Cat pee help!

[kaiene]

We have had some peeing issues with 2 of our cats. Both have been to the vet and it has been determined that it is behavioral related to DS.

Both cats are now on 10mg of an antidepressant. I just caught one of them (the female) peeing while standing up out of the box. This is a marking behavior, yes?

Before this happened, I heard someone peeing in one of the boxes we have in the basement. I don't know if this made her not want to use it.

I am at a loss for what to do next. We have made our bedroom a baby free space and are getting a 3rd cat tree delivered this weekend. Rehoming is not on the table (I think most of you remember me from TN), but it would be nice to stop cleaning cat pee. Do we up her dose?

We have treated the area with NM. The box is scooped daily. We have used Cat Attract litter previously and it did not seem to make a difference for her.

[niemand88f]

One of my cats always poops and pees standing up, so she is perched on a corner of the box with her paws against the wall. This occasionally leads to a misfire but I don't think there is a way to change this behavior without making matters worse. If this is what your cat did, I'm not sure that this is marking behavior and is probably just an accident.

Have you tried Feliway or Rescue Remedy? If you have space for an extra box I would do that too. I would wait and see if it becomes a new pattern before increasing dosage.

[kaiene]

I'm sorry, I think my post was confusing! She was not in the box when she peed. She was a few feet away from it.

We do use Feliway in our room.

With regards to the RR, can it mess with her antidepressant? I did think about giving it to her but then worried about it messing with her. We did use it with her prior to trying medication.

I'm not wild about having 3 litter boxes in our family room but it is worth a try!

[kellbell191]

I would do the rescue remedy and make sure to have one feliway diffuser for every 500 sq ft of space. The antidepressants can take 6 weeks to go into effect so don't panic yet. It sounds like you're on the right track.

[kaiene]

She has been on it for less than a month. Thanks for the tip about the time; I had forgotten.

We also have the Feliway spray and can use that in the basement as well.

I just feel bad for her that she is stressed. I feel like a bad cat mom.

We have also made a "cat zone" in the basement. We've noticed that they do like to still be around us and DS, but most keep their distance (except B; he will lay next to DS). We've dedicated an area behind our futon for them with a puzzle toy, cardboard scratcher and ball toy, litter box and cat tree looking out the basement window. I will add some water for them, too. We keep DS away from this area and are trying to figure out if it's feasible to somehow gate the area off.

In addition we will be moving a smallish post into the dining room once our new tree is delivered Saturday.

Thanks again, ladies.

[urbancowgirl]

It sounds like you're doing all you can, so I don't have any suggestions. I have a question for you about the antidepressant, though. What form is the medication and how do you administer it? Our vet just described the pill form of an antidepressant for my cat yesterday (he also pees outside of his litter box). I crushed one pill and added it to his lunch today, but he foamed at the mouth when he ate and refused to finish his food.

[mnvegas]

We had an issue with one of our cats peeing next to the litter boxes when we moved into our new house a couple of months ago. She did not have a UTI so it was determined the issue was anxiety due to our move. I tried Rescue Remedy and Feliway plugin but she was still peeing right near the box. She would poop in the box, but pee out of it.

Someone on this board recommended Cat Attract litter www.preciouscat.com/product/cat-attract/

I bought a bag and no sooner had I put this new litter if the box, Sassy was happily peeing IN the box! Would highly recommend trying it.

ETA: Ooops sorry did not read the last line of your post that you had already tried this. Have you tried it again since your cats have been on antidepressants?

[kaiene]

Nov 8, 2012 14:43:42 GMT -5 urbancowgirl said:

It sounds like you're doing all you can, so I don't have any suggestions. I have a question for you about the antidepressant, though. What form is the medication and how do you administer it? Our vet just described the pill form of an antidepressant for my cat yesterday (he also pees outside of his litter box). I crushed one pill and added it to his lunch today, but he foamed at the mouth when he ate and refused to finish his food.

We feed raw, so we hide it in their food and it works for us! I tried to pill S once and she kept flopping over like I was torturing her when I would grab her scruff. Have you tried pill pockets? I know some people are successful with those.

We asked if we could get in liquid form and we can't. :-(

[kaiene]

Nov 8, 2012 15:06:36 GMT -5 mnvegas said:

We had an issue with one of our cats peeing next to the litter boxes when we moved into our new house a couple of months ago. She did not have a UTI so it was determined the issue was anxiety due to our move. I tried Rescue Remedy and Feliway plugin but she was still peeing right near the box. She would poop in the box, but pee out of it.

Someone on this board recommended Cat Attract litter www.preciouscat.com/product/cat-attract/

I bought a bag and no sooner had I put this new litter if the box, Sassy was happily peeing IN the box! Would highly recommend trying it.

ETA: Ooops sorry did not read the last line of your post that you had already tried this. Have you tried it again since your cats have been on antidepressants?

We have not. It's certainly worth a shot. She has always been a bit special. She did it again last night (peeing out of the box). She was sniffing around like she had to go, so I put her in it and praised her. So of course she hopped out and squats next to it.

We recently replaced that box and I think the new one is smaller than the old one so I am going to pick up a new one and hopefully that helps, along with either CA or the litter attractant (made by the same company). We have used the attractant with fosters before.

[dottyblue]

Have you tried calming collar? That's the only thing that worked for my high strung male. You can get them at Petco or on amazon: www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0026JAKWG

It might be a good way to bridge the time until the ADs start working

[urbancowgirl]

Nov 9, 2012 6:13:19 GMT -5 kaiene said:

Nov 8, 2012 14:43:42 GMT -5 urbancowgirl said:

It sounds like you're doing all you can, so I don't have any suggestions. I have a question for you about the antidepressant, though. What form is the medication and how do you administer it? Our vet just described the pill form of an antidepressant for my cat yesterday (he also pees outside of his litter box). I crushed one pill and added it to his lunch today, but he foamed at the mouth when he ate and refused to finish his food.

We feed raw, so we hide it in their food and it works for us! I tried to pill S once and she kept flopping over like I was torturing her when I would grab her scruff. Have you tried pill pockets? I know some people are successful with those.

We asked if we could get in liquid form and we can't.

I actually tried a pill pocket before I crushed up the pill and he sniffed it and walked away. I'll try to hide the whole pill in his food. If that doesn't work, maybe I'll split the crushed pill between two meals so he won't have as strong of a reaction to it. My vet said that we could also try a cream form that you rub on the ear. Maybe I should have gone straight to that option! Ugh, cats!

[SallySparrow]

Nov 7, 2012 21:29:11 GMT -5 kellbell191 said:

I would do the rescue remedy and make sure to have one feliway diffuser for every 500 sq ft of space. The antidepressants can take 6 weeks to go into effect so don't panic yet. It sounds like you're on the right track.

Ditto. Also, just for my own curiosity, what med are they on? I'm just wondering since you said you can't get it in liquid form.

When Lucky and Penny were on their anti-depressant it took every bit of two months to see a difference, so hopefully they'll get with the program soon.

[kaiene]

Nov 10, 2012 0:06:19 GMT -5 SallySparrow said:

Nov 7, 2012 21:29:11 GMT -5 kellbell191 said:

I would do the rescue remedy and make sure to have one feliway diffuser for every 500 sq ft of space. The antidepressants can take 6 weeks to go into effect so don't panic yet. It sounds like you're on the right track.

Ditto. Also, just for my own curiosity, what med are they on? I'm just wondering since you said you can't get it in liquid form.

When Lucky and Penny were on their anti-depressant it took every bit of two months to see a difference, so hopefully they'll get with the program soon.

They are on amitriptiline (spelling?).

[SallySparrow]

Nov 10, 2012 9:25:43 GMT -5 kaiene said:

Nov 10, 2012 0:06:19 GMT -5 SallySparrow said:

Ditto. Also, just for my own curiosity, what med are they on? I'm just wondering since you said you can't get it in liquid form.

When Lucky and Penny were on their anti-depressant it took every bit of two months to see a difference, so hopefully they'll get with the program soon.

They are on amitriptiline (spelling?).

Okay, that's what Lucky and Penny were on, and it was in liquid form. Weird. The vet did the compounding right at this office though, I don't know if that makes a difference--he didn't have to send the prescription anywhere else.

[kaiene]

Could be. We pick it up at Target for $4.

[urbancowgirl]

Sally, how do your cats do with the liquid form? How do you administer it?

[SallySparrow]

Nov 11, 2012 11:09:50 GMT -5 urbancowgirl said:

Sally, how do your cats do with the liquid form? How do you administer it?

We've been able to wean them both off of it at this point. We used a (3mL or 5mL, I don't remember) syringe, without the needle on it, obviously. Just squirt it in the mouth. They each got 1 mL/day. There was 10mg of med per mL. One did really great with it, it didn't bother her at all to take it. The other one HATED it. It was a PITA to medicate her every night. We had to burrito her and she freaked out about it and it was awful. Needless to say, I was thrilled when she could come off of it. lol

[urbancowgirl]

Update: We've had success with pills! I put the pill in one of those pill pockets and hid the whole thing in his food. Hopefully he doesn't catch on.