Help with my cat
 

I've only been here two weeks and I thought my cat had adjusted well, but I just found out she is peeing in front of her litter box - not good since her litter box is in one of the carpeted bedrooms. Any suggestions on how to get her to stop?

Did you change the brand of litter? Musn't do that

Cat urine is extremely hard to remove from carpeting and the underlying padding. I grew up with cats as pets and love, love, love them. I have started a reverse bucket list. Things I will never do. Having a cat is on my list because my husband said he'll never live with a cat in the house because of things like this.

Cats tend to go back to the same area where they urinated. In your case it will be the area where they smell the urine on the carpet in front of the litter box.

Your kitty may have some anxiety from the move and having to get use to a new home. The cat may just be marking the new territory. Whatever the case, you must clean up the urine smell from the places outside the litter box.

There are several products on the market. I'd try several to be sure to get the smell out. You have to use something that will break down the enzymes. Some people swear by baking soda and vinegar. Blot up as much of the urine as possible. Then use a steam cleaner, even if you have to rent one. Soak the area with a mixture of 1/3 cup of white vinegar with 2/3 cup of water and a little soap. With a clean rag, blot up any excess liquid. Repeat this process using fresh water, and then use another rag to soak up the remaining liquid. After this, sprinkle some baking soda on the area and vaccuum up in 24 hours.

Good luck.

Saturate the carpet with Spot Shot and walk on towels after. Do that several times. It cleans and deodorizes both. BK's suggestions are good too.

Put the litter box on tile and put an old throw rug in front of it. It the cat pees on the throw rug...you can wash it. How about the laundry room? Or a cat door to the garage?

I have my litter box in the bathtub. Actually, got rid of the litter box and now use a medium storage bin. Easy to clean and the cats love it (and no sand spill).

As has been said, once a cat quits using the box and urinates elsewhere, it is hard to break tha habit so long as that spot is available. If it were me, I'd move the box to a non-carpeted area, get all the urine smell out of the carpet if possible, close up that room so the cat can't reuse it.

If you changed kitty litter, try to go back to your old litter. Cats really don't like change. It may be anxiety over the move, it may be a statement about the litter or even the location of the box, it may be his way of making this his home, it may be a bladder or kidney infection. A check at the vet's office might be worthwhile, especiallly if his feed is off or is drinking more water than usual.

Good luck! I know how hard it is to break a cat of using the carpet. Actually ended up ripping out all carpet in California because the cat refused to use the box after a bladder infection. Didn't matter where I moved the box, he'd find a spot of carpet to use. Once there was no carpeting, no problem, the box was just fine TYVM.

OMG...I had not even thought of how the move will effect Tombstone, our 18 pound kitty, known to all as BoomBoom. ...I guess I have to keep my fingers crossed that he will use the box. I have no idea where I am going to put it though. He has always been good about using it, even when I have not cleaned it as often as I should.......another thing to add to my long list of worries...

Thanks for all the suggestions. Fortunately I did have an old towel in front of the litter box and I now have a small bed liner - like they use in hospitals or cribs.

I'd like to find a place on the tile, but my laundry room is too small and I can't put a cat door in the garage since I'd be afraid she'd get out if the door went up while she was out there. I have an Iris, so if anyone else has figured this out, let me know.

Try Feliway products
 

You might want to take your kitty to the vet to make sure she doesn't have a UTI and need antibiotics but if it's stress related, try Feliway Plug-In Diffuser which simulates your cat's natural pheromones to help your pet cope with stress. Our vet recommended this product (which also comes in a spray) .... I am now buying it online as it is half the price that the vet charged. The package states: "Feliway reduces or completely stops stress-related behavior including urine marking, vertical scratching, loss of appetite and the reduced desire to play or interact." It really helped our kitties. Good luck!

Gail

Taylor, we have a little villa, so space is at a premium. We have the giant-sized, covered litter box, and spent the first year here trying to work around it -- first in the laundry room and then in the bathroom. It was awkward, to say the least.

We finally put the litter box on the lanai with a small table over it & a tablecloth on top so you can't see the litterbox, the bucket of litter, or the little broom & dustpan. We have a see-thru 'doggie' door from Home Depot (in the section of the store back by the windows & doors) that just snaps into the patio slider. Now Baby Monroe can go outside whenever he wants to. It works for us.

Don't laugh, but when we moved we brought along a small bag of used litter and mixed in it with the new stuff. The girls went right to the box and never had a problem.

We also have a small laundry room so we had the sink moved into the garage, put up a small counter and put the box under the counter.
Also hung curtains around the counter so it is out of sight and the girls have some privacy....O the things we do for love!

Have your cat checked by a vet for a UTI - our cat did this and she had a raging UTI that cleared up with antibiotics. If it's a male cat, a UTI can be life threatening so please rule out anything medical.

One product we have used in the past for the cat was Zero odor (0 odor). I can't stand the litter box smell, and our previous cat was like the song, "smelly cat". After I would scoop the litter I would give it a couple of squirts and the smell was gone. It would even remove the smell without cleaning. Our daughters dog would have accidents, and they state that spraying the spot will remove the scent.