Expert: Shanti Zinzi - 2/5/2011

Question
Hi there Shanti. I have two cats that are brothers that are about 6 years old. Ever since I had them I've had a problem with smelling cat pee around my house. I could never figure out which one is doing it but I'm pretty sure which one does it because I used to catch him in the act a couple years ago. He was always very obnoxious to me but he's VERY affectionate, very talkative, and almost aggressively affectionate. He's terrible with children but great with adults who have the time and effort to give him attention. Over the past few months I've been spending a lot of time with him and even letting him sleep in my bed with me in hopes that his behaviors will improve but I seem to keep finding yellow spots in my my house. They are sometimes so small, like drops, or larger areas but not enough to think that he's just "peeing" but more so spraying. The last couple of months I've become worried because sometimes I'll find blood in these little presents that he leaves yet I'm STILL NOT sure if it's him or his brother or possibly even my aging dog. Is there anything you could recommend for me to do for his behavior or health? As I said, I'm still not 100% WHO is doing this but I want to make sure he's happy, healthy and my house is clean. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for you time.

Answer
Hi Claudia,

Have they been medically checked out?
It does not sound like spraying, but a potential UTI and should be seen by a vet asap.
Urinary tract infections in male cats can become dangerous. If they are building up crystals it should not be allowed to persist as if the crystal grows it could block his urethra. A cat can die if it comes to that  point, so should be treated as an emergency. Does he cry out? run back and forth to the litterbox? These would be signs.
If it is a urinary tract infections -After the treatment, I would get him off of dry food, no canned tuna or low quality foods, no supermarket brands, no friskies, no purina, no whiskas and if you would like a specifically tailored diet I can help you with that or a holistic vet will WITH dietary training (which is something only gotten after vet school).
I can be reached via my website www.thenatureofthebeast.org

After the vet appointment, feel free to contact me but I am very concerned this is an bladder infection and not a behavioral issue. From your email I haven't been able to assess any anxiety but when there is blood and frequent urinary spot the first line of thinking is get a urine analysis done asap..
This needs to be ruled out as medical or behavioral urinating are both very different treatments.
If your vet rules out a medical problem he can  give you something to put in the kitty's food to color stain the urine. It would be fed only to one cat and then we see if that kitty's urine ends up in the litterbox or somewhere else due to the special dye (that is washable).

Best,
Shanti