Help with my 6 month old kitten?

Question

I have a kitten that is litter trained and ever since we moved to our new home in Sep. my kitten is now peeing in the sinks of our home.

Although i'm grateful that he is doing it in the sink.... it's disgusting! At first we thought he was spraying so we had him fixed and now we realize that he is peeing.

I do have another cat so they share a litter box and I have been making sure that it is always clean, thinking that could be the problem but........

They have never had a problem sharing a box and im getting fed up with the problem. Can someone help me understand what is going on and know how to fix this nasty little problem.

Can't get rid of him because of my kids they love him and he is so great with my babys but can't handle getting up every morning and cleaning all my sinks.............please help.

Answer 1

Christina, I'm not a vet but I've had cats most of my life and there's a couple of things about your situation that are clear. All cats, even kittens, are distressed when we move to a new home. From their point of view, the new place smells awful and frightening because it doesn't smell like them. So making the house smell like them is the first priority in their eyes. How better to do that than by peeing somewhere.
Your kitten may have known his standing in the cat hierarchy at your old home where everything smelled of your first cat when the kitten arrived. He was second and he knew it. Now there may be, in his mind at least, a chance for him to become the top cat in his territory - your house.
If he's 6 months old and just had his surgery, he may still be spraying. Many times the hormones don't leave their systems for 3 to 6 months after neutering.
If I were you, I'd get another box, put it in a room where you shut him up with it during the training period and bring him his food and water in that same room for 3 days. Put the food in a corner far away from the box as they don't want to eat near their box. I'd also get some oranges and lemons and cut them in half, and leave them in your sinks while you aren't using them. Cats hate the smell of citrus.
Yelling at him will do no good, but if you see him in a sink you could hold him there and turn the water on full blast. He will come to associate the sinks with getting sprayed, which cats really don't like.

Best of luck with this!

Answer 2

Maybe you could fill the sinks with water. Leave it for a few days, you know, emptying it and refilling it whenever you need to. Just don't leave it if it's not about halfway filled. Make sure he has access to the litter box. Once he starts using the litter box regularly without going to the sink first, then you can regain controll of your sinks. He'll probably change quickly.

My cat used to do the exact same thing. I just followed her around when I saw her heading towards the bathroom, then I'd turn on the sink once she got into it. She stopped soon.

Answer 3

Yeah, know what you mean, I have cats that wanna go in the bath. One way to solve it is, I and I know this will sound disgusting, but put the plug in the sink. Now there are two reasons for this :

1. Take a new clean cloth and if your cat has peed in the sink, you dip the cloth in the urine (or other), and then put this into the tray. Kitty will smell his own urine in the tray and want to go there instead.

2. The second reason is that the plug stops the air coming up the plughole which I think attracts cats to go there in the first place.

Good luck, hope this helps!

Answer 4

Cats are extremely fastidious when it comes to the litter box. Many cats will only use the litter box if it is kept immaculately clean and if they feel that they have their privacy. If using a clumping litter, be sure to clean the box on a daily basis, removing the wet and soiled litter everyday. If using a conventional litter, be sure to change all of the litter once a week. Many cats do not like to share the box with another cat. We recommend having one litter box per cat plus one extra, placed in a quiet and easily accessible location. Cats also hate to be disturbed while using their litter box, and frequent interruptions, like from another pet or a child, can contribute to your cat’s improper elimination.

Have you recently changed the material in your cat’s litter box? Your cat may not like the texture or aroma of the new litter. You should consider switching back to the litter your cat was comfortable with.

Cats as a species are not as willing to accept changes in their environment as dogs are. Cats like routines and are upset easily by changes in their environment. Any big change, like moving or acquiring a new pet, can lead your cat to express his displeasure by eliminating outside of the litter box.

Whenever there is a sudden change in behavior, consider that it might be due to a medical problem. Take your cat to the veterinarian for a good examination. Be sure to tell your veterinarian about the house-soiling problem. If your cat has a clean bill of health, you can try to determine the reason and understand how it may have begun. To help evaluate the situation, you should consider the following:

The progression and duration of the behavior.
Is your pet experiencing some type of anxiety and/or fear? In a home with multiple cats, there may be subtle underlying tensions that may make one or more cats anxious. This could lead your cat to eliminate outside the litter box. Make sure the box is in a secure and private area. A litter box should be provided for each cat.
The location for the elimination and type of surface preferences or aversions (the type of material or substrate the cat eliminates on - carpet, wood floor, clothing, etc.). Be sure that the litter box is clean, as some cats will not eliminate in a dirty box. Also make sure the box is in an accessible private location.
Limit your cat’s opportunities to make messes in the house. Watch her and put her in the box at the usual time she eliminates (after waking and eating, for example).
Clean and make the inappropriate soiled areas aversive, otherwise your cat will return to the same location. Spraying the previously soiled area with Bitter Apple or another unappealing scent will dissuade your cat from soiling there again.

Answer 5

If the owners who lived in that place before u moved in, they probably had a pet and that pet probably kept weeing in the sink and so ur cat can sense that and is copying that, cos when me and my family moved to a new house we bought 2 kittens and 1 of them kept weeing on the same spot of the carpet and we found out that the owner b4 had a dog who kept weeing on the same spot as our cat was. You need to keep picking up the cat and putting him in the litter box, if u see it in the sink again, just put him in the litter box, eventually he will learn that he cant wee in the sink n e more, hope this helps

Answer 6

I think the poor thing is stressed about the move. It would be helpful to confine him in a room of his own for a week with his own litter box, (put it in a place that can be permanently "his")
Neutering him was a very good thing, and confining him will help make sure he is the true culprit and give him a sense of his own save space/aka territory. Remember your new home is filled with new odors, and perhaps even the smell of previous pets. After a week or so, let him out with supervision. Confine him, with a nice cozy crate or sleep box in a corner where he won't worry he will get "snuck up on" when you can't watch him, and at night so he can't wander for another few weeks. Using pine sol in your drains might help discourage him. Territory issues with cats are often helped by giving everybody their own litterbox in their own spot. Feliway spray is an option our vet recommended to my cousin that she said helped alot. Don't yell at him or punish him, because that will just stress him more, and cats aren't dogs, and won't understand what you are yelling about. Urine is really pretty sterile, albeit unpleasant, so don't worry about the family health. Enjoy your new home, sue.

Answer 7

if this is a female cat and she is not fixed it means she is in heat and be grateful it is in your sink and not your furniture if comes to your furniture use vinegar and water to eliminate the smell.. if it is a male he is coming into himself and he is not fixed do so also try moving the litter pan into the kitchen for a short time being it is a baby and it is a new place he or she may not know where it is

Answer 8

Set-up another litter box. Some cats get real funny about sharing the older they get.

Answer 9

Respectfully if this is your worst problem with a six mo. old kitten, get on your knees and thank a Higher Power. Everything's new, and I believe he's "marking" his territory. I believe he considers the sink private. Ask your vet for suggestions if you continue to have the problem. Don't give up on him...he'll learn.

Answer 10

i think you need to go train him