Realised cats have been wetting around the house... but when?

frivolous_fay

This is probably going to sound disgusting and make it look like my house is a complete bombshell... but it's not quite that bad, honest

Currently trying to move my boys away from the litter tray, and into the garden (where we have another litter tray, hopefully temporary)

They've been surprisingly good so far... at least I thought so. We've been keeping a close eye on them... that's when I spotted one crouching behind the sofa amongst the clutter we have back there :o. So I grabbed cat, cleaned up wee and decided it was time to move the clutter. Found an older wee site in the process and dealt with that too.

O/H commented recently that under the bed smelt a bit musty... so I had a sniff, and yes, it seems that they've been under there too. :o And behind the desk in the study (haven't told O/H, if he thinks they've been weeing near expensive PCs he'll freak)

So by now you're probably despairing that I hadn't noticed the smell by now... but it honestly wasn't noticeable. What I'm wondering is whether the 'incidents' are old, or newer? The boys are about 5 months old now but they've had the run of (most of) the house for a while. Although they've happily used their tray since we got them, we assumed they weren't having accidents anywhere else (other than the couple we caught them at, which we put down to them being very young at the time) So it's whether I have a current problem, or
just a handful of old problems to clean up! Would the smell have been really strong if it was old? Our study is really tiny!

Current policy is now to a) clear clutter so they can't hide in it and wee b) obstruct hidden areas so they can't get there again and c) watch them, constantly :rolleyes:

Would love any suggestions, advice or pointers on where we might be going wrong!

Sazzyukrafc

Hmmm...was the area stained fairly darkly? If so, I'd expect they were old. Although they could have also been returning there without the cat litter recently.

I found out one day that my boys had been weeing in their bed when they were kittens. Seems it had been going on for ages and we had no idea either because we couldn't smell it. I washed it etc...but they did it again, so I threw it out and got a new one. If the smell is still there they are likely to do it again.

Maybe you need to provide a litter tray more often for them and gradually take it away.

lowis

you may need to use a specialist 'pet accident' cleaning product such as Total Care in order to properly remove the smell. my cat peed on the sofa once :eek: and he did it a couple more times...same place...but soon stopped once i had used Total Care on it. the sofa has now fully recovered :rotfl:

frivolous_fay

The study has a woolly, deep red carpet (don't ask me why... was there when we moved in) and it's under the desk so tricky to see if it's darker. I haven't yet located the one under the bed. We've noticed them running under there when they get spooked... didn't realise there might have been another reason :rolleyes:

Igol

A good persuasion technique is to stick their food in the same spot of a day or so.
Message gets through quite well I find.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

If you pick up a kid's hidden writing pen & light from Woolworths (about 99p), it has a UV light on it. Wander around the house at night shining it at the floor - you will see very clearly exactly where they have left markers! It's worth it, as if you don't know where the problems are you will end up replacing the carpet!

frivolous_fay

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

If you pick up a kid's hidden writing pen & light from Woolworths (about 99p), it has a UV light on it. Wander around the house at night shining it at the floor - you will see very clearly exactly where they have left markers! It's worth it, as if you don't know where the problems are you will end up replacing the carpet!

I've heard that - will it work when they're young? It's not as though they're spraying yet (touch wood!)

Igol

Just to cornfirm my last post.
I locked my own 9 week old ball of fur in the living room last night, not on purpose. He needed to go and did but thankfully on the wood floor and not where he had his little mistake last week.

Paparika

The OH has been adopted by a stray, and ben (the stray) has weed on the spare bed, 2 weeks ago so it was off to buy new mattress.

Last week my puppy ran up the stairs and did the same... there is a smell of cat wee in there and it's driving OH mad because he can't see it

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

frivolous_fay wrote: »

I've heard that - will it work when they're young? It's not as though they're spraying yet (touch wood!)

Oh yeah, it'll work - and you'll be able to tell if any male humans in the house are true in their aim - if you know what I mean :rolleyes:

frivolous_fay

I have the light! Anyone want a secret diary with a cheap padlock?