Urinary problem

QuestionEdit

I adopted my cat last july, and when i brought him home he had one accident on my bed, and i dismissed it becasue it was one of the first nights he was home and i thought maybe he couldnt jump off my bed, or was scared to jump off and make it to the litter box. After that accident he did not have any more that i noticed. He lives with me and my sister and her family. She has two cats which are both older and accepted him around the house. Her dog however attached to him very much and they are best mates. When i first got him we were living in a rental home and in october of 06 my sister and brother in law bought a new house so as we were moving in we went to move a loveseat couch and the minute we moved it we relised that one or more of the cats has been peeing on it for a very long time. we were not sure which cat it was so we just discarded the couch and placed it as one of the cats once must have not liked the cat box and went once and now becasue we never smelt it(it was in a basement and the basement smelt of the 60's and mold)the cats could and mistook it for their box. We moved into the new house in october and everything was great, no accidents from the cats or anything. In november, over thanksgiving weekend i took a trip to az to visit my mom and family, while i was gone my cat (which normally sleeps in my room)peed in my bed mulitple times.We thought it was becasue i was gone and he got angry at me for leaving. When i got back i could smell it so i cleaned my sheets with the longest washing cycle, bleach and soap, and i soaked my matteres with the natures miracle. It only took a couple weeks untill there was another accident on my bed, i once again washed my sheets and soaked the matteres and even flipped it this time. Trying to see which cat it was i would close my door during the day and whenever im in there id leave it open. While my door would stay closed no accidents would happen. Then id leave it open and it get and accident in a few days. I have been leaving it closed since and in january one of the cats peed in my sisters bed, so we cleaned it and sprayed it with the natures miracle, and we thought maybe it was my cat peeing in her bed becasue he did not like the litter in the other 2 boxes in the house, and his litterbox (had natures miracle litter) was behind a closed door. So i left my bedroom door open and within like 4 days one of the cats peed on my bed. I thought it might have been my cat being terriorial about my bed becasue my sisters female cat likes to sleep on it during the day(all 3 cats are spayed and nuetered). So i closed it again thinking this whole time it was my sisters cat. The next day one peed in my sisters bed again. Me, my sister, and brother in law sat there trying to figure out what the problem could be becasue it came out of no where. So my brother in law got his security camera and we recorded my sisters bed for the whole day. the whole time i thought it was my sisters cat becasue shes had a problem before and the tape shows that it was my cat who peed on their bed TWICE! i couldnt believe it! That was two weeks ago Since then ive kept him in my room, letting him out for a few hours while the doors to every room are closed. He was doing ok untill he peed on the bathroom mat in the bathroom, its only about a foot away from the litterbox(it was clean). So ive kept him in my room again but then last sunday he peed on my bed again. The dog was in my room for some of the afternoon so im not sure of the dog had anything to do with it, becasue all the other days he hasent had any trouble. Ive been cleaning all 3 litter boxes twice a day. Im thinking his problem is he has issues with my sisters two cats using his litter box, but there is no way i can keep the two cats out of his litter box. Im not sure if he doesnt like the litter in the other two boxes. Im not sure what to do the last thing i want to do is bring him back to the society he is adopted from. Do you have any advice or any suggestions of what the problem may be that we have not thought of? I dont understand how if it was him peeing on the couch in the other house we lived in he was good for a month and a 1/2 and then started having accident again.

AnswerEdit

1. First, it is very important to rule out a medical cause for the problem. Cats that experience urinary discomfort will stop urinating in the litterbox, since they tend to associate the discomfort with the box itself and search for new places to urinate. Medical causes include the following: infection, crystals in the urine, bladder stone, kidney stone, and a condition called feline interstitial cystitis (FIC). Before you chalk it up to just behavior, you should have him fully examined by a vet and have a urinalysis, a urine culture and a bladder xray done to rule out a medical problem.

5. Sometimes cats need to be re-trained to use the litterbox. After all his accidents are cleaned up, then you can try isolating him in a small room (usually the bathroom) with a litterbox for a few days until he is consistently using the box. I find a type of cat litter called "Cat Attract" is very useful for litterbox re-training. If he is still using the box, however, then you need not bother with this technique.

All the products I mentioned can be found on the internet and purchased at most pet store.