Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We just adpoted two sweet and very playful sister kitties from the SPCA this week. Their names are Dipsy and Doodle. Anyway we really haven't had any problems until this morning. Dipsy jumped up on the couch right in front of me and hubby. She then sniffed, squatted and urinated on the sofa!! I was shocked. I've never had a cat do this and she has been using the litter box for the last 3 days.

I cleaned the sofa and changed her box. I left her in the laundry room with the litter box for a few minutes afterwards. They will both stay in the laundry room when I am work today as they have been since we got them. I need to know that I can trust them before I leave them out unattended.

Any thoughts on what to do to make sure Dipsy does not make urinating on the sofa a habit??

Thanks for your help.
Debora

Make sure to clean it with an ezymatic cleaner to get all of the smell out so that she doesn't want to mark it again. I would also get some Feliway and spray it on the spot she marked. A feliway plug in wouldn't be a bad idea either to try to keep this from happening somewhere else in your house. Some kittens end up having accidents because they are too tiny to get to the litterbox in time. When Kola was smaller, I'd take the box from room to room with her while she was playing and show her it was there everytime so that if she had to go, she'd always make it. After they eat you should also put them in the box, and if you noticed they haven't gone in a while you might want to plop them in there just to be sure. If they don't have to go they'll hop out but if they do it might inspire them to go there. You have to remember that babies don't always have the best bladder control and while this could have been intentional, she might have just been overwhelmed by the urge! If she keeps urinating outside the box take her to the vet because this can be a sign of illness in cats (I'm sure kittens too). Good luck with your babies!
-----
-Martha
Kuma
Bubba, formerly known as "Ducky"
and
Macaroni
And Now
Kola, the new fizzy kitten that has a tendency to go flat!

The other advise you got is right. Make sure the kits have plenty of opportunity to go in the box. And keeping them in a smaller room with the box when you are not there is a good idea too. You don't say how old the kits are or if they have been spayed yet. This could also be dominance behavior as one sister is trying to place herself above another in dominance. One has to be the boss and the other the subordinate. That is just the way in the cat world. Good luck and thanks for saving these 2 sisters
-----
PHWildCat/Tessa and 18 cats, 1 dog and even a hamster
Cat Board Monitor and Chat Host
Pet Hobbyist
A house without cats is like a garden without flowers

The kittens are 12 weeks old and were spayed last week before we brought them home from the SPCA. Now the 2nd cat has been caught peeing on the leather sofa and this morning there was POOP on my sofa. I don't know who did it but they both got put in their room. I gave them a fresh litter box also. Do I have to change it everyday? It was runny poop also so maybe one of them isn't feeling well. I'm not sure what to do. I can't keep them if they keep using our leather sofa as a litter box. I soaked the sofa with PetZyme again this morning.

HELP!! I'm not sure what to do. They are precious kitties and I don't want to have to take them back to the shelter.