Would you keep a cat who urinated on your rug?

Since I let off steam about the declawing issue, I touched upon the fact that I would not tolerate a cat who urinated anywhere in the house other than his potty box. In fact, I have in the past years of my life gotten rid of 2 male cats who did just that. The house was stinking badly, and I will not live with that.
One I found a great outdoor home, and I am sure it was very content. One, unfortunately I had to give to a shelter and I tried to block out what might have happened to him, but hope he had a new home that either cured his bad habit or the owner didn't mind stink.

What would you do?

 

I'm not sure what I would do. I've never had a cat that went anywhere but the litter box. They have sprays and stuff now you can use to discourage this behavior so I would have to exhaust all other possibilities before I got rid of the cat.

 

If you take in a full-grown stray that has this habit, it would really test your patience to re-train it. So far I haven't met this problem yet. I am not looking forward to meeting such a problem, though.

 

I had one cat that peed outside the box. I was going through treatment for cancer, and he was my cat, so he was really stressed and started acting out. Of course, I was in no shape to try to straighten it out, and no one else bothered to "nip it in the bud," so he continued peeing inappropriately until the day he died. And once I was through with treatment, I spent a lot of time on my hands and knees with enzymatic cleaners.

I currently use one of the Dr. Elsey's litters, which claims that they won't go outside the box, and so I'm about 98% certain that my current crop of cats don't pee where they aren't supposed to anymore.

 

One of the easiest re-training methods, I think, is just a big cage with a litter box. Just quarantine the offender until it learns to do it in the right place. Of course, I am just saying this in theory because I haven't had any chance to try it out. Anyone has any actual experience with this re-training method?

 

At first, I read the title of this thread and instantly thought that I wouldn't turn my cat away if he had a potty issue, but now that I think about it I am uncertain. I agree that it is just gross to live in a stinky environment like that and it is not healthy for the owners. I would have to get rid of the cat if they do not adapt to training. I haven't had to deal with that situation yet and most of my male cats just want to go outside and hang out. They are not that territorial.

 

Often neutering a cat will solve the problem and as others have suggested there are many training methods and devices which can be used to teach the cat not to do it in the wrong place. It would have to be pretty extreme for me to consider getting rid of a cat and the fact that you have done this twice does raise some questions......

 

Tinkerbell was on ACC kill list, surrendered by previous owner due to "destructive behaviour, peeing on furniture" wellllll, I think her previous owner just did not keep a clean, tended to litter box. Tinkerbell has not once peed anywhere but the litter box since I have had her, I'm obsessive about not wanting my home to smell like kitty bathroom so I change the litter boxes daily, Tidy cat non clumping litter doesn't cost much for a big bag so its not all that expensive. I do not know how I would deal with a kitty who was urinating all over but I would definitely get advice from a vet and a behaviour specialist to try and correct the behaviour. If it was not correctable due to illness, I think I would confine the kitty to the bathroom with a litter box and do my best to be patient and keep kitty comfortable during duration of illness. being involved in animal rescue, a shelter would never be an option for me.

 

It depends on why the cat is urinating outside the box. There are lots of possible reasons like anxiety/stress, dominance, unclean litterboxes, etc.
Lots of these behaviors can be solved easily or with a little more trouble through the attention of a cat therapist. I would do anything in my power to keep my kitties with me and solve the behavior. When I lived with my parents we had persians and went through all kinds of therapies and the bottom line was that the peed out of jealousy and it would only stop if we rehomed a few of them. We had been from therapy to therapy for over a year by that time and the cats urinated EVERYWHERE, even on furniture and if they had the chance on our kitchen counter. It was gross and nothing worked.
When they were re homed the troubles were over. They were lovely cats and we know they live happy healthy lives now, but I still miss them very much even though it was 13 years ago and most of them are most likely not around anymore :-(

 

It is sad that you had to rehome your cats Yolanda, but at least you know you tried everything possible to deal with the problem.

 

That's true Magickat, but it's still one of the most (if not the most) painful experience from my childhood.
It's also why I'd never take in persians again because this was an awful experience, even though the cats are so sweet. They have the tendency to become jealous even though there are breeders who have 20 without any issues. So it's a touch nut to crack really.

 

I've never had Persians so I didn't know this about them. I've only ever really had moggies. We did have a Burmese when I was quite young but he got run over on his 1st birthday

 

A lot of times cat urinate anywhere but the litter box because they are being territorial. Yes I would get rid of a cat who did that

 

I would try everything before getting rid of the cat. I had a female cat many years ago who had severe anxiety issues and would pee on rugs and such (she peed on my bed once, and on my boyfriend's backpack he had on the floor in my room)- we did the bathroom retraining thing and that worked fairly well. She reverted to the behavior when we moved, so she ended up being a part-indoor, part-outdoor cat (cat door let her choose). She would just pee outside then- so that solved the problem in the end. I think it is good to look for every possible solution before just getting rid of the cat.

 

Oh yes.. I didn't mean to imply that I wouldn't do everything to stop the problem before getting rid of the cat, but if I try everything and the cat is still urinating on the furniture or floor, I would have no choice. Retraining is always the best option. I'm glad you found a solution.

 

Honestly, no. If it was a one time thing I would forgive it, but a cat that consistenly peed in the house would have to go.

 

Agreed. Sending a cat to a shelter is very close like sending it to the death row. If there is absolutely no way to re-train the cat and you can't live in a house that stinks of cat piss, then setting the cat free is still better than sending it to a shelter.

 

I agree! Letting it out to be an outside cat would be better than taking it to a shelter!

 

I think that might just be the reason why some cats are abandoned. I remember some strays that I brought home which had very bad toilet habits. There were a couple which won't do their business anywhere except on neatly folded clothes.

 

My vet told me once when cats urinate outside the box, they might have a urinary track health condition. I had a cat that done this before, but I never knew why until recently. This cat died years ago, but now I feel bad thinking he was doing it on purpose. Now, whenever my cats start having peculiar behavior, I ask my vet if it might be a medical issue.