She may have a bladder infection. My cat started peeing in odd places and I took him in and he had an infection.

If it's not that, I can't help much! I did have a cat when I was a kid who would spray on my brother's stereo floor speakers - I was convinced it was because he was mean to the cat, but never figured it out. Just kept the door shut and that was that.

She might be mad at you, but to do it while you're playing or giving her attention doesn't make much sense...

You can try a product called Feliway. I am attaching a link for you. I have used this (the diffusers) when I added another kitten to our household. It's supposed to relax them. It is available at most pet stores.

Love cats ... we have 3 inside and 3 outdoor throw-a-ways we house/feed (and spay/neuter) .... good luck!

jody

Here is a link that might be useful: Feliway website

Would getting her a friend be an option so she's not so stressed over losing you?

caroleoh - Yes I will have any testing done at vet's recommendation. Thank you for confirming there could be a medical reason.

Jody - Kitty has only sprayed items that could be laundered, in different rooms each time and it happens less frequently than every 4 weeks. At this point I could need one in every room... better than the current alternative! Thanks for the suggestion!

chijim - I have wondered about that too. Hating the thought though of 2nd kitty being "good" and 1st kitty still being "bad"...

I have a kitty that does the same thing. No medical reason (physical). Its a behavioral thing, or so the vet says. I tried Feliway, it helped, for awhile. She will pee on anything the kids leave on the floor, especially towels or other clothes. Sometimes she will get in the kids' rooms and pee on the bed! We have to keep her out of their rooms. She does not do it in ours.

If we have a rug down for wet weather conditions or painting, she will pee on them (or do so overnight). She will also pee on the dog beds. ):

I did the vet thing to rule out bladder, kidney or urinary tract infections multiple times. Never was the issue.

covingtoncat - You're not making me feel very good about the outcome :( Sorry you have the same problem!

My neighbor's cat was doing something similar - it was a behavioral thing. The vet put him on an anti-depressant and that seemed to work for her cat. If you need the name of the medication, I can find out if you want to ask your vet about it.

Getting another cat for a stressed cat will only make her worse. Cats are not social animals like dogs.

Medications might help depending on the severity of her anxiety. I have one who pees on rugs so no rugs in my house.

Alternative to getting rid of her would be to build her an outdoor enclosure. Do you have a porch you could fix up for her? I have a couple of cats who have to live outside for that very reason. They have their own enclosure built on to the garage. If you do have to put her outside, then I would recommend a pal.

Feliway works for some. You might want to try to plug in and the spray. Spray doorways about a foot from the floor, where their nose hits as they pass the doorway.

Is she peeing on the bed or chairs or just on things on the floor? I've had some like firehoses spraying like they were putting our blazes. Outside to the enclosure they went.

Sorry Javachick!

It is cyclical if that helps. Sometimes we will go weeks/months with no events and then something will set it off again. Bright side: It will teach your kids (if you have them) to keep their stuff off the floor and doors closed!

Not much I can do about rugs or blankets on the floor, but they are easy to wash, at least.

Are you sure she's spraying and not urinating? They have a very particular way of standing when they spray, once you've seen it you'd know. I foster cats for an animal rescue. One of our fosters was urinating on my bed (nice, right?) We went back to square one with her, making the guest room "her" room. She had her toys, a window to watch birds, food, water, litter box, a little "hide-away" den that we made by draping a blanket over a chair. She stayed in there for a few weeks, we used the Feliway aromatherapy dispenser too. Little by little we let her come out into other parts of the house. Maybe for half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening when we were watching TV and could keep an eye on her. Eventually, we could see that the peeing behavior was stopping. Another help was switching to a special food for urinary tract health. By the way, before doing this I DID take her to the vet to make sure there was no illness or infection causing the behavior. The vet confirmed it was entirely behavioral. I think by breaking her pattern and keeping her in her room (it went on for a few months but we'd go in and sit with her or read in there so she was still getting socialization) we broke this behavior. She is an absolute doll now, very adoptable, sleeps on the sofa in my bedroom even though the guest room is still "her" room and I put her in there at night. I know not everyone has a room they can dedicate to this purpose, but maybe there's another part of the house that can be used for this?

I have the same problem and have taken my female kitty to the vet. She started marking at 2 1/2. She now is wearing a calming collar which is similar to Feliway. It worked for a while until this weekend. I also have used Feliway. She seems to like my side of the bed and she's sneaky about it. She waits until I am not looking. Anyway, I know it's behavioral and has something to do with me and competing with my male cat. Of course, now she is being prohibited from our room.

She has also marked our sofa. Now I keep aluminum foil on all the seats of all our furniture in our LR. That works well and keeps her off. When company come we just take it off.

Not sure if there is anything you can do about it.

Thank you all for responding! At least I know I'm not alone, but my hope for eliminating (no pun intended) the problem is not very high now (covington_cat, I didn't mean to make you feel guilty!). To answer some of your questions:

I'm pretty sure it's spraying not urinating based on smell (musky not ammonia), color (dark, kind of deep amber), and consistency (very viscous and oily).

It does not happen on a routine I'm-certain-this-will-cause-it basis. So trying to fix the end result when you don't know the source could be more error than trial. I can just envision my whole house and furnishings covered in aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Other than my bed once, bedding on the floor once, my clothes once, and the Roomba the first time I used it (now she's confined when I use it), she sprayed my brand new sofa (the worst). Apparently she sprayed the sofa repeatedly the first week. I had it draped in plastic immediately after I got it before I was ready to get it in place and the LR put together. I now have those sentry type of gadgets monitoring my new LR sofa and chairs and she leaves them alone.

So I will consult the vet about medical or behavioral causes and solutions, calming collar (do pet stores have these?) and Feliway. Something about confining her to one room 16 hours/day leaves me cold, but the vet actually told me when I first got her, "Remember, this is a creature that SLEEPS most of the day! Don't feel bad!"

javachik, the room confinement is a phase in a retraining. Cats actually prefer small spaces. When we send a new cat home from the shelter we recommend that new owners keep the cat in a confined space like a spare bathroom at first. It can take a few weeks for cats to acclimate to new owners and they need time to adapt. Being in a small space actually helps the kitty. I'm not talking about a dark closet, but an actual room. A window with a view of the outdoors is like TV for a cat. Put a bird feeder out there and it's better than a Hollywood blockbuster. I know it might sound cruel to deprive the cat of the run of the house, ultimately you're working up to that. Your vet is right by the way, cats do sleep for a good part of the day. Even if the cat is in the room though you want to go in and visit with them or take them out for "supervised" visits elsewhere in the house. The point is that this is temporary. By the way, many of the other "foster" homes in my network or rescues actually have one room that's a foster room in their house and the cats do stay in one room until they are adopted out. It's not inhumane at all, and certainly beats life outside on the street.

OK, this may be a stupid question, but I didn't know cats could "spray" and "urinate" different liquids?? I mean, doesn't it all come out of the same bladder? I've had cats all my life - but male cats, so maybe females do things differently! :-)

Based on your description, that doesn't sound like normal urine to me, and I would strongly suggest you have a urine test done - which for my cat required a tapping because he wouldn't pee anywhere they could get enough of a sample from.

It might end up that you need to do a combo remediation - perhaps it is a medical issue that has also become a habit or behavioral one.

caroleoh, you make a very good point and you're right. It doesn't sound normal. I hope the kitty gets taken to the vet to double check, maybe she is sick.

Javachick, no worries. I don't feel singled out at all.

My kitty pees. I always thought pee/spraying were the same thing. What you are talking about sounds like what canines emit from their anal glands. IDK, do cats do that too? I've never experienced that from a cat, only a dog. And OMG, is it NASTY!

Maybe its very concentrated urine? What does your vet say about it?

Hope you get some answers soon.

It is important to understand that cats are marking their territory when anxious. It especially wants to mark any place they smell you as that is them telling that "area" that it is thiers as they are stating that they love you. Something is bothering kitty. I recommend a smaller enclosed space until she calms down.

You have the clean up the areas. Also watch where your cat rubs its face each day. Try to capture those areas with a towel(hopefully the cat will rub the towel) and then hang those towels in the areas the cats is spraying. You can even rub his face with a towel too. He needs to find his scent at the area to assure himself it is his. I did this for my cat in transitioning him to my new home and he did quite well.

You can also put his food bowls in those areas too to discourage that behaviour. Never punish the cat! Good luck!

I had a geriatric cat who didn't spray but did start peeing outside the box on anything on the floor, oriental rugs, bathmats, etc. I bought a pack of puppy pee pads and placed one where she could find it. It worked to keep her "bad acts" confined to a disposable pad at least.

I hope you'll get a vet check asap, though. It sounds like it could be a uti and the longer it goes, the harder it might be to get her to revert to no spraying.

Also, have the vet double check that you have a female :) One woman I know had a female cat spayed and then several years later had a different vet tell her it was a male and he then had to be neutered. Apparently when the spaying occured, the organs were immature and the vet just thought that was the problem.

Calming collars can be purchased at Pet Smart.

These calming collars are something new. I read reviews that say they work. I however would want to try it for myself. My concern when I read the description was that it had a fragrance and cats hate any type of fragrance so I'd like to see how my cat reacts to the collar. Have you used them jerseygirl?

HIWTHI, the calming collars are one product in a line of products from Feliway. Feliway also produces plug-in versions (like a Glade plug-in) that you plug in to an electrical outlet. There is a vial of an aromatherapy oil that sits in the plug-in unit and it releases a pheremone that calms the cats into the air. I have never used the calming collar for the same reason you say -- worries about how cats react to the smell. Also, I don't like the idea of putting something on the cat for some reason. People have had too many cats get sick from flea collars (and by the way, they are not really safe for cats but flea treatment is another whole problem). I have always used the plug in in the room where the cat is spending most of his or her time. In the case of a peeing cat, as I've said before, I kept mine in a small area until she felt more secure, so I put the Feliway in that area. The least expensive versions of it are on Amazon. My local pet store charged almost double. Also, once you buy the plug in part you only have to replace the oil every 4 - 6 weeks. I think there are other Feliway products besides the collar and the plug-in unit and the spray (which some people have had luck with). If you read the reviews on Amazon you can learn more.

Kitty has an appointment with the vet this afternoon. Ssshhh! I haven't told her yet. Don't want her to stress while I'm at work. :)

The thought of reducing her helpfulness via drugs is disturbing. How would I ever get all my work done?

Awe, she is so cute! Hope all goes well with the vet, although if it is a urinary issue, at least it is treatable and easier to fix than a behavior thing.

I know with my cat, once he was on the meds, he stopped peeing. It was so odd, he would just squat down in front of me and pee on the carpet. I knew something was not right with that since he'd never had any issues with not using his box.

I switched him to a all protein food EVO and it's made a world of difference in his coat etc. Of course, that's another post! Cat food is a whole discussion all by itself!

javachik, she is SO cute. I love the tabbies with the little white bibs. And she is obviously a very talented seamstress. Good luck at the vet.

What a cutie!

I use the calming collars. I was very concerned about the calming collar at first since I have a kitty who is subject to allergies and is on limited ingredient canned food. She's a pricey one to feed. It was recommended to me but one of the ladies who rescues kitties at Pet Smart.

It was worth the try. She really did not like it at first since she has been collar less all the time but now she is fine. Last one she tried to bit it off but the collar won. This one I don't see any teeth marks on. I also have the plug-in. It only lasts 3 weeks tops and it is very cost prohibitive since I would need one in more than one room.

She just spayed for the first time in 8 weeks this past weekend. In my bed, on my side where my older kitty sleeps with me. It's all behavioral. It's a tug of war over mommy. She does have the tendency to be a little high strung so for that I see a difference in her behavior. She really is a sweety and loves to give kitty kisses (bad breath and all LOL).

Well, there is no medical reason for kitty's transgressions. No bacteria in the urine. The vet took a sample from kitty's anal glands for me to confirm that's what I was seeing... The vet discussed both Feliway and Prozac. I'm going to try Feliway, but the vet warned against trying (unsuccessfully) too long, as then even the Prozac might not be effective.

It's so strange as this cat has never seemed "high strung" or "stressed". Doesn't hide from people, actually goes toward noise and is the most insistent critter I've ever spent time with (What? Really? Me? You want me to stop playing hide and seek in the clean sheets you're trying to make the bed with? Seriously? Nah, come on! Try to find me!). My previous cat would jump out of her skin if I crinkled the potato chip bag for goodness sakes and never any misbehavior.

sigh

Ahh, Sorry Javachik. Good news/Bad news.

I have a friend whose cat would pee OR spray on towels if they were left on the floor or dirty clothes in a laundry basket. Cats may have a sense of smell which detects body odors from dirty clothing or whatever, which may 'invite' the peeing/spraying. Just something i've always thought could be the answer but have no proof. My own cats have peed on a floor mat after i've showered, and my daughter had the same problem so consequently could never leave rugs on the bathroom floor.