old and our vet says that he has never seen such a gorgeous and healthy cat.

Have you looked into feeding raw? I know that you can buy it premade.

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*Lena... and Yuki of course!*

Not sure how easy these are to find where you are. But when Max was Mr Maxipi$$ we used waterproof backed picnic blankets. They are machine washable and come in different patterns etc.... So they can look quite nice on sofas. I actually took cushions out of covers and wrapped in bin liners. I then popped them back in their covers and then covered the sofa in picnic blankets. I had several so I could always replace soiled ones with clean ones. I also used to remove quilts from beds so he wasn't tempted.

I did the positive reinforcement. I popped him on a tray often when I was around.

Feliway plug in was excellent I think. I also used Zylkene whcich I'm not sure is available in the US... But it is a natural calming supplement. Unfortunately, Max got worse so was popped on Clomicalm, this didn't really help so he was put in a small dose of Amytriptiline and this has worked wonders!!! It is often used to treat night time bed wetting in children so it can help bladder issues. It's not a particularly expensive drug either.

Have you considered using more trays in the rooms he actually pees? And also using a cat attract litter like Dr Elsey?

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Lollo

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The little monsters 3

Ahh i see, i'm sorry i didn't realise you were on your 3rd vet!

Are you in the US or...?

If US, you could get something like this and then cover it with a throw to make it more comfortable:
http://www.qcidirect.com/furniture-prot ... chair.html
If UK - http://www.boxshop.uk.com/acatalog/furn ... overs.html

That way you only need to wash the throw and if you get a cheap one, it doesn't really matter if you end up having to throw it away? And the whole time your sofa will be safe under the plastic cover!

Or you could try using waterproof mattress protectors over the sofa or as Lollo has suggested, waterproof picnic blankets!

I think the positive reinforcement and treats is a great idea, obviously you can't be there every second of the day but every little helps :)

In terms of the raw food that was suggested, i would assume it helped with the URI issues as it has a high water content (roughly 70-75% compared to only 10% in dry). If you want to have a read up on it, there are lots of good posts in the nutrition section. If you were to try it, i would suggest buying a premade mix first so that you don't need to worry about whether your cat is getting a nutritionally balanced diet. Try to introduce it as you would with any new food, slowly little by little. Some cats take to it straight away, some might take a little persistence...

I got all my picnic blankets from local supermarkets in the summer.....

Not sure where you might find them. Maybe Target, maybe Amazon.... I know I've seen picnic stuff in my brothers local grocery store but I never looked at them too closely.

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Lollo

Found one on Amazon after looking for a few minutes:

http://www.amazon.com/Tuffo-Water-Resis ... ic+blanket

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Lollo

Cheaper,

http://www.amazon.com/Enjoydeal-Waterpr ... ic+blanket

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Lollo