Hey..
so ive got a 4 year old chihuahua Sunny and within a week of having him he was fully house trained, he was 12 weeks when we got him and he used to go out to do his buisness when he was instructed and needed to.

Then a year after we got Sunny we got another chihuahua Louie he was 8 weeks when we got him (hes now 3) but it was exactly the same training louie as he used to going out at the same time as Sunny. They were both so clean.

About a 18 months ago we rescued a Ragdol cat Ben (hes around 8 years old) and everything was fine the dogs were just like normal the cat was very well trained.

Then about 6 months after we got Ben we rescued another
Ragdol cat Meg (shes 14 months old) and still everything was great but up until about half a year ago when we started noticing little wee's in the house at first it was on the carpet on the stairs and on the side of chair legs but now nearly every morning we would wake up to wee's on our duvets and bed sheets and anything on the floor left lying around.. (I do shout at the dogs for doing it but im not entirely sure if it is just the dogs doing it)

So i am totally confused with them all!! The cats are fine they go in their litter tray but the dogs seem to have gone backwards?! I dont know whether its because theres a girl cat in the house.. or whether there competing and trying to put their scent on things to show the cats that its their teritory?!

(ALL have been neutered)

Please help i am totally stuck on what to do next on whats best for all of my pets!!!!

Sophie xxxxxxx

And just to add the dogs do sleep in our beds.. but recently ive been putting their bed upstairs in my bedroom.. and 1 of the dogs is sleeping in their for almost all night.. should i kick them out of bed??
Should i leave them downstairs??
And they also sleep through most of the day.... i try to wake them up but they just go back to bed..

should i wake them up in the day time.. keep them out of the bedrooms.. and try to monitor their water intake and stop them from peeing.. but what im mostly worried about is whether i kick them out of our bedrooms and make them sleep downstairs and they become stressed and pee downstairs aswell as upstairs!!!!!!?

Well don't do that! If you can follow this thread you'll see onsent of indoor marking is possibly a sign of stress, so "shouting" is most likely increasing the problem Marking Indoors - Can R+ only suffice?

You may find some other helpful info at tripod's site Calming Your Cerrrrraaaazzzzzy Canine « pawsitive dogs

The key to modern housetraining is supervision for prevention, setting the animals up for success and rewarding desirable behaviour.

Thank you!!!!!! I will stop shouting at them its just so frustrating when they go from being so well behaved and starting all over again 4 years later!! xxxxxxxxx

i already replied to this on the Housetraining-sticky -
odds are that one of the cats is marking with urine - but it could be one of the 2 dogs.
urine-marking is a sign of one of 3 things:
* social stress - the cat is upset by the presence of the new-cat, OR the new-cat is stressed in the new-home;
one of the dogs is stressed by the new-cat, new routines, an outside dog marking the property...
* urinary problems - somebody has a bladder infection or kidney problems, or stones, gravel, etc
* anatomical problems - a prolapsed bladder, too-narrow ureter, bladder adhesions,...

1st thing: all pets to vet for a full check for urinary issues, including a urine-culture if urinalysis is blank.

only after all 4 pets are definitively free of medical or anatomical problems that could cause this, can we decide
it is behavioral, & treat it with B-mod; B-mod cannot 'cure' physical or medical issues, any more than a vet
with a cast can 'fix' a dog whose heart, not their leg, is broken.

in any case - medical or behavioral - all traces of pet-waste have to go.
go over the house with a blacklight & treat every area with an enzyme-cleaner specifically
for pet-waste: Planet Urine, Pee Be Gone, Miracle Pet, something. RE-Check to see if it fluoresces 3-days later,
when it's dry; if so, re-treat & repeat till it's gone under blacklight when dry.

for the dogs:
* belly-bands on both when indoors at all times; remove only after they go out to potty, re-apply before they come in.
* after a week, take one band off one dog while at home; do the blacklight check nightly; belly-band is on
whenever the test-dog is unsupervised, meaning if the test-dog is out of the same room as the adult[s], the band is on.
no exceptions. [belly-bands BTW get lined with a cheap press-n-peel panty-liner, unscented & sans deodorant;
they are changed immediately if damp to prevent urine-scald, & once every 24-hours even if they are dry.]

for the cats:
confine them to one room, with adequate vertical space for each cat to escape the other & relax -
2 trees or a tree & a shelf or _____ .
have their litter boxes [1 per cat] separated widely, so it is impossible for one cat to prevent access to both.
one litter box should be covered & one open, so that the cats have a choice [unless the litter is perfumed or deodorized,
as a covered box with scented or treated litter is incredibly stinky even when it's clean; choose an unscented litter
& untreated litter instead; baking-soda sprinkled in the bottom to counter acidity is plenty.

litter-boxes must be scrupulously clean - normally there should be 3 boxes for 2 cats in a house,
and 2 boxes for one cat in a house, so that if one is soiled, there's a back-up; solids are removed TWICE daily
at minimum, & checking 3 times is preferred over 2; stools without litter can be flushed down the toilet.

check the cat's room for new markings [remember, every 'old' marker has been eliminated with enzyme-based cleaner
specifically for pet-waste] before this begins. if the cats don't mark in the new room, & the dogs were not marking,
then one or both cats is upset by the dog - or something outside that room.
if one or both cats are marking -inside- the room, one cat may be stressed by the other cat.
give them at least a week to 2-weeks in their own space, as calm as possible, without the dogs intruding.

there are cat-panties, too - but an infant's swim-trunks with a hole cut for a tail will work. they can be split
down the sides & velcro sewn on, to make it less-handling to put them on - the cat just stands there,
the pants are 'unzipped' if need be AWAY from the cat so as not to startle the kitty with a loud Riiiiip!... nearby,
& the pants are quietly sealed on.
same protocol: liners changed every 24-hrs minimum, checked 5 to 6 times daily while kitty has litter-access.

take the pants off each kitty individually to figure out who is marking, OR set up each cat in their own room,
with their own litter box, both separated from the dogs. Good luck.

__________________
terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007

it is the 8-YO male cat, as bladder or ureter issues are frequent in males AND he has a long-coat -
long hair can get caught around the cat's rear & introduce bacteria, or be caught in fat-cats around any skin folds -
which of course includes skin-folds around the scrotum [even an empty scrotum] or ureter.

but U have 4 animals - punishing is not only pointless, it makes things worse, as marking is frequently stress.
reducing stress would be the 1st thing i'd recommend; then eliminating any & all medical causes; only then,
trying to segregate & figure out whose nose is out of joint, & calm the situation.

catnip, play with a cat fishing-pole toy, food-puzzles & other enrichment are strongly suggested for all pet-cats.
FELIWAY cat pheromone is also good; personally, i'd use the pump-spray so i can put it where i want it...
and i would WANT it where the urine-marks had previously been, after they were removed. U will need to mark the spot,
in order to find it - masking tape or summat non-marring. Let us know how it goes, & what the vet says about their
general health, the urine cultures, etc.

__________________
terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007

vet results?
urine cultures? pH of urine or crystals / stones?

have the calmatives helped?...

Hopefully no news is good news!