I'm not a pet owner, but I have a question about cats

one of DH's cousins has 3 male cats in their house and it absolutely reeks in there!

their litter boxes are clean, that is definitely not the issue. My DH thinks it smells so bad in their house b/c the 3 males (not related to each other) are constantly marking their terf by peeing everywhere

I am really curious about this, so I thought I would post about it here.

thoughts?

Re: I'm not a pet owner, but I have a question about cats

OMG the spray can be HORRID, RANCID and downright NASTY

I have two boys and one girl. No such problems.

Once I had a boy kitty who was not fixed. I took him indoors after being an outdoor kitty for awhile and OMG he only had to pee once and I freaked out and dropped him off at the vet with "Fix this smell, fix the cat and don't give him back until then".

Once he was fixed, it got better, but it took awhile before he finally stopped doing it.

Not sure if that helps.

Re: I'm not a pet owner, but I have a question about cats

DH thinks that they've all been fixed.

all I know is that I was gagging from the smell in their house. it was just GROSS! and then a few days later, someone told us that one of those cats peed on her coat like I said earler, their litter boxes are clean. what the heck??

Re: I'm not a pet owner, but I have a question about cats

well boy kitties are also know to be more prone to kidney infections, which are stinky and cause urinating outside the box.


My big guy is a diabetic and before we had him under control with insulin he urinated everywhere and we could smell it but had to find it. I can't tell you how many times I've steamed our carpets and thrown out throw rugs.

Usually cats don't urinate outside their boxes unless they are acting out (against people they hate or revenge on loved ones for abandonment) or if they're sick.

My poor Buddy (older cat) was diabetiic for over a year, but never had treatment because my hubby's grandmohter would just clean up after the cat and punish the cat by locking it in the basement with food, water, warm areas to sleep and litter box. Poor baby. She was too old to care for him so we took over. The $$$$$money$$$$$ we have spent!!!!!! phew!!! just to get this icky smell out of our life, but ...... its worth it.

Message edited 12/29/2007 10:42:10 PM.

Re: I'm not a pet owner, but I have a question about cats

pretty sure that my kitty KC was peeing outside the box. In multiple cat households there needs to be multiple litter boxes on every level. Finally we out them in the basement, on the first floor and on the second floor and that problem has stopped.

For 3 cats I would have 4 or 5 litter boxes. Maybe they need more boxes and that's why they are peeing outside the box.

that was our issue. We would clean the boxes but eventually they would still pee and poop outside the box. Frustrating!

Re: I'm not a pet owner, but I have a question about cats

I agree with Blu-ize

Our three cats have 3 boxes. Two downstairs and one upstairs they are cleaned twice a day as well. If you don't keep them clean they will go outside the box.

Funny thing as SOON as we clean any box they take turns christening it

But i know when we got the kittens we were warned me may need more than three if the big guy won't go in one of the kittens boxes. Thankfully he doesn't care.

Re: I'm not a pet owner, but I have a question about cats

Either one or more is not neutered or one or more has UTI and needs to see a vet. My suggestion is to confine all the cats to one room to stop the urinating all over the place. Definitely run to a vet. Where do they live? Depending on where they live I can offer free neuter surgeries.

Re: I'm not a pet owner, but I have a question about cats

Posted by Xelindrya

Funny thing as SOON as we clean any box they take turns christening it

Re: I'm not a pet owner, but I have a question about cats

They could just be marking their territory. If the cat is fixed AFTER they hit puberty and start spraying, they will continue to spray even after they are fixed. Our vet said some cats just don't like living in multi-cat houses, and they will mark their territory because of it. This is especially a problem if you have more than 1 male cat.

My mom had problems with her boy cats doing this, and ultimately she just ended up not being able to let them in certain rooms (laundry room), taking up carpet in a few rooms and also she had to make sure clothing was NEVER left on the floor.

Re: I'm not a pet owner, but I have a question about cats

It is a VERY frustrating problem. I think the most important thing is to have them fixed BEFORE they hit maturity, like the other posters said.

We had our male kitten neutered at 5 months and, knock on wood, we've NEVER had this problem.

Re: I'm not a pet owner, but I have a question about cats

i agree with the others---either they aren't all fixed, were fixed after maturity and are spraying, or they could be letting your friend know "we need more litter boxes STAT!"

i had 3 cats at one point--and made the mistake of only having one box at first. i realized it wasn't enough when i would come home and find that they had crapped RIGHT NEXT to the box.

maybe you should mention to the friend that the odor might be becoming an issue--and they might not smell it since they are there all the time. if that smell isn't taken care of properly--it will make the house REEK for a long time