# Shocked--My Cat Peed In Front of Me Not in Litter Box



## tdmom

I am beyond devastated.  

Scamp (the cat that was treated twice with antibiotics for uti--Orbifloxacin 22.17mg once a day, then a month later Doxycycline 100 mg, twice a day) and has been successfully eating canned/wet food since the beginning of October and in the process of going toward raw food just peed outside of the litter box today--RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! It wasn't a little bit of pee either--it was a lot!

I was sitting in our living room where 3 of our litter boxes are and I noticed Scamp ran over to the litter boxes and sniffed for a minute and then about 10 inches from the litter box, he backed up to the wall and peed! His tail was straight up and he was like quivering/shaking his tail as he did this, all the while staring at me!!! 8O 

I'm shocked, saddened and stumped. Why on earth would he do this?

He's done so well on this new diet--I thought this was behind us!  

The only thing that is different is one of our cats, Nudge, has all of a sudden started viciously chasing and attacking Scamp. I don't know if it starts out as play fighting and ends up rough or what, but I've noticed it happening a few times over the past few days.

This is completely heartbreaking for me.


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## KatBudz

If he was shaking, he was probably straining to urinate, which means he could have another UTI or maybe even developed crystals in his urine. Either way, you should go to the vet and get that checked out ASAP. Personally, from what I have heard about the raw food diet for cats and dogs, it can be dangerous. I have a friend who took 2 years of animal nutrition and she has told me to avoid raw feeding, as it can make the animal sick if you do not sanitize the food properly. If I were you, I would not transition the cat to raw food, and stick with high quality canned food. 

As a side note: I am not judging or insulting people on this forum who feed their cats raw food, but I personally do not believe it is safe from the stories I have heard about animals dying from something that was wrong with their raw food, so please don't get offended or angry with me >.<


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## doodlebug

Your description sounded more like spraying than urinating to me. Was he standing up or squatting?


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## Heidi n Q

If he was staring right at you as he did this ... he is trying to TELL you something. It is up to you to figure out *what* he was trying to tell you.
I would check out the possibility of another UTI and if that isn't the problem, then I suspect he is unhappy about something and he did this to get your attention so you could help him solve his problem.


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## laurief

I agree with doodlebug. Your description sounds like typical male spraying, not normal urinating. Given the fact that Scamp is being attacked by one of your other cats, I think it's a pretty sound assumption that his spraying is a stress response. You need to address this problem immediately by laying down the law with Nudge and making it VERY clear that his aggressive behavior will not be tolerated. If Nudge is allowed to continue to attack Scamp, Scamp's marking behavior may escalate into a serious, stress-related illness.

If Nudge's aggression is new behavior for him, you should have him checked by your vet to make sure there isn't an underlying physical cause for this behavioral change. Hyperthyroidism, for instance, can often cause an increase in aggressive behavior.

Laurie


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## Muzby

Agreed on the spraying! But we weren't there, so it's hard to tell. 

One thing though - DO NOT let people scare you into thinking raw = the devil. Canned foods and kibbles get recalled every day for mold/ecoli/etc. Atleast with raw, you know exactly what is going into your cat.


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## hoofmaiden

Raw is certainly not "dangerous," LOL. It's what Mother Nature evolved cats to eat. 

That said, it's not a cure-all either. Esp. if years of kibble have resulted in ongoing problems, simply switching to canned/raw isn't automatically going to fix every problem in the book. 

There's no reason to be devastated or sad. ??? It's a medical problem. Go in and get it fixed. Start again. Make sure you feeding NO fish and nothing w/ fish in it. Feed a urinary acidifier if necessary. Relax!


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## tdmom

Thanks everyone. The reason I'm feeling so devastated is for a variety of issues in my life right now.

Especially given the fact that from not having the knowledge of properly dealing with cat's urinary issues, our home has become ruined in 4+ rooms because of inappropriate cat urinating habits. One room has already had the subfloor replaced and 3 other rooms plus the hallway are in need of the same subloor replacement---we've already ripped out carpeting in all these rooms because of cat pee.

The other thing is I'm expecting in 4 weeks and my husband has been unemployed (fell and shattered his hip and lost his job) and his unemployment ends in 4 weeks. We only have until December before we lose our home through foreclosure--in September, the bank gave us one more 3-month term before calling in quits.

We'll have to find a place to live (which doesn't seem like it'll be an easy task because we are a large family) and if we cannot find a place that takes animals, we will have to rehome 9 indoor cats and 3 dogs---a task I'm sure will not be easy or happy.

Financially, I'd love to say "no problem", but it's not that easy for us...we are in a very rough place. It's already an additional financial burden to try to feed 9 cats on canned/wet food vs the dry kibble we were feeding before I started researching this three-four weeks ago. I just didn't need an additional trial like this right now.

Our house is small--less than 1200 square feet and because of the peeing damage, the cats are not allowed upstairs at all--just on the first floor and basement and because of the damage in the bedrooms on the first floor, we have to keep the bedroom doors shut, so they are cramped for space I'm sure.

Forgive me, I know I'm emotional, but am beyond petrified right now. How am I going to find a GOOD, SAFE home for our dogs, 9 cats and then a home for all 8 of us? I just don't see Craigslist as a safe alternative---I won't know who the heck I"m dealing with.


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## KatBudz

Yes cats have been eating raw in the wild, but they are fresh kill eaters, they eat the meat while its still warm, not when a company has packaged it and put in in the grocery store fridge. We can't always be certain if the food they are eating is safe from e.coli or other illness causing bacteria. Like I said before, I am not trying to offend or make anyone angry with me who is feeding raw, but it's just my personal belief and I wouldn't risk it.


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## doodlebug

Please stay on topic, this thread is not about the merits or detriments of a raw diet.


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## hoofmaiden

It's also important to realize that stress is one of the top triggers for UTIs in cats. If things are in this much chaos in your household, the cats know it. That in itself could bring problems on.

9 cats is also a lot. I know that many people do make large #s of cats work out, but most problems w/ indiscriminate urination, esp. unrelated to UTIs, do occur in multi-cat households.


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## tdmom

I really appreciate everyone's help, I really, really do.

For whatever reason, Nudge is still violently attacking Scamp. It's happened at least once every day. We are trying to keep them separated but live in a small home and it isn't always easy.

I agree with Doodlebug--after doing more research online, I believe he intentionally "sprayed" due to stress. It was a large amount of urine, he was standing not squatting, and his tail shook/quivered/twitched, however you'd like to describe it.

I talked with my vet about it and based on my description she also thinks it was "spraying". She begun Scamp on Valium today. He will take 1/4 tablet once daily (Diazepam 5 mg., 1/4 tablet every 24 hours).

Given the fact that there is a very real possibility we will be losing our home, and with all of this chaois and stress going on in our lives, I decided to begin calling some local shelters in our area. Sadly, most of them are not accepting any cats due to overload/waiting lists. 

I reached the woman from the shelter in which I adopted Shelly, Sunny, Nudge & Scamp from. She was rather hostile and not necessarily understanding of our situation. She insisted she could provide names of apartments that will rent to pet owners. While I believe she could give me some of those resources, not many will be willing to rent to someone with 9 cats and 3 dogs (and 6 children).

She finally agreed to accept Nudge back to the shelter since he was the one who is acting out right now. So, Monday, Nudge will be returned to the shelter we adopted him from. I feel a great risk by announcing this and certainly hope I will not be chastised by anyone here. This IS very hard on me emotionally. I've always been the "adopter", not the one "surrendering".

I have another call into a different shelter who is supposed to get back to me tomorrow to let me know if they will be able to help at all.

I have someone from church who is supposed to let me know on Sunday if they'd be able to take one of our cats.

I'm doing everything I can to keep Scamp relaxed and separate from Nudge. I try to pet him and reassure him whenever he comes out from hiding. I'm also trying to say my goodbye's to Nudge and give him loving at a separate time. 

Today, I did find a puddle of pee behind the garbage can in our kitchen---a previously known area of indiscriminate urinating but that had stopped awhile ago. I don't know who did it or when they did it. With this many cats, it's so hard unless you actually "catch" the cat doing it. It was only on the floor though, not on the wall at all. I cleaned it up and then used "Urine Off" on it. 

I guess that's all I have to say right now...this IS incredibly difficult emotionally.   

Edited to add the name and dosage of the medicine my vet prescribed him.


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## prairienights

I don't have much advice, but I know the feeling. I have been having some litter box issues also, but with patience, they've been getting better. I brought a new kitten home and rushed the introduction a bit. I think the kitten was ambushing Lua in the LB, out of play, but it startled her nonetheless. Lua was nervous about going, so she held it. Since she held it, she got a UTI. After the health issue was resolved and I separated them at pee/poo times (fortunately Lua has a pretty set schedule), my cat was still anticipating the pain she had in the litter box so she was afraid to use it. She's still a bit nervous, but it's getting better everyday.

And I certainly won't get on your case about having to rehome some animals. I've always owned horses, but the last few months I'd been working full time with overtime hours on top of being a full time college student in a rigorous science degree AND training a few other peoples' horses for extra cash just to afford his care. I finally had to make the decision to find him a new home. I'd rescued him off the racetrack and brought him a long way, and I practically gave him away for what he was worth. Even though I did a site check and reference check on his new home, I still felt terrible. This economy is making it very tough to own animals and afford to take care of them properly


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## tdmom

hoofmaiden said:


> There's no reason to be devastated or sad. ??? It's a medical problem. Go in and get it fixed. Start again. Make sure you feeding NO fish and nothing w/ fish in it. Feed a urinary acidifier if necessary. Relax!


I'm not feeding fish, but am adding wild Alaskan salmon oil a couple times a week for omega 3 oils--*should I stop this?*


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## KatBudz

It's not the oil that's bad for cats, it's the actual fish meal because they don't de-bone it. The oil is fine.


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## doodlebug

More specifically, it's the phosphorus and magnesium content in the bones.


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## tdmom

KatBudz said:


> It's not the oil that's bad for cats, it's the actual fish meal because they don't de-bone it. The oil is fine.





doodlebug said:


> More specifically, it's the phosphorus and magnesium content in the bones.


*
Thank you for explaining that. I appreciate the information so I can be better educated.*





prairienights said:


> I don't have much advice, but I know the feeling. I have been having some litter box issues also, but with patience, they've been getting better. I brought a new kitten home and rushed the introduction a bit. I think the kitten was ambushing Lua in the LB, out of play, but it startled her nonetheless. Lua was nervous about going, so she held it. Since she held it, she got a UTI. After the health issue was resolved and I separated them at pee/poo times (fortunately Lua has a pretty set schedule), my cat was still anticipating the pain she had in the litter box so she was afraid to use it. She's still a bit nervous, but it's getting better everyday.


*Thank you for sharing this. I was following your posts on the LB issues and was feeling your pain and frustration.*



prairienights said:


> And I certainly won't get on your case about having to rehome some animals. I've always owned horses, but the last few months I'd been working full time with overtime hours on top of being a full time college student in a rigorous science degree AND training a few other peoples' horses for extra cash just to afford his care. I finally had to make the decision to find him a new home. I'd rescued him off the racetrack and brought him a long way, and I practically gave him away for what he was worth. Even though I did a site check and reference check on his new home, I still felt terrible. This economy is making it very tough to own animals and afford to take care of them properly


*
THANK YOU for not coming down on me--I really appreciate it! It sounds like your decision was a very loving and unselfish one and that you were thinking of your horses' best interest.* atback 

*I'm sorry for you and sympathize with you. YES--this economy has been very, very tough. Thank you again. *


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## tdmom

We couldn't do it--My husband and I just couldn't bring Nudge back to the shelter.

I thank God that Scamp is doing okay on the Valium so far and seems to be "ignoring" Nudge or somehow Nudge is just not bothering him.

We haven't found any urine accidents either (praise God!).

The only thing we've noticed is Scamp's hunger has multiplied in a HUGE way--vet said that is a common side effect of Valium. I can cope with that.


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## tdmom

I'm heavy hearted again.  

This morning things were going normal when, all of a sudden, there was a blood-curdling cat scream that just kept going and going---it was beyond chilling.

It was Scamp screaming/meowing as he was being chased and attacked by Nudge.  

My husband was right there and said it was bizarre--Nudge was relentless and chasing Scamp all over in a very violent/vicious way. He even removed a tuft of Scamp's fur from Nudge's mouth.

I suppose, as much as we didn't want it to be, this is just the final conviction and we decided to contact the shelter woman and inform her that we will need to return Nudge after all.

She was very cold about it and certainly doesn't seem to have even a small amount of understanding regarding our situation at all. She just rudely told me we'll have to wait until sometime next week before we can bring him back.

One of my friends from church told her friend about our cats and this friend was very interested in adopting Nudge until she found out he was 7 years old--she said that is just too old. 8O 

My husband and I feel like there is no other alternative.


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## marie73

Does your friend understand that cats can live to be 20 or older? Plus, she'd be avoiding all the kitten training.....

I'm so very sorry, but I do understand. I had to rehome a kitty that was mean to Cinderella. atback


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## KatBudz

Yeah, 7 isn't old at all.. and just like marie73 said, she gets to avoid the kitten training which is a bonus. I hope you find the perfect home for him


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