Mom's Cat Peed on My Leather Couch, Any Suggestions?????

Being an "animal lover" and into "animal rights" you must certainly understand that stress brings out other, often undesirable, behaviors in domesticated animals. Tossing the cat aside because of this behavior will just guarantee it ends up abused by new angry owners, or euthanized.

Whether or not the cat peed or sprayed you can get rid of the odor without harming your sofa by using Woolite with Oxyclean. Blue spray bottle, it eats all organic matter, such as the urine. It won't bleach your leather. I have also had success in the past using a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water in a spray bottle...same basic theory as with oxyclean. The peroxide will bubble if there is organic matter present and will basically eat it. I would start with 1 part peroxide, 2-3 parts water though so it doesn't change the color of the couch. Test in a hidden area first of course.

The cat should first and foremost be checked for any medical condition causing this, such as a urinary infection. After that, you will have to look at stressors in the house. Is the baby scaring the cat because he's not used to children? Does the cat no longer have a safe spot to rest and be left alone because the new surroundings have more people in it? Getting rid of the cat just passes the problem along to someone else and increases the cat's chances of a very negative outcome.

I agree that enclosing him for a while is a good idea and will allow him to acclimate better while feeling safer.

Hi Kristy,

I feel for you. Did the cat pee or spray, yes there is a difference. If he peed you can nutrilize the odor with vinegar but do not use the vinegar if you have put chemicals down as you can cause a reaction. If he sprayed (to mark his territory) you will have to get a new sofa, there is nothing on the face of this earth that will get that odor out.

As for kitty, he doesn't seem to be too happy about the change. You may have to retrain him. I have been through this one with a couple of cats and this is what I found that works. I locked the cat, with food, water and litter box into a room that kitty wasn't allowed out of. When I went in to clean the litter box twice a day, kitty got a treat right after. Day two kitty was allowed out for one hour at a time (supervised), day three two hours, etc... as long as there were no "accidents". When kitty went somewhere not acceptable, I put kitties nose up to (not in) the area, and back to the isolated room we went for 24 hours and started all over. The few kitties I have had to do this with caught on within two weeks. If however the cat is spraying to mark territory this will not work, and best of luck to you because I have not had any success changing that behavior.

Hi Kristy,

I feel your pain. I adore my 8-year-old cat, he is my baby (or was til I had my little girl, who is 4 months younger than your little boy). He was nervous after Naomi was born, eventually got over it....but then we moved, his best pal - our old terrier - died - then we got a new, hyper puppy whom we hopes would be a friend for him but is really too rough. To top it off, we live at the end of a cul-de-sac with woods behind, and ome of our neighbors have outdoor cats and they like to hand out in our yard, which pisses off (no pun intended) my cat. But I am unwilling to get rid of him, to me that would be like giving away a family member, and my husband is a vet, so at least he can help me explore options. So......it is nearly impossible to get the smell of cat urine out of something in a way that the cat won't smell it. The pest thing we've tried is petzyme, which you can buy in pet smart, and they make a version specifically for cat urine. my husband also got another cat urine odor-away product of some kind at the recent vet med conference, I forget what it's called. But, you can buy a small black light, and if you shine it in the dark over couch, carpet, whatever, the spots where the cat has peed will light up. Then you can treat them directly. It's much easier and more effective than trying to sniff out the spots. Also, in pet smart (and on-line) you can get 2 different products with the same intention: a spray and a room diffuser which is made of simulated feline facial pheromones. I think our diffuser is called feli-way, and we got it online. My husband says it's basically "happy cat hormone" - it makes the cat want to facially mark (i.e., rub his face on) the object that's been sprayed instead of scent mark (pee). You can spray whatever he's peed on after you've treated it, and then put a diffuser in whatever room he's peed in most. We also have my cat on Paxil now. Paxil is a mid anti-anxiety/anti-depressant drug. The main reason cats scent mark is because they feel stressed, and I am quite sure that's what's going on with your mom's cat, since he is old and just had to cope with a major change in his life - and cats don't deal well with change. I guess it's possible he's just old and incontinent, but probably now if he's focusing on peeing on the couch. But you could take him to a vet to find out, and if he's not having bladder problems, see if the vet will prescribe something like Paxil or Prozac for him to help calm him down and feel less stressed. It's not expensive.

Best of luck,
S.

coming from a "huge" animal lover ,this is a mixed message you send!
What does this mean time to "get rid' of the cat??
Sounds like its issues with your mother not then cat. work it out and have compassion for an aging cat, one day you may not be able to hold your bowels either.
sending this with love.

I think if your Mom needed to give up her home recently, asking her to get rid of the cat may be a bit much emotionally. I would suggest confining him to see if it gets worse. You may indicate to your mother that if you have to start replacing furniture, you may both be hard up for cash and then where will you both be? If it is not typical behavior, insist that your Mom take him to the vet and have him checked for illness. If it is typical, just explain that you cant have him urinating around the house. Period. As far as the leather couch goes, I can't help. Good luck.

Five years ago my new kitten started using my leather couch as a litterbox. After trying numerous products with inadaquate effect, I discovered "urine off" on line. Used as direted it worked great although one area needed a few applications. Then using leather conditioner took care of the overdried look. Can't even tell there was a problem. We were able to do some retraining on the cat to stop the behavior although a 14 year old cat might have other issues.

The vet told me that using white vinegar kills the enzyme in pet urine...don't know what it will do to your leather couch, though.
The idea is for the pet to no longer smell the urine, which when it does - gives them the instinct to do it again.
Some people use a spray bottle of water to spray the pet when it is caught doing something unpleasant to the owner. But you have to catch them in the act...
Apparently mom hasn't trained them, put out a litter box, and plus the cat is old at 14 years...

same situation with my 15 years old cat. my Vet said that when cats peed on something that cats did not like it, jeolous or anxiety. my cat did pee anywhere even peed on my kids clothes when kids drop their clothes on floor.he never had happen until recently he suddenly peed anywhere. I had to put him sleep because of his age and too much responsbility to clean up everything. it broke my heart I had him since he was a kitten. I suggest if you have a fence just let your mom's cat go outside or put a cat in garage with litter like time out during at night. honestly, it was not easy.

good luck

P.S. Don't clean something with ammonia because some litter made by ammonia it cause cats think it is ok to pee.