Expert: Norman Auspitz - 8/17/2010

Question
Hi there I hope you can give me some advice.
I have a female Bengal cat that is 2 years old. She has been an inside cat for two years and we have just recently been letting her outside during the day as we cannot leave her inside anymore.
Her name is Charlie. When she was a kitten she urinated on the bed everyday. Eventually we trained her with the help of the cat nip spray to use the crystal kitty litter for number two’s but she never took to it to urinate. She urinates in corners of rooms which has completely ruined the carpet and floorboards in the house. One day we tried an empty bucket that is in a triangle shape which fits in the corner that she will urinate sometimes in, though she still urinates around the house too. Since we have let her outside she has continued to urinate in the house for example we open the door to let her in, she runs straight to a corner to urinate.
We do have 2 dogs (a Husky and a German Sheppard) that are outside during the day and inside at night. There is another Bengal in the house that stays upstairs as it attacks Charlie when they are in the same area.
I have asked Vet’s for their advice and they have not been able to give any only saying she is a badly behaved cat.  
If there is any advice at all that you can give me I would really be greatful.
Thankyou,
Katie  

Answer
Katie,

Is she spayed?  If not, she m,ay be carrying out behaviors responding to being in season.

At age 2 years, these habits are pretty ingrained and will be hard to break.  Any area where she urinates inappropriately must be cleaned with an enzyme based cleaner specifically for pet stains and pet odors.  At this point, after 2 years, you will have to use products that can obliterate odors.  You might talk to someone in the business of renovating/remodeling homes to see what products may be available in Australia to kill pet odors.

Cats hate aluminum foil, so you may want to tape down some aluminum foil in any area she uses and supply her with a large litter pan with her crystals in the room she likes to use the most.  You might also try a Feliway diffuser in any room she prefers to urinate to see if that also helps. You may have to check out the Internet to see where you can get the Feliway diffuser.  If they cannot be obtained in Australia, you can talk to someone at a pet supermarket to see if there is an equivalent pheromone based product available in Australia.

Hopefully, some of the above may help.

Best regards... Norm.