Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with pee

Recycling urinary catheters?

wetpaint — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:51:21 -0800

Can I recycle used urinary catheters? I have a neurogenic bladder and pee through disposable plastic tubes. Yep, it's about as much fun as it sounds :) Anyway, I use 10-12 disposable catheters a day, and it all adds up to a big pile of ugly garbage. I'd like to recycle the catheters, but I wonder if they're considered medical waste and shouldn't be tossed in with my plastics and bottles. (By the way, I've tried reusable catheters, and let's just say that things didn't quite work out.) In case it matters, the brand is Mentor non-latex disposable catheters.

Why did I wet the bed last night?

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:07:10 -0800

I wet the bed last night. WTF? First off, I know that YANMD but IDNHHI (I do not have health insurance) and I'm hoping that this isn't serious enough to warrant a trip to the community health center.

I am a 23 year old healthy female. Daily, I take Acyclovir for Type I genital herpes, Yaz, and folic acid.

Soo I was dreaming last night (about 5 hours after I went to sleep), and in my dream I wanted to pee so I did. In my dream it felt so good but also really real, so I think in my head I thought "uhoh, time to wake up". I immediately realized that I was actually peeing and stopped, but there was already a good sized puddle on my bed.

I can't think of why this happened. I didn't drink anything for probably two hours before I went to sleep last night. I've had some pain peeing for the past two days which I interpreted as my HSV I acting up (I was only diagnosed about two months ago).

I also wet the bed about a year ago, after a night of extremely heavy drinking. That time, I didn't realize what had happened until the morning and that time was a LOT of pee. I don't know if this time was related because I hadn't had anything alcoholic prior to bedtime.

WTF could be going on?

Should I get my FLUTDed cat a urethrostomy?

Cogito — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:40:03 -0800

My male 5-year-old 20lbs cat has FLUTD. He's been hospitalized once and they thought he was doing better, but now that I have him home he's peeing somewhat, but still seems like he has Please forgive the gallows humor. I'm rather upset by this.

Originally, he was totally blocked (no clumps for 2 days). When I took him in, the vet flushed out his blockage and gave him a catheter. His blood work was normal (i.e., no toxins due to kidney failure) and he wasn't particularly dehydrated. They took the catheter out the next day and he seemed to be peeing OK. Even though it was a cat-only clinic, the environment was very stressful for him, so they sent him home with me the next evening.

On the night I brought him home, I saw him straining to pee and trying to go outside his box (he doesn't have accidents when healthy). In the morning, I found a few small clumps, but still well below his normal output. He is eating normally and drinking little, but that is normal for him.

As of now, he's on prescription Purina DM (weight loss) wet food (switched from his previous dry food), Amoxi tabs for infection, Methio-Form tablets for urine acidification, Acepromazine (muscle relaxant) to help with urethral constriction and Buprenex for pain.

I'm crossing my fingers that he's going to get better and gradually pee more, but if he gets totally blocked again I'm going to have to take him back. The vet says a urethrostomy would be the next step, but that it may not be worth putting him through that.

I'd like to hear from people who've had cats with serious FLUTD (I've seen the other AskMe threads) and what they did. Particularly if you've gotten a urethrostomy for your cat, how did it turn out? What was the healing time like? Were there major side-effects post-op?

I can has halp with kitteh peepee?

4ster — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:06:21 -0800

The new kitten keeps peeing on our bed. Four weeks ago, we adopted a (then) five-month-old spayed female kitten from the SPCA. It really is a sweet, fun affectionate cat who has twice now peed all over our bed.

Kitteh has also peed all over my laundry and the carpet.

I switched to Cat Attract Litter and the absolutely amazing Omega Paw Rolling Litter Box, and make a point to keep the litter box clean, to the point of getting all the clumps out three to four times a day.

We steam cleaned the carpet, and then kept the cat in the room with the litter box for about four days. We still played with her, loved on her, etc., but kept her in the room where the box was. We had read in several places that this is a good method for helping a cat start using the litter box exclusively.

Things could not be more perfect. She is using the box, the house is clean, the cat is purring and playful and all the things you would expect a happy, healthy cat to do. She is eating and drinking fine.

Then last night, she pees on the bed again, and probably some other places as well.

Here is the thing: my wife never smells cat pee like I can. She usually accuses me of blowing things out of proportion when it comes to cat odor, but she told me this morning that "it is really bad." I'm out of town, so I'm sure that if it is "really bad" to her, when I get home, it's going to be like being waterboarded with cat pee for me.

The only other detail I can think to mention is that the litter box is downstairs, and we haven't tried bringing it upstairs, because we have an 11 month old child, and we are afraid of catching the infant partaking of crunchy-on-the-outside-chewy-on-the-inside cat leavings.

What are we missing here? The litter box is kept very clean, it is in a safe, quiet, private place, the cat is happy and affectionate, and the cat did great for about a week, and then regressed.

Halp?

My cat's pee is missing.

miagaille — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:56:11 -0800

My cat hasn't used her litter box in over two weeks. The house smells great. She has no way to get outside. Where is the pee going? Two weeks ago she stopped using her litter box and started pooping in the basement crawlspace. The whole house smelled awful. We naturally assumed she was peeing in the same place.

Yesterday I crawled in on my belly in a hazmat suit and picked up all the poop. I searched around for damp or stinky spots that would indicate urine, but found nothing. Today I went back in with a fairly high-powered UV flashlight, and again found nothing to indicate urine. I went all over the house with it and similarly found nothing. The smell also completely went away when I cleaned up the poop, and now the house smells fine.

The cat is a 2-year-old spayed female, indoor only. She's been eating and drinking normally and shows no sign of pain or distress that would suggest a urinary blockage.

So, WFT cat pee?? I'm pretty sure the cat's fine, I'm just completely mystified and weirded out.

re-potty train a dog?

defmute — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:37:27 -0800

Petfliter: How do I get a dog that was potty trained to be potty trained again? My girlfriend and I found a very well behaved dog outside of our house two weeks ago and have been taking care of her since. She was potty trained for the first week or so and then we left her for a weekend (but not left alone) and came back to find her peeing on the bathroom floor when we'd go to bed at night. Since this dog was potty trained, does that mean we have to potty train her again? We've concluded that she has separation anxiety (she follows us around the house wherever we go, cries when she can't sleep with us. What do ya'll think we should do?

p.s. the dog is an approx. 12 month old red-nosed pitbull.

The cat is an asshole

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:33:37 -0800

My fiance has two cats. I've never been a cat person, and am worried about what's going to happen in a few weeks when we move in and the cats become our cats. Sorry in advance for the length of this... I'm posting anon because people I know read MeFi and I'd rather this not get back to my fiance, so I'll try to squeeze in every detail I can. If you want to reach me, throwaway email is: thatdamnedcat.mefi@gmail.com

My fiance has two cats. They're both adopted strays, who have been with her through a cross-country move and several apartments. We live in a city, so they're both indoor cats, and have been all their lives. One cat (we'll call him A) is awesome. I've never been a cat person, and before I met my fiance, all the cats I'd ever known somehow instinctively knew this and gave me a wide berth. This one did not. He's an attention whore, and the friendliest animal I've ever met. We get along famously, and he's very well-behaved.

The other cat (let's call her B) is a huge asshole. We think she was mistreated before my fiance adopted her, and she never really recovered. She's incredibly skittish, and it's taken me a year and a half of being around her for her to even start to tolerate me. I can, on rare occasions, pet her briefly on the head before she turns and flees. It's possible that I freak her out because I'm much bigger than anyone else she's known (she lives in an apartment with two small-ish females, and I am a very large guy), and make more noise/am more intimidating/remind her of a past abuser, but I want to stress that I've made great efforts not to do anything to freak her out (I don't wear shoes around her because of the heavier footsteps, I've never tried to discipline her for anything she's done [see below], and I try to move as slowly and non-menacingly as I can when she's in sight ). It doesn't seem to matter. This cat pretty clearly dislikes me, and I haven't been able to do much about it. That would be OK with me, but she also pretty clearly dislikes my fiance, too. And my fiance's roommate. And everyone else she's ever met. She'll disappear into a closet when anyone unknown comes around, and will barely make an appearance when it's just me and my fiance. In the time that I've known my fiance, I've never seen her interact with B for more than about 30 seconds at a clip. B will tolerate a small amount of attention, and then act like she's been spooked by something and go tearing out of the room. She's not a lap-cat, and doesn't crave any human attention at all.

I can handle an anti-social cat, but things took a turn for the worse a couple of months ago. B has taken to peeing on things, and it's pretty clearly meant as punishment to my fiance and I. She has a handful of spots that are her favorites, and nothing we've done will dissuade her from them. There's a couch cushion that she likes to target, as well as a spot behind a piece of furniture. If someone leaves their shoes at the entrance to the apartment, those shoes are as good as ruined. We're religious about keeping the catbox clean, and two trips to the vet haven't turned up anything. She's only 6 or 7 years old, so I doubt it's age-related. Every time she pees on something, we completely clean and disinfect it, and we've tried treating the surfaces with cleaning sprays designed to keep cats from re-offending, and we've tried some desperation tactics like spreading dry cat food on the cushion and in the usual target spot on the floor in the hope that she won't want to pee where she eats. Nothing. At least twice a week, there's a big puddle for us to clean up. A few times, she has walked into the room where my fiance and I are sitting, climbed up on the cushion, turned to look directly at us, and peed. She did this earlier today, after my fiance and I got back from a weekend trip out of town (during which my fiance's roommate remained in the apartment, feeding the cats and cleaning the litterbox). I can't see any other reasoning behind this except as punishment--there are no major stressors in her life, unless I'm being perceived as one, but that's not something we can fix.

At the same time, she has taken to sitting outside the bedroom door, howling and scratching at the door in the early hours of the morning. I finally relented and agreed to leave the door open (the two cats used to sleep on the bed with my fiance before we started dating, when I asked that we keep the bedroom kitty-free to slow the cat hair buildup, and because they contribute to my snoring), thinking that she might just be lonely and want some attention. Not the case. A couple of nights a week, she'll sit at the (open) doorway, scratch the doorframe, and meow pitifully for hours at a time. We've made sure that she has water, food, and a clean litterbox. Day or night, when we try to give her attention (because we of course realize that cats are social creatures), she won't hear of it.

You can probably see where this is going. I hate this cat. She's wrecking our sleep and our apartment, and since my experiences with her have all been negative, I don't have any positive things to focus on. Nor can I really see that my fiance has a whole lot of positive history with the cat--B has apparently been completely antisocial for as long as my fiance has had her, and the peeing-as-revenge thing has come up a few times in the past, under equally baffling circumstances. They don't have anywhere near the rapport that my fiance has with A. I am not and never have been a cat person, and I just can't understand why anyone would put up with this from an animal who clearly doesn't care about its owner. (I'm seriously not trying to troll here, and I know people care deeply about their cats--I understand completely, and would probably feel the same if this one made even the slightest hint of caring) I've read the previous advice threads on how to deal with the individual behavioral problems, but all the advice seems to boil down to "cats are assholes, but you should put up with this weird quirk because it's worth it to have a pet you enjoy." I just can't see the upside, and am a little worried about what's going to happen when my fiance and I move into a new place together in a few weeks (we're currently in separate apartments, but spend 5 or 6 nights a week together). I don't want to be unreasonable, and would never start laying down ultimatums like this poster's husband, because I don't wish any harm on the thing, but if the cat starts seriously disturbing our sleep, I don't trust myself not to snap about it in the morning someday, so I'd rather start dealing with this now. And while my fiance and I are normally the two most communicative people in the world, and are otherwise blissfully happy and open with each other, I have no idea how to broach this with her, because I don't have any solutions to offer, and just dropping "I hate this damned cat" isn't helpful.

So, after that whole treatise: what do I do? I'd love to hear any suggestions for correcting the cat's behavior, or finding a way for it not to bother me so much, or for somewhere the cat can go, or... well, anything.

Thanks in advance!

This isn't going to help the trade-in value.

emjaybee — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:46:00 -0800

How do I get cat pee out of my car's upholstery? Took my male (neutered) cat to the vet today, stupidly put him on the seat in his carrier instead of the floor. He peed in terror right out the mesh back, and now my car stinks all to hell. I used the pet-smell-remover stuff we have for the carpets, but it's not doing it. Older cat-piss questions on AskMefi refer to things that can be laundered or soaked or repainted, but is there any way to get the smell out without replacing my seat's upholstery?

Please, don't pee on the azaleas!

tryniti — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:00:30 -0800

How do I keep my dogs from peeing on the concrete? So we just bought and moved into a new house (hooray!). For the first time since I've had my dogs (about 8 years), we have a beautiful and quite large yard for them. Problem is, between the back door and the actual grass is a large concrete area, leading to a small slate paved area. There are flower beds with border grass, azalea bushes, and assorted landscaping along the patio-type area. So far, every time I let the dogs outside, my male dog runs outside and pees on the first green thing he encounters, which results in a large puddle of dog pee on the concrete. I can see that this is quickly going to result in a stinky patio. The female is doing marginally better, but I've caught her peeing on the slate tile a time or two as well.

Now, we've only been in the house since Saturday. So far my plan of attack has been to run outside with the dogs and try to yell "No!" when I see one of them peeing in the non-grass, along with praising when I see them pee in the grass. It's not working at all. I am fairly dog savvy, but I admit, I'm totally stumped as to how to keep the dogs from doing this.

Additional information: the dogs are a nine and eight year old male and female doberman, respectively. They are spayed/neutered, and are indoor dogs. I've always lived in homes where the back door basically opened into grass, so they are not used to having a 'patio'.

Is there a special trick to preventing a dog from peeing on concrete? Should I just keep going with the "No" and the positive reinforcement for peeing in grass?

What is making my pee smell funny?

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:05:15 -0800

About a week ago my pee started smelling really strongly and really, really strange. I haven't eaten any asparagus and I don't have a UTI. The only recent change in my diet is that I gave up caffeine (but I was only drinking 5-6 cups a week before). What gives? I'm a 24-year-old female and otherwise completely healthy. I take vitamins and Citalopram, but I've been taking them for a couple of months so I don't think those would affect the smell of my urine at this point. This has never happened to me before, and I'm starting to get worried. What could this be a sign of?

Need advice on cat urination issue

MeetMegan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:53:58 -0800

Cat behavior question: urinating outside (directly outside) the litterbox. Vet has ruled out any blood issues or urinary blockages. I have darling, dear, adorable Coal. He will be 2 at the end of this month. Over the last six weeks, he has taken to urinating directly outside of his litterbox. All. The. Time.

I took him to the vet four weeks ago, when I realized this was a problem that wasn't going to go away. She tested him for everything generally imaginable in a young cat, and he's come out with a clean bill of health. She has suggested a high-resolution ultrasound (an ultrasound she generally gives to elderly cats or those with known urinary issues, in addition to the ultrasound she took at her office) and I am considering that, as he may have very small crystals/blockages invisible on her ultrasound. Barring that, it seems as though this is a behavior problem.

He no longer urinates in his litterbox at all. He still defecates in his litterbox, as normal. He stands with his two front paws inside the litterbox, his two back paws outside, and urinating like that - directly outside the box. I have always fastidiously cleaned his litterbox, when I wake up, before I go to work, when I get home from work, and before I go to bed. "Stale box" should not be a problem. He has, luckily and thank my stars, not ever urinated anywhere aside from the master bathroom floor.

I have four litterboxes in my house. Three are in the master bath, which is where his original one litterbox always was. There are now two litterboxes near where he often urinates, and those boxes have his old litter (World's Best). There is also a third litter box, about three feet away, with a new litter (Arm & Hammer Naturals - it was the texture that seemed most different from World's Best). There is a fourth litterbox in a guest bathroom with the old litter brand in it - that remains untouched in the last four weeks (by urine or feces). The other three boxes in the master bath have all been blessed by his feces, but not by his urine (in the last four weeks, at least). Is there another litter I should try? Does Cat Attract really work?

About three weeks ago, I had the genius streak and got some of those puppy training pads, and placed them all around the bathroom. He now urinates on those, which has been handy in showing me exactly where he goes when I am gone at work. They are still a bear to clean up though (they drip and aren't always watertight!).

I have cleaned up any urine outside a box by first wiping up any excess with a paper towel, then using Lysol or Clorox to sanitize the area, and then spraying with Nature's Miracle Advanced for Cats and allowing that to dry. Is there another technique I should be using to clean up his little mistakes?

I have tried using aluminum foil where I don't want him to urinate - that doesn't work since he sees it as a game and tears off large pieces of foil to chase around my house. I've tried picking him up and putting him inside his litterbox when I see him urinating outside, and that doesn't work; he just stops mid-stream and walks away, only to come back later and finish the job - outside the box.

One might think that I am somehow torturing him and he's acting out to get back at me. Alas, no. He lives an amazing life - he does not like other cats (he is very violent with them), so he does not have a kitty compatriot at home, and that is not plausible (the vet has recommended strongly against it). He gets plenty of cuddle time, and at least 45 minutes of one-on-one play time with me a day, either with a laser pointer, feather toy, ball chase, or other technique. He is indoor-only, and has been since he was rescued off the streets at six weeks of age by the Anti-Cruelty Society. I adopted him at twelve weeks. He's only ever known me as a companion. On the off chance I do have to travel out of town, my mom comes to my house and stays with him – the entire time I am gone. He’s never been left alone more than 12-14 hours at a time.

Other circumstances: We moved into this condo over a year ago. At the time, I was prepared for the worst, but he had no issues adapting and instead embraced his new, active life inside a bigger home and with terrific views outside. He spends much of his "alone" time looking out my windows and chasing after errant flowers, birds, and insects he sees outside. He has never had issues adapting to new people in my life, and I have had no new people in my life recently. He is the life of the party when I have them, but again, I haven't had one in the last three months.

I am sorry for the long post – I’m trying to provide as much information as possible! I love him more than anything, and if I have to keep cleaning up puppy training pads for the rest of my life, I will do so. I just think there has to be a better way. So, I turn to you for advice. Please help!

Peeing for science!

elizardbits — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:28:46 -0800

PeeChemistryFilter: what the hell is going on here? When I had my first wee of the day this morning, I noticed something rather bizarre. Some of my pee seems to have formed a grayish-yellow precipitate upon hitting the water in the bowl. I say precipitate rather than sediment, because further experimentation (ok, I peed in a nonsterile plastic cup and stirred it with a nonsterile chopstick) showed neither sediment nor precipitate. This leads me to believe that some combination of substances in my wee and substances with which I clean my toilet have formed a chemical reaction. (I realize this is a pretty lame hypothesis, scientifically speaking, but it's all I've got. CURSES.)

My question is thus twofold:
01. ~~OH GOD AM I DYING?~~ Does this seem like an urgent medical situation in any way? There's no pain or burning sensation before, during, or after urination, I have no fever, there is no blood or pus present in my wee, and I have no tenderness in the kidney, bladder, or urethra areas.

02. What the hell could be causing this? For reference purposes, the medications I'm currently taking are:
-20mg adderall/daily, for the past 2 years
-triam/HCTZ 37.5/25 (1 cap yesterday morning)
-ProAir HFA (1 puff shortly before bedtime last night)

I also drank rather a lot on Friday night - mostly beers, but I think I recall some mysterious fruity pink shots. To my knowledge, I haven't had any kind of recreational drugs, and I have no reason to suspect that any of my friends might have sneakily given me something Friday night.

Lastly, I clean my toilet with Scrubbing Bubbles FreshBrush Flushables, most recently on Wednesday of last week. Also, the water in my building has a slightly elevated lead content, but is within the legal limits for NYC.

In conclusion, WTF?

What happened to my cat?

arnicae — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:40:00 -0800

Catfilter: my overweight, formerly feral cat has been on a diet and using a litter robot successfully for more than a year. He recently has started whining non-stop for food and intermittently pooping and peeing all over the house. We have a great, around 3 y/o formerly feral cat. He is the only pet in our household, and we are two adults with no kids. He knew how to use a litter box from the first day he came home with us and has had just a few accidents, usually around high stress events (such as moving). We transitioned to a litter robot more than a year ago and the transition period took some time (and there were some accidents) but he has used his LR happily since then. We've moved three times in the two years we've had him and each time he's been upset while there are boxes and debris around (and therefore needy and/or pooping/peeing problems) but as soon as we got rid of the boxes the problems ended.

Our third move was 1.5 months ago. As with the previous ones, he was initially upset by the boxes, but as soon as we got rid of them (within days of the move, 1.4 months ago) he settled down and there were no further accidents.

He is overweight, and on a strict diet from the vet, and this is also something that he's been doing for a year, so he is used to being fed a certain amount twice a day at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

10 days ago, we went out of town for a day. Our catsitter was unable to stop in, so we left extra food in his bowl and extra water. Since we've come back, he has been having accidents all over the house and cries nonstop for food. Last night he started whining for more food at 1 a.m. and kept howling in this plaintive, pleading yelp, until 8 a.m. He begs for food constantly, which is new- before he just looked hopeful, now he follows us around meowing.

We've never seen him like this. We thought there had to be something wrong, but the vet says he doesn't have a bladder infection or anything else to explain the yowling. There have been no other environmental changes other than that short visit out of town- no guests, no new furniture, no boxes, no changes whatsoever. He's been on the same litter since we first got him years ago and the litter robot is changed regularly. It isn't gross or smelly in the slightest.

He has pooped all over the house, in different spots each time, and peed all over as well- mostly on furniture (different pieces each time, though it is all the nicest furniture) but also on a paper bag once and several times straight on the floor.

We squirt him with a water bottle whenever we catch him and he always has this furtive look like he knows he's up to something that isn't allowed, but it doesn't stop him from doing it again.

He has also been back in the litter robot- on average he uses the LR once a day and the floor 1-2 times a day.

I've looked at the previous threads about this but am still kind of at a loss as to what to do. We adore this cat, but are tired and frustrated by coming home and wondering what he has peed on while we were gone.

My dog can't pee right, help?

Dave. — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:52:59 -0800

My dog has a hard time peeing. I've had a specialist diagnose the cause and they tell me that "they've never seen it before" and "cannot find anything in any journals/literature that reference it". I'd like to explain it to see if any Mefites have any experience or knowledge of the situation ... Basically its this ... at the juncture of her urethra and bladder, the opening has become constricted. A flap of tissue is trying to grow closed over this opening. Not a good thing!

Here's the story ... She's a 5 year old labrador, in otherwise perfect health. About 2 1/2 years ago, she started having trouble peeing. She would squat, and it would drip.drip.drip ... and after a long time she would be done. I took her to my local vet, who did all he could to diagnose it (primarily consisting of checking for urinary tract infection and prescribing a food that was more acidic to breakdown crystals in her urine). Eventually, he referred me to the University of Florida Veterinary Research Center. After some more work, they eventually decided to run a camera up her urethra. At that point, they discovered the constriction at the juncture to the bladder and broke it apart with the camera head device.

All is well until about a year ago ...

She had the same exact problem again. I go back to the college and this time they actually get me a "research grant" that covers the cost of that camera procedure (not a cheap procedure, about $800). So she's fixed again.

But now I think I might be starting to see some symptoms again and I'm getting worried this might be round 3. Anyone have any experience with something similar?

Long distance pet care

amethysts — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:17:19 -0800

Cat pee question of the day: My cat is thousands of miles away from me, staying with my family due to circumstances beyond my control. They are OK with looking after him, except for that he pees and throws up everywhere. My cat lives with my dad. My mom took him to the vet. The vet tried to get a pee sample by sticking a needle in and drawing some out, but couldn't locate the bladder with the needle.

The vet sent my mom home with instructions to put cellophane over the litterbox to collect some pee. It sounds simple but my dad is simply not going to do this (for Reasons that i can't control). Meanwhile, the peeing continues, and the vet says they can't diagnose anything without a pee sample, but we can't collect it, and neither can the vet.

Not knowing what else to do, they kind of gave up at this point. I'm very sad about the whole thing. If I can't have my cat with me, I'd at least like him to be well. And if he'd be better off with another family, we can't even find one for him until he's not peeing and throwing up everywhere. This has been going on since January.

Should I be looking for another vet for them to take him to, or should they go back to our original vet (who has been seeing Smeagol since he showed up at our door)? Is this a normal thing, that they are unable to extract a urine sample? Is trying to collect a sample at home the only way? Is he maybe acting out because I'm not around anymore, and if so, how would we even solve that?

Getting kitty pee out of a dog bed

k8t — Sat, 16 May 2009 20:20:02 -0800

Cat Pee question - this time preventative and on a dog bed Our cat(s) are/were peeing on our dog's bed. I bought a UV light for cat pee detection and didn't see any on the cover, but then I took out the insert pad and it was soaked. I haven't ever seen them pee on it, which makes me believe that they do it when we are out of town.

We humans and dog really like the dog bed. He likes sleeping on it and we like how it keeps him off the rug and keeps our rug dog hair free for a day or so.

I machine-washed the insert (not recommended, but I figured that it'd be worth a shot) and cover. I'll inspect them with the UV light but I don't have high hopes, especially for the insert, I ordered another insert ($50!). Is the cover beyond repair too?

My questions:

First, our dog has been sick with intestinal problems for the last few months. Could the pee-soaked bed be related to that?

And second, any recommendations for preventing the kitties from peeing on the new one (we do Feliaway and IckyPoo and all that stuff) and/or avoiding the pee from setting into the new dog bed? (maybe could we put some of those absorbent pads in between the cover and the insert?)

Kindly explain other men's urethras please

hayvac — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:09:15 -0800

What's going on with the guys at the urinal who can barely pee? I've stood next to them, on-and-off, my entire public-washroom-using life: normal-looking dudes who sidle up to the urinal next to me, unzip, and then start gasping and moaning like they're giving birth while squeezing out what sounds like thimblefuls of urine. Today I was doing my business when the guy at the next head starting orgasmically wheezing "Ohhhhh yeah, unnnnhhh . . . " while passing a few dozen pee-molecules at a time and my curiosity finally got the better of me.

What the hell's going on? Do all these guys have prostate problems? They don't appear to cluster by age. Am I the only one noticing that something like one in every ten male urinators seems to have this problem?

Cat-Pee To Meet You

spamguy — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:56:44 -0800

How do I manage litter box odour in my apartment? I've had my kitteh Wernher von Braun for six months, and only now am I admitting to myself that I have no idea how to maintain a litter box. The epiphany came when I was looking at litter at the grocery store and my girlfriend said, 'Can I make a suggestion? Choose scented.'

The litter box is enclosed and looks like a pet carrier. Even though the kitteh has normal bathroom habits, my apartment's kitchen reeks of cat poo and old urine. I do what I can to scoop the poo, even though the kitteh's a crap factory and I worry he may be a little diarrhetic. His fresh poo reeks. The pee-soaked litter I haven't been able to control either because it's hard to isolate. Thus, the blackened litter sits and sits and sits until I purge the whole damn litter box.

Teach me from the ground up your kitteh odour control skills!

she's takin' a piss!

goethean — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 04:42:07 -0800

Would a cat pee on our stuff because the music is too loud? In previous 'accidents', it was always that her litterbox was dirty, or some other obvious thing she was unhappy with. But now, I'm stumped. Except that I was playing music pretty loud when it happened. Maybe she doesn't like the Deadstring Brothers. Does this sound right? Also, she's at least 15 years old, so it could just be an eternal enigma.

Yellow snow etiquette?

lalalana — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:18:34 -0800

Yellow snow etiquette? It's my dog's first winter in a snowy clime. I always scoop poop, of course, but what is the etiquette for cleaning up the yellow snow? I usually try to cover it up with a little fresh snow, but it still seems gross to me.

Zuzu + pee pee = Grrrrrrr

mudpuppie — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 08:44:46 -0800

Kitten uses her litterbox just fine. She uses the couch and the bed equally well. What to do? We got a couple of little furballs this weekend. They stay in my office for most of the day so we can slowly introduce them to my 14-year-old grouch of a tabby. At night, I've been letting them run around (supervised) in the living room or bedroom so's they can stretch their little legs.

Each time now, little Zuzu has peed on the couch or the bed.

She knows to use the litterbox when she's in the office. After the first time she peed on the bed, I've watched her very carefully. When she jumps on the bed or the couch, I immediately put her into the litterbox. This worked once -- she peed, yay. Other times, she squats but doesn't pee. Then, two minutes later, she manages to pee on the couch/bed before I can get to her. I grab her as soon as I can and put her in the box, but this usually means that she ends up peeing on me.

Other than putting her in the litterbox and scratching her paw in it, I'm not really sure what to do. I could keep her out of the living room or bedroom, obviously, but I'd rather solve the problem sooner rather than later.

Stats: She's 14 - 16 weeks old and was fixed last week. Her littermate is an angel and shows no problems, so I suspect they were taught well enough initially.

Any ideas?

Um, so, last night I kinda peed the bed...

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:26:09 -0800

Um, so, last night I kinda peed the bed... ...certainly never done it before. At least since post-infancy.

I was having a somewhat strange dream-- not really a nightmare, but one with some ominous elements. In the dream, I went to the bathroom, and then I peed a little bit, but then woke up immediately. There was very little urine, and I wasn't even certain that it had happened until I got up and went to the bathroom and checked.

What causes this? I've heard of it being stress or alcohol related. I wasn't drinking that night. I am a 27 year old woman in good health. I've definitely been under some stress lately, a lot of it "good stress," but not anymore so than usual. I tend to be a bit of an insomniac, and I haven't been sleeping very well lately. I have no history of urinary problems. I've never even had a UTI.

What does it mean? What should I do? I know YANAD, but any experiences or insight would be appreciated.

What makes pee foamy?

hootch — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:49:30 -0800

What makes pee foamy? It has to be more than just liquid-on-liquid action. I'm guessing viscosity will be mentioned in the answer.

Will I test positive for MJ if my neighbors smoke pot but I don't?

agentsarahjane — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 18:34:30 -0800

Do you think that I will pop positive for my neighbor's party and do you have any suggestions that would help me with this possibility? I can tell them about my neighbors but will that be enough? I really want this job and would be totally mad if their party kept me from getting back to being paid what I used to make Hi! This is my first question ever and I tried to see if it was asked before but no one has ever asked this in the way I am looking for an answer: My neighbors smoke pot and we live in a house that was converted into apartments. Although the heating systems are separate, I know they smoke pot from the smell... hubby didn't believe me until yesterday when he found a baggie with sticky icky on the ground next to their car in the garage we share with them so we stuck it under their doormat so they would find it. I am no nark and he and I used to smoke a looooong time ago but neither I wish to take it up now since the smell of pot brings up unhappy memories of my long-gone ex, nor hubby who smoked it a couple of times recreationally before we met however we decided to stick to the stoner code.

My concern is that I am looking into a new job, one of which is with insurance and they are notorious test poppers. I have no doubt I'll do okay with the prescriptions I have since I can prove I have been prescribed for Xanax to be taken PRN and for vicodin due to a severe drug reaction I had 2 weeks ago also taken PRN ... but my concern is the party that is taking place downstairs now and the interview I have monday and probably will be asked to take a pee test since I have no doubt I will do well on the interview :)

How do I stop freaking out about urination?

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:27:01 -0800

How do I deal with urine-related anxiety? It's intruding more and more in my life and I don't know what I can do to fix it. Over the course of college, I had two incidents in which I wet myself. In one, alcohol was involved...in the other, a boy I had just met and had kind of a crush on was involved (not a witness, thank god, but I put off peeing because I was embarrassed to excuse myself...dorky I know). I also had a couple of close calls that required public urination...not easy when you're a girl. So, being anxious about my ability to control my urine is not unwarranted.

Since graduating (2 years ago) I have a huge amount of anxiety associated with whether I will be able to get to a bathroom. I work in an office and go to a large number of hour-long (or longer) meetings and find that in general by about 45 minutes in, I'm squirming with urgency. I never have to pee that much, but I just have a feeling that I'm not going to be able to make it to the restroom before I let loose. This just keeps getting worse, to the point where I've had to excuse myself by saying I wasn't feeling well. Needless to say this is unusual behavior and as one of a small number of women in my workplace I worry that my frequent trips to the restroom are attracting scrutiny. This is probably just paranoia, but it sucks anyway. Today I was watching a presentation by the CEO and had a minor panic attack about feeling like I had to pee, although I'd just gone half an hour before. We're talking racing heart rate, sweating, trouble breathing...basically all around unhealthy stuff. It was scary.

This is really getting in the way of my life. I know I need to talk to my doctor about it, but I think it's a mind over matter thing and I mostly need some coping strategies. Has anyone else experienced this and figured out a way to make it stop, or at least make it better? I'm not interested in taking anxiety medications - in general I'm not a person that needs them, I'm just freaky about the idea of peeing my pants and it gets the best of me sometimes.