The cat pees in the apartment or marked. Probably every cat owner had to experience at least once that his fur nose has relieved itself outside the cat toilet. Basically, it is so that the cat can not do anything about it and if it happens, always has a cause. Why it happens and what you can do, I describe in this article.
How does a cat get housebroken?
If you get your new kitten e.g. from a breeder, then you can assume that she is already house-trained. The little kittens learn from their mother that they should go to a litter box if they have to pee. With our two BKH kittens this was also no problem, they both found the litter box immediately and also inaugurated it immediately.
It is different if you get your kitten from a farm, for example. The little cat won’t be housebroken here. In this case you have to do a toilet training with your new family member.
In the beginning it is enough to put the little cat into the litter box and see how it accepts toilet. Very often this cat toilet is then spontaneously accepted and also directly initiated. If it still happens that the little cat has relieved itself somewhere else, then you must not scold or punish it under any circumstances. The little cat does not know why it is being scolded and will become rather anxious and withdraw.
If things have gone wrong, just put the little cat back into its litter box again and again. Once she has done her business in the litter box, you should praise her intensively and maybe give her a treat, so that she understands this behaviour as right and good. Normally young cats learn very quickly that they should go to their litter box when they have to. But sometimes you need a little patience.
Toilets with a hood are not suitable for a young cat. The cat toilet must be as easily accessible as possible for the little fur nose.
Adult cat pees in the apartment or marked.
There are many possibilities for this behaviour. The first thing you must always be clear whether you have changed anything that could be related to the cat.
The marking of sexually mature cats.
Urine marking is a normal behaviour when cats become sexually mature. Especially tomcats mark their territory with urine and their very personal “scent”. This is to make it clear to other tomcats, “this is my territory, get lost”. Of course it will be a problem if he does the same in the apartment. Apart from the puddle, the smell is anything but pleasant for human noses.
The only way to prevent this permanently is to have the male neutered in time if you do not intend to breed with him.
Female cats also mark their territory with urine when they are in heat and thus ready for mating. The cat wants to attract tomcats by marking them. Also here only a castration helps to prevent this behavior .
Other causes of cats peeing or marking in the apartment
As I wrote at the beginning, you should consider what you have changed recently that the cat might not like.
New litter box or new cat litter
Cats are very sensitive about their quiet place. Sometimes it can be a new cat litter, which the fur noses do not like so that they relieve themselves elsewhere.
If you have previously purchased a litter box and replaced it with one with a hood, the cat may not be able to cope at first. Usually the fur noses like when they can crawl in somehow, but sometimes they just need some time to get used to it.
Pick up another cat
If you want to take a further cat into the family, you may have problems with the long-established cats. Especially tomcats can react to the “intruder” with the typical territory behaviour and the associated marking.
The best way to prevent this is to pay attention to the sex of the new roommate, for example. Giving a new adult male to another is a risk. These two are definitely gonna wanna find out who the boss is.
In this article I have written about it in detail. However, you can also use a Feliway vaporizer as a preventive measure, which emits a feel-good pheromone for several weeks. This makes the cat in general more relaxed and especially with somewhat anxious animals is recommended.
Old cats no longer find their litter box
With very old cats it can happen that they can’t find their litter box and then go somewhere. Our little Eddie Methusalix with 19 years, has not found his toilet any more and then left a puddle somewhere.
It’s nice when cats get that old, you get attached to your animals. That’s why you simply have to accept that, as with us humans, some things no longer work as they used to.
Medical causes for the sudden uncleanliness of his favourite.
Besides the above mentioned possibilities why a cat pees in the apartment or suddenly is not house-trained anymore, a disease can also be the cause.
In addition to acute diseases of the urinary tract and kidneys, there are a number of diseases that develop insidiously. These are e.g. bladder and kidney stones which often occur in pure domestic cats due to an unfavourable feed composition. Another disease is chronic renal failure (CNI), which often occurs in older cats. The diseases are often only recognised when it is already too late, as they do not cause any symptoms at first. Here, only a regular laboratory check by the veterinarian can help to detect changes in the kidney or urine values at an early stage.
Conclusion
If the cat pees in the apartment, it’s not too bad luck. Sometimes the cat does not make it to the toilet in time, e.g. during a game, and loses something on the way. Otherwise, there are many other possibilities as described above why the cat reacts like this. Most of it can be understood and also turned off. It is important to eliminate the urine smell at the affected area with an appropriate odour remover, so that the animals do not internalise this as a new toilet place.
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