If you have cats and dogs living together, help!

[Deleted]

Backstory:
I sold my house last June and have been living with roommates ever since. There are 2 dogs and 2 cats now in the household. My cat was by himself in my old house.

He adjusted pretty well I think. Both dogs spend most of their day outside and when inside, they sleep. My cat established boundaries with the dogs. He keeps them at a distance and will even chill in the room with the dogs when they are sleeping.

He is obsessed with the other cat. He follows her everywhere and wants to play with her. She ignores him and growls at him. She spends most of her day outside.

My cat peed twice now on the other roommate's bed and pooped where the other cat sleeps and on some couch. He has never done this before. I don't know why he would pee on the other roommate's bed except her dog got sick there and my cat had to smell the place and was really attracted to it. That's when he peed and pooped on the bed for the 1st time. Other cat never goes in the bedrooms. The dog got sick on the couch a couple weeks ago and my cat pooped there last night.

So it seems to me he will poop and pee where one of the dogs got sick. I got him a feliway collar and spray and hopefully it helps. My roommate was pissed when she had to wash all her bed sheets and comforter at 7am this morning. And I felt guilty my cat was the cause of that.

Have you experienced something similar?

[niemand88f]

Feliway may help after a while, but in the mean time what are you using to clean up the vomit? The cat can probably still smell it, so you should use an enzymatic cleaner like Nature's Miracle which will really get rid of the smell.

Does he have vertical space or a place to really get away from the dogs? He might seem comfortable but actually be stressed. A cat tree might make him feel more comfortable.

[Deleted]

My bedroom is his safe haven. No dogs or cats go there.
The products I have seen so far are Woolite pet stain + odor. I know she uses something else for carpet stains. I'll try Nature's miracle.

Also, she washes her bed sheets with a free detergent. Is this enough to remove pee and vomit smells?

[niemand88f]

I don't have a lot of experience with inappropriate elimination, but from what I've read from other posters the detergent probably isn't sufficient.

[kellbell191]

Two things:

1) If all of the other animals are going inside and outside, I would make sure he hasn't picked up fleas from them. They can cause worms which can cause litterbox accidents.
2) pooping outside the box is usually related to anxiety, so feliway and separate space should help. We've also found cat trees to be really helpful. You definitely need to clean with an enzymatic cleaner like Nature's Miracle. Since there are two cats you also need to make sure there are 2+ boxes and they are being scooped regularly, some kitties do not like to share. There should be more advice on this in the FAQs.