Cat not 'going' outdoors

[trekker12]

Mrs Trekkers cat (well and mine but the cat has been in Mrs Trekkers life longer than I have) is 16 now and she always used to go outside to go to the toilet. No litter tray necessary, she'd go out do her business, scratch around and pretend to cover it then come back inside for another sleep.

Since the spring something has changed and she has forgotten that habit and is now regularly weeing on the carpets in the house. We have solid wood floors in the living and dining room with a rug in each but the hallway carpet had to come up the other week as it is now a horrible stained mess that smells rather bad.

We got her a litter tray in the spring and she used that on occasion (but only if it was placed in the living room which then spread litter all over the place) and as the weather has been better during the summer and she has been going outside again. We thought she had got over the habit so took the tray away.

Last week as the weather turned somewhat her habit started again. She left us a present in the living room the other morning and has pee'd on both the rugs in the living and dining room and on the carpet mat by the front door. She even managed to pee on the dining room rug whilst we were in the room having dinner - only the post business scratching alerted me to it and it was too late by then.

Any ideas on how to train her to stop this or is it because she is getting on a bit and we'll have to live with it? Also, What's the best way of cleaning the rugs/carpet and neutralising the smell as regular carpet cleaner isn't working?

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Put the litter tray where she's going - you might need two or three to cover all the places she's using. Then gradually move them to where you'd prefer them to be. Gradually might be as little as 2" per day.

[Mrs Pingu]

You'll need an enzymatic cleaner for your carpets (after Mojo pissed all over ours in his last days I washed them all in biological washing solution).
Toileting changes - a couple of possible issues. She might no longer be comfortable outdoors (territorial dispute). On the other hand medical issues can cause inappropriate toileting even after the issue is solved. Mojo had cystitis which I think led him to associate the litter tray with discomfort. Even after he was better it took a complete change of tray design and litter type before we could get him to stop using the bed!
Possibly not a bad idea to get her checked at the vets for anything underlying.

[lou boutin]

What Mrs P said.

Milly went through a stage of weeing on her radiator hammock or the bath mat. She had cystitis because she's highly strung. She doesn't like out doors either.  The vet suggested to me:

1) make sure she has a clear view of outside from the door. If it's other cats that she's scared of, she will be able to see if they are around and if she's safe to go out. 
2) have more than one tray, cats are fussy.
3) keep trays out of the rooms where she eats or sleeps - did I mention cats are fussy.
4) put the trays in places where she won't be disturbed when using them.

Milly has a tray in the bathroom - to stop her weeing on the bath mat, one in the utility and one upstairs. She uses the utility litter tray for poos and wees in the other two.

The vet also suggested feliway, but I'm not sure that helped her. She also gave her some herbal tablets - some mother cat milk product that calms cats.  This helped her calm down and the weeing issue stopped.

I hope you pus is ok.

[Mrs Pingu]

I think Feliway is not well proven and possible 'woo', though YMMV.

[trekker12]

Well the return of the litter tray to the end of the dining room nearest the kitchen has actually got her using it. She spends much of her day outside so I don't think there are any territorial issues - there's an old worktop in the garden with a shelf built into it - used for garden potting - and she has found the shelf with a cushion added a most comfortable place to watch the world go by and it's sheltered if it's raining. We did have a cat coming in and stealing her food sometime ago but he hasn't been seen much since we bought a tag operated electric catflap.

She is particularly lazy when it comes to the catflap - she knows exactly how it works and uses it to come and go when we are not around but if we are in the kitchen she waits by the door (where the flap is installed) until one of us opens it. I think she's now at the point if we are in the house anywhere we should be expected to open the back door for her!

Scrubbing the rugs and hanging them out on Saturday has reduced the smell and she hasn't returned to the rugs to do any business but the enzyme cleaner we bought from the petshop had no effect whatsoever - I'll perhaps try some alternatives.

We've left the kitchen door to the dining room open today and both gone to work but she can't get into the hallway or upstairs. I guess we'll see if she uses the tray but she was outside when I left this morning, I think she'll probably stay there all day.

[the snail]

You could train it to use the loo...
http://mingusmingusmingus.com/mingus/cat-traning-program

[trekker12]

Well seeing as she has re-discovered her old habit and I caught her peeing on the temporary piece of carpet we laid to replace the old smelly hall one I think it might be worth a try!!