I know a lot of people round here have cats, so I was wondering if I could get some advice. As people may know, I have a 5 month old kitten. Until about a month ago, she never had any "accidents" and used her litter tray appropriately, but in the last few weeks, she's been going on the carpet instead :x. We've tried all the usual things (rubbing her nose in it, spraying her with water), but she continues to do it. Normally we would continue with these methods and just hope that she grows out of it, but we're hosting my grandmother's 80th birthday party next week, the entire family are coming down and we can't have shit all over the house :lol: :ermm:. I was hoping there would be some kind of magical cat repellent product that I could spray all over the carpet, but the pet shop says there's no such thing. So if anyone could offer any advice/training techniques it would be hugely appreciated. :)

Hmm, does the kitty have some sort of an infection ?

It could be that there`s been some sort of change in the household which has upset her, and she`s doing a version of scent marking to make the house smell of her - if it all smells of her, she`d feel more secure.

Have you been doing lots of cleaning in the house, what with your Grandmother coming over and everything having to be sparkling clean ? Cats rub themselves on chair legs, etc, to scent mark the home - perhaps the cleaning has rubbed all the scent off and the kitty is feeling insecure ? :huh:

I was quite young when my cats were at the litter tray stage, so I don't really remember if we had that problem (the problem we had was that one of the kittens bullied the other one and wouldn't let her use the litter tray, so we got a second tray, and the bullying kitten took that one over as well!)

Sorry that I'm not much help.

Margot

i'm not help at the moment but i'll ask my mum how she trained my cat when she gets home :) I remember when my cat used to poo on the floor,it took a while but she hasn't done it for ages :lol:

No, she's definitely healthy, we took her to the vet quite recently. We haven't started cleaning for the party yet, so there's no change to the house. The only change in her life is that she's started going outside in the last month or so, so the two might be related?

There is a product that you can use to spray around the house to stop cats pooing and weeing there. A friend of mine breeds American Ragdoll cats and she told me about it, can't remember what it is called though. I will ask her next time I speak to her. Try putting pepper or something with a citrus scent in the places that the kitten is going. That worked for my kitten.

Thanks Carla :) I will definitely try both those things. Fingers crossed it'll w**k!

Erm, don`t know . :blink:

Unless she`s being bullied by outside cats and that`s made her insecure ? Has another cat tried to get in through her catflap ?

A friend of mine had a similar problem with one of her cats and the vet told her to make a fuss of the cat , lots of attention, etc, rather than telling him off. That worked !

I`d maybe try giving your kitty extra cuddles and attention; if there`s no change in behaviour, at least you`ve ruled something out, ie , insecurity ? :unsure:

I don't think she's met any other cats yet. At the moment we go outside with her or let her out on her own, but keep an eye on her from the window, and I don't think she's had any scary encounters. We've not taught her to use the cat flap yet as we don't want her going in and out until we're sure she knows how to find her way home, so it's locked & other cats can't get in.

But I'll give her lots of extra cuddles just in case!

Can cats get a inferiority complex? :unsure: :lol:

Your pet shop's not very good then, Ria ;) There is a magical product called Feliway that is designed to stop cats marking inside the house. I've never tried it myself so can't comment on it's effectiveness but could be worth a try :lol:

IIRC cats aren't supposed to like orange peel.

Of course it might just encourage the wee beastie to new heights in an effort to get rid of the nasty orange peel smell :whistling:

Also, try changing the type of cat litter you're using. There are types that most cats prefer but I forget which it is now. Most don't like the wood shaving one. I think they mostly prefer the granule type one.

Absolutely right. I've got some Felliway somewhere though I can't remember if you get it from a pet shop or the vets. I used to w**k for a quarantine facility so I got it from the vet products suppliers. Seemed to be reasonably effective iirc. As other have said, cats don't like citrus, so any orange or lemon stuff will stop them using the same place.

My cat hates Vicks/Olbas Oil and such like, she won't come anywhere near them.

Hadn`t thought of that one :thumbsup:

Has the litter box changed location or is there something scary near it now ? :huh:

Cats International article about litterbox problems

Huge article about kitties problems with their litterboxes. :lol:

Lots of good tips. :)

Freaky little ****ers, cats, aren't they? :lmao: Move the litter box an inch to the left and all hell breaks loose :lmao:

I was woken at 6.30am on Sunday morning by the most bloodcurdling yowls you've ever heard. I nearly broke my neck diving out of bed! I thought I was going to find Jo-Jo in a pool of blood but he was just serenely sitting in the kitchen, having chased off the other cat :D Next morning I found the spot where they'd been fighting and there was about 7/8 clumps of the other cat's fur and one tiny little piece of white from Jo-Jo. I think it's fair to say he probably came out of it better ;)

That's the stuff I couldn't remember the name of. :whistling:

Sorry to here you kitty is having problems, you can try basil oil, the pure aromatherapy one you will be able to pick it up from boots or online, cats and dogs do not like it and it will stop her from marking, but only use one or two drops mixed with a little water in the area you are going to treat.

Has your cat been neutured this can sometimes help in the marking buissness
Hope this helps :)

On a lighter note my little kitty is due to have kittens in 3 weeks time :thumbsup:

:lol: Awwwwwwwww !!!

Do I see a Cat News area developing on the board ? :lmao:

Tune in next week to see who else Katie`s Jo-Jo has terrorised :whistling: I mean, defended himself against :)

:lmao: yehhh

kool i lov cats but can not get anymore as now got loads of fish and have a great deal gettin them of it. i have 2 cats now called fuffy and marie and use to have on called twinke and sox. twinke died of old age and sox ran away and we think died but dont no. people down the road have just go one jet black which is nice also we have 5 others in the road so loads of cat fights.. :thumbsup:

I w**k in a cattery and we get people coming to us with this problem all the time. Usually cats only pee outside their tray if there's a problem but from what you've said she's a perfectly healthy stress-free kitty. Going slightly into cat psychology, if you're trying to stop a cat from doing something by spraying them with water you cannot let them see that it was you that sprayed them or else it can stress them out, make sure they're looking the other way when you spray them. There isn't really anything more I can advise apart from what's already been suggested but citrus peel can w**k wonders when trying to deter cats.

Thanks for the help everyone :) We have recently moved her tray, which could be one reason for the problem. But the tray has been moving around quite regularly and she hasn't reacted like this before, so I'm not sure if that's it. She hasn't been neutered yet either. The vet said she can't until she's 6months old and she's only 5 at the moment. We tried the pepper & lemon juice method last night, but sadly we still woke up to a couple of "surprises" this morning :x. My mum went out and bought some spray today, not Feliway (couldn't find it), but something else and hopefully that will have some effect. We'll try everything here if the spray doesn't w**k and hopefully we'll find something that does. Not too keen on the olbas oil idea though, only because when I was 10 my sister murdered my tadpoles (who had just begun sprouting legs :tear:) by emptying a bottle of it into their bowl. So I have bad memories of it :lol:.

Didn't realise that she shouldn't see us when we spray her with water :ermm:. Will she have some sort of psychological damage from it? :(

No, it's just if you do it often the cat will associate you with the spraying which could cause her to resent you. Therefore it's best that she doesn't see you doing it.

I'm thinking of selling tickets to the next fight :D ;) Could be bigger than WWE :lmao:

:lmao:

My cat has had her kittens yesterday afternoon :thumbsup: The white one is hard to see but she is there :D

:thumbsup: awww that is soooo sweet :D

Awwww. They're so cute ^_^

Congratulations :thumbsup:

Cute little Kitbits :thumbsup:

My little fuzzmonster will be 17 in July! :)

Aww they are adorable :blush:

Aww, what little cutiepies ! Look at that ickle black tail ! :lol:

Do they have names yet ? :)

Does your kitty have its Birthday listed in the Birthday`s section ? :)

Oh god, I've come over all broody :lmao:

not yet does anyone have any suggestions

twinkle or sparkle for the back one or jet but for the white one i keep coming up with the convetal ones like snowy

Kitbit and Kitbit noir B)

No. :lol: but I'm sure an announcement will be made :rolleyes: