Help - Cats using the furniture as a potty

[Emerald]

My persian kittens are now 10 months old and out of the blue have started peeing & pooping on the couch & chair during the night while we sleep for the last 3 days. They still use the litter box. I think it is some kind of male cat territory thing possibly. They were both neutered at 6 months old and I have had no problems until now. Nothing has changed in our house or their environment. They are mainly indoor cats, but they love to go out, so I let them out a few hours each day. I bought some stuff at Wal-Mart to clean the stains & a spray that is supposed to keep them away from the furniture & it had no impact at all. I am sending Hubby to Petco today to find something stronger. Any suggestions???

[MNMOM]

I think I'd put them in cat cages at night. ;)

I was going to suggest nuetering, but I see that you already have.

We took in a feral cat and he kept urinating in the garage, I took him and had him nuetered and while he was recuperating he started using the litter box.

[danville]

My spayed 5 yo house cat has urinated on the loveseat a couple of times in the last year. It is only when the old basset hound lays on the love seat. She also urinates on this dogs bed sometimes. I stopped allowing the dog on the furniture but she is still urinating on the dog bed at least once a week. I have threatened her with excile in the garage to no avail. Hope you find an answer. I sure need one.

[fnfredux]

My spayed 5 yo house cat has urinated on the loveseat a couple of times in the last year. It is only when the old basset hound lays on the love seat. She also urinates on this dogs bed sometimes. I stopped allowing the dog on the furniture but she is still urinating on the dog bed at least once a week. I have threatened her with excile in the garage to no avail. Hope you find an answer. I sure need one.

so, the cat is the one that pees on the lovesezt but the dog can't lay on it now.
Souds to me like the cat is under the impression it runs things in your house.

[WRTN]

I think you need to make these OUTDOOR barn cats. ;) A few months outside will usually get them accustomed to going outside to do their business. I had a dog that did the same thing but on our living room rug. The 3rd time he did this, he got flung out the front door in the middle of the night into sub teen weather. After 2 weeks of living outside in the cold, he NEVER pooped on in the house again. Cats are pretty much the same way.

[fnfredux]

Yes, I never have a problem with my cats going on the furniture, they are outside cats. I love to watch them hunt mice that never make it to my house. Not only do they not poop or pee on my furniture, I DON'T have to buy kitty litter (not cheap anymore!), I don't have shredded couch arms or curtains, they suppliment their food with natural prey, and they don't need toys (they have the genuine article) PLUS they get to be real cats, doing cat things instead of being stuck in the house.
Yeah, about the dogs. Mine won't poop in the house, but if you ignore the "dance" they will certainly upchuck instead. *But I can forgive them, it's my fault if I don't pay attention to them. *And I don't have to keep a box in the house for them to Cr@p in. I mean would you do YOUR business and keep it in a box of "litter" in the house and then "scoop" it? NO? and I'll bet you don't even have toxoplasmosis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis
Yes, I do like OUTSIDE cats.

[Mamsy]

I've never had them use the furniture as a potty, but my niece had that problem. She had her cat de-clawed (which I am against) and I was told by a vet that when that is done, a cat's feet are so sensitive and sore they can't stand to dig in the hard, crumbly type litter. We didn't know that at the time, so Cindy got rid of her cat. Also if too many cats are using one litter box and it is "occupied" when another needs it, they will make do some other place in the house. I was told each cat needs 2 litter boxes, but I think that's overkill myself. We have 3 cats and 3 of the large litter boxes and it works well. No problems.

[EarthMama]

My persian kittens are now 10 months old and out of the blue have started peeing & pooping on the couch & chair during the night while we sleep for the last 3 days. They still use the litter box. I think it is some kind of male cat territory thing possibly. They were both neutered at 6 months old and I have had no problems until now. Nothing has changed in our house or their environment. They are mainly indoor cats, but they love to go out, so I let them out a few hours each day. I bought some stuff at Wal-Mart to clean the stains & a spray that is supposed to keep them away from the furniture & it had no impact at all. I am sending Hubby to Petco today to find something stronger. Any suggestions???

I personally do not advocate letting indoor cats go outside, even if they do "love it". You're just asking for trouble.... fleas, animal attacks, cars running over them, curiosity getting the best of them, potty confusion, etc. Cats are not a part of the wildlife food chain and are not wildlife. They're domestic pets and therefore should be kept inside.

The first thing I would do is have your cats checked for urinary tract infections. Then, as someone said in jest earlier but it's true, I would put them in a pen of some sort at night. I had to do that with a 7 month old cat we rescued. He was used to living outside and we brought him in. After his vet check and neutering, we kept him in a huge Vari-kennel along with his litter box and cat food. We would let him out for little snippets of time, totally supervised, while we cleaned his litter box and put down fresh food and water. After about a month of this, we would gradually let him out of his kennel for longer and longer periods of time until we observed that he was using his litter box even when given the opportunity to do otherwise. Now, 6 years later, he's free to roam the house and has never had one accident.

That's the problem with letting your cats outside "for a few hours everyday" too... while outside they use the whole world as their toilet... but once you let them back in, you expect them to use only the litter box. They're not going to understand the difference!

In your exuberance to make your kitties happy, by letting them outside a little bit everyday, you may have created the problem yourself. After ruling out the UTI with your vet, I'd keep your kitties inside the house... where they must be retrained that it's only acceptable to use the litter box and nothing else.

You'll be able to retrain them. It'll just take patience. Good luck.

[harvester]

most likely one of the kittens had an accident or possibly tried out his marking skills on your couch..now they all have to join in as it now smells like the litter box.
even tho you may put on many nice smelling perfumy so called cleaners. you are not killing the key enzyme that the cats trigger on.
you need to take that couch to the cleaners and tell them to use an enzymatic cleaner on it. tell them what has happened, they will know.
frankly ive dealt with this problem so many times that if i woke up in the morning to cat pee and poo on my couch, the couch would go to the dump and the cats would go permanently outside.
If you have declawed these cats then put them in cat cages permanently or untill you can find other homes for them.
then go buy another couch.
I have absolutely ZERO tollerance for animals doing their nasties in my house, especially when they know how to tell me they need out, or they have a litter box.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I would put them out. Unless they were declawed, they will be fine outside.