Cat Piss Burns Good

[firebroad]

Nothing like discussing cat tinkle on a dreary Monday.

Except that it's Tuesday . . . and we actually had a bit of snow here earlier.

DOHHH!

1) I am off schedule because of the holiday, and 2) You lucky dog. Oh well, February is coming, we always get snow then... :coolsmile:

 

[firefighterjake]

Nothing like discussing cat tinkle on a dreary Monday.

Except that it's Tuesday . . . and we actually had a bit of snow here earlier.

DOHHH!

1) I am off schedule because of the holiday, and 2) You lucky dog. Oh well, February is coming, we always get snow then... :coolsmile:

HehHeh . . . figured you were off kilter due to the holiday . . . the good thing is Friday will be here before you know it.

 

[HeatsTwice]

Has this been an ongoing thing, or more recent? The other possiblity is one of them has a urinary tract infection or another medical issue.

It just started as soon as hit hit the low twenties. I just figure the cats are too lazy to go outside.

They also use a cat door which is hard for them to get in and out of. This is because they always know one of the other cats is on the other side waiting to bat the door in his/her face as they enter/exit. This has proven to be a great source of entertainment for the cat on the inside. I'm thinking about glueing some thick clear flexible over a cut out in that door so they can see if "the enemy" is on the other side before they stick their heads in the hole.

 

[begreen]

I'd be breaking that habit right away. It can get out of hand quickly, especially if the other boys pick up on it. Rub his nose in the pee, give him a swat on the rump and toss him out the door each time he pulls this stunt. But do it right after he pees, so the connection is unmistakable.

 

[hossthehermit]

Any one have the same problem as me. I always keep a ready stack by the stove at night. By the morning a cat butt has been by it marking teratory. Its no big deal since since I wear gloves to feed the fire in the morning. But since the pile keeps changing and cats hate change, everytime I put down new splits, I feel like I'm putting down a cat piss bulls eye.

I have the authority to revoke your man card. This counts as 2 strikes,(1 for allowing the cat pi$$, 1 for wearing gloves), 1 more and it's history.

 

[SlyFerret]

If either of my cats started marking in the house, they would become outside-only cats real fast.

-SF

 

[HeatsTwice]

Any one have the same problem as me. I always keep a ready stack by the stove at night. By the morning a cat butt has been by it marking teratory. Its no big deal since since I wear gloves to feed the fire in the morning. But since the pile keeps changing and cats hate change, everytime I put down new splits, I feel like I'm putting down a cat piss bulls eye.

I have the authority to revoke your man card. This counts as 2 strikes,(1 for allowing the cat pi$$, 1 for wearing gloves), 1 more and it's history.

Yikes! I didn't know I was that close.

Perhaps I can redeem myself by explaining how I once approached some venture capitalists with an idea to make and market "Presto Cats" in hardware stores. Like the logs of similar name, these would be in the shape of cats which would hold the sphinx like pose and be stackable in your fire place in the off season as heinous decorations. They would be fitted with flammable bows which would serve as the starter once lit.

The VC guys nixed it since animal rights activists would have sued.

 

[certified106]

Man I don't care if it was a cat or a dog I wouldn't put up with at anything peeing in the house unless it was in the toilet.

 

[HeatsTwice]

Got one that comes close - shower drain.

 

[hossthehermit]

Any one have the same problem as me. I always keep a ready stack by the stove at night. By the morning a cat butt has been by it marking teratory. Its no big deal since since I wear gloves to feed the fire in the morning. But since the pile keeps changing and cats hate change, everytime I put down new splits, I feel like I'm putting down a cat piss bulls eye.

I have the authority to revoke your man card. This counts as 2 strikes,(1 for allowing the cat pi$$, 1 for wearing gloves), 1 more and it's history.

Yikes! I didn't know I was that close.

Perhaps I can redeem myself by explaining how I once approached some venture capitalists with an idea to make and market "Presto Cats" in hardware stores. Like the logs of similar name, these would be in the shape of cats which would hold the sphinx like pose and be stackable in your fire place in the off season as heinous decorations. They would be fitted with flammable bows which would serve as the starter once lit.

The VC guys nixed it since animal rights activists would have sued.

STEEEEERRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE3

 

[HeatsTwice]

Hey Ump, here's something to chew on. My daughter brought it home from a specialty candy shop. She probably thought it would piss me off.

 

[gyrfalcon]

I'd be breaking that habit right away. It can get out of hand quickly, especially if the other boys pick up on it. Rub his nose in the pee, give him a swat on the rump and toss him out the door each time he pulls this stunt. But do it right after he pees, so the connection is unmistakable.

Oh, wow. Just for the sake of somebody who might try to follow this advice, this is absolutely totally the wrong thing to do in this situation. Cats are not dogs, and the tactics that maybe work with dogs (and children) DO NOT WORK with cats. They won't understand why they're being punished, and the added stress of the hostile treatment will make the problem worse, not better.

Cats are naturally very fastidious (probably because they're prey animals as well as predators) about this stuff, and there are only three reasons they'd go outside the box. Either the box is stinking full of too much crap, they have a urinary tract infection, or they're experiencing considerable stress from the other cats or from lack of attention from you. In all three cases, they're trying to get your attention to whatever the problem is.

 

[begreen]

Pfffttt. We've raised a lot of cats (loving and purrful) and this does not sound like a litterbox problem. A cat that thinks he's alpha will try to mark territory. He needs to understand you are alpha and there are boundaries in a human world. Same as not using the furniture as a scratching post.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Hmmm . . . the suggestion of a UTI might be worth noting . . . the last time I had a problem with one of my own cats urinating in a place other than a box was due to the fact that he was going through the dying process . . . didn't realize this fact though at first . . . not saying the cats are dying, but rather there could be a medical reason.

Exactly. Some cats are prone to it, especially neutered males, for no known reason. Nobody knows what the mechanism is, but there is still a strong correlation between dry food and UTIs in male cats. After one of mine had several episodes of "sterile cystitis," as it's called, my vet forbade me to feed dry food anymore except as a small treat once in a while. I obeyed, and the problem totally went away.

Chronic stress and anxiety can also cause it, and that's a lot harder because most of the time, who the hell can figure out what causes a particular cat stress and anxiety!

 

[gyrfalcon]

Pfffttt. We've raised a lot of cats (loving and purrful) and this does not sound like a litterbox problem. A cat that thinks he's alpha will try to mark territory. He needs to understand you are alpha and there are boundaries in a human world. Same as not using the furniture as a scratching post.

That's just not the way cat psychology works. They're not pack animals, they're solitary by nature, unless we humans require them to live with other cats. And really, no neutered male or female will "mark territory," especially inside the house. They establish a dominance structure among themselves by force of personality and occasional violence, as I'm sure you've seen in yours.

An unneutered male is another story, but that's not an animal I would be willing to have in the house, or outside if I could catch it and have it fixed.

If you don't believe me, Google it.

 

[begreen]

Cats are individuals, just like people. And yes, some will still try to mark territory even after fixed, particularly if there is a pecking order dispute. But others just get lazy and chose a more convenient location to try out. The idea of doing permanent psychological damage is anthropomorphic projection. A little discipline doesn't hurt, I'm not talking about beating the thing. Note that in 6 decades and countless cats, we've never had a sulking or dejected cat in spite of being sure they live within house rules. And yes, I know what the symptoms of cystitis are like. Been there with a few cats. This is a different matter entirely.

 

[firebroad]

Pfffttt. We've raised a lot of cats (loving and purrful) and this does not sound like a litterbox problem. A cat that thinks he's alpha will try to mark territory. He needs to understand you are alpha and there are boundaries in a human world. Same as not using the furniture as a scratching post.

That's settled, then. Just piss on it yourself and show who is boss :exclaim:

 

[gyrfalcon]

Cats are individuals, just like people. And yes, some will still try to mark territory even after fixed, particularly if there is a pecking order dispute. But others just get lazy and chose a more convenient location to try out. The idea of doing permanent psychological damage is anthropomorphic projection. A little discipline doesn't hurt, I'm not talking about beating the thing. Note that in 6 decades and countless cats, we've never had a sulking or dejected cat in spite of being sure they live within house rules. And yes, I know what the symptoms of cystitis are like. Been there with a few cats. This is a different matter entirely.

Don't believe I mentioned anything about "permanent psychological damage," did I?

Yes, you're totally right that cats are very individual, but otherwise I thoroughly disagree with most of what you've said on this subject. Don't want to prolong this, but I'll just say you will not find a single solitary animal behavior specialist (or vet) who deals with cats who will agree with you on this idea of "disciplining" a cat.

 

[begreen]

That is a broad statement and we definitely disagree. Our guy goes in for his shots soon. I'll be sure to inquire.

PS: We also reward our cats with lots of love and attention. Discipline is rare and short.

 

[gyrfalcon]

That is a broad statement and we definitely disagree. Our guy goes in for his shots soon. I'll be sure to inquire.

PS: We also reward our cats with lots of love and attention. Discipline is rare and short.

That's a good idea. To get the best advice from your vet, though, don't ask him or her if he/she approves of how you handle this, but ask him how he would advise you handle a problem like this and see what he says. Yours may not be one, but a lot of small animal vets are very reluctant to criticize or disagree with their customers.

And seriously, put "cat" + "outside the box" into Google or Yahoo search and browse the advice give by vets and behaviorists and you'll see what I mean.

I had a problem cat like this years ago who suddenly took to leaving little deposits in various places, both liquid and solid, always where I would be sure to find them-- in the bathtub, the middle of the bedroom floor, one memorable day on the dining room table. I was at my wit's end trying to figure out what the problem was. Finally, he jumped up on my desk while I was working, smiled at me in a friendly way, then crouched down on a piece of office equipment and began to pee on it right in front of me. At that point, I had for some reason a revelation, went out and got a different kind of litter, and never had that problem with him again. If I'd "disciplined" him instead of trying to figure out why he was doing it, it wouldn't have solved the problem, and most likely he'd just have started using more obscure corners of the house and possibly become afraid of what to him would be random-seeming outbursts from me.

 

[begreen]

You are a very caring owner and you are right, at times there really are problems. We had a similar experience with our older female cat. She was getting traumatized by our younger male. So we worked on solutions to relieve her stress. It turned out he was waiting by the cat door and preventing her from going out. As soon as we changed this arrangement she stopped peeing in the house. But there are also times when it is not physical, nor psychological. Cats like people can get lazy or get a notion in their head that we don't and never will understand. Hard to say in the OPs case. It could be that the wood smelled special to the cat. Maybe an outdoor cat or cougar peed on it?

PS: My niece is a vet and my sister is a professional animal breeder. I'll shoot them an email today on the subject.

 

[gyrfalcon]

You are a very caring owner and you are right, at times there really are problems. We had a similar experience with our older female cat. She was getting traumatized by our younger male. So we worked on solutions to relieve her stress. It turned out he was waiting by the cat door and preventing her from going out. As soon as we changed this arrangement she stopped peeing in the house. But there are also times when it is not physical, nor psychological. Cats like people can get lazy or get a notion in their head that we don't and never will understand. Hard to say in the OPs case. It could be that the wood smelled special to the cat. Maybe an outdoor cat or cougar peed on it?

PS: My niece is a vet and my sister is a professional animal breeder. I'll shoot them an email today on the subject.

Interpersonal -- inter-cattal? -- issues can cause all kinds of stress-related problems in multi-cat households. (ask me how I know...) And it's almost impossible for mere human beings to tell what's really going on, who's doing what to whom, how much fighting is actually necessary to keep things in order and when it becomes persecution. As an older vet once said to me, "Trying to psychoanalyze a cat only leads to madness." Some cats get along well with each other, some just don't, just like people.

I have to say the most robustly healthy, temperamentally even, accommodating, friendly but not needy cats I've had have been kittens from long-established barn cat colonies. They have to learn quickly how to get along with each other from the get-go, and cats with touchy or disagreeable temperaments aren't tolerated long enough to reproduce much and pass on those traits, I think. Also great mousers!

Maybe we should have a "cats on the hearth" forum to share stories! I love hearing about other people's cats.

 

[begreen]

Oh please!! We have enough cat vs non-cat discussions. :lol: LOL

 

[gyrfalcon]

Oh please!! We have enough cat vs non-cat discussions. :lol: LOL

Heh. That's why we should be quarantined off somewhere. You think this is bad, you should see the flame wars that break out at the mere mention of the word in bird-watching forums.

 

[Thistle]

My oldest cat turned 18 last November,the other 2 (half-brothers) 1 was 16 in November also,the other one will be 16 in April.They've been together inside the house since Dec 1996.The oldest one would smack the others around a bit when they were kittens,but was never really mean.He's quite a bit smaller than the others,but still rules the house pretty much.They all get along extremely well.They dont do much now except sleep,eat & prowl the house,but would get quite wild & rambunctious until 2-3 yrs ago.Still have the occasional wrestling match and/or chases through the house,but not 2-3 times daily like when younger.The old guy had had kidney failure since April 2010,he gets a daily IV & special food.Is slowly fading away now but still eats good & gets around OK.

Oldest one on left (black & white) youngest is grey tabby in middle