Dude - I'm sorry you having such a problem.

Have the cats been seen by the vet to rule out medical problems?   And
secondly - look at their diet to rule out problems be created by that.

About 3 yrs ago Sabrina got a UTI and began urinating on our living room
carpet.   Right in front of the TV and then off to the side by the wall.   I
cleaned, I scrubbed.  i didn't use NM or other products - I used Oxyclean,
Vinager and sweat and tears.   I used my shop vac to suck up the water and I
soaked and scrubbed for weeks.   At one point the meds the vet put Sabrina
on made her even sicker.   But once we got an antibiotic she could stomach,
she cleared up and so did the pee'ing

Eventually I scrubbed the carpet so much so in the area by the wall that we
got these bright pink stains from where the tack strip nails started rusting
and interacting with the chemicals I was using.    Thankfully that was a
spot that I could cover, and we covered it with a basket.

I was able to clean the stains up enough that they weren't too noticable
(the ones in front of the TV that is).   This past winter we replaced that
carpet with a tight weave multicolor burber.   The previous carpet was white
plush- NEVER a good idea in a "family" home.    :-)

Chloe my dog, had a urine problem this past spring and has pee'd in about a
dozen spots in our bedroom and spare bedroom.   i can't afford to replace
those carpets right now.   The combination of natures Miracle and Vinager
has taken the odor and stain out of the carpet in all spots except one.
(our spare bedroom were she pee'd and i didn't find it until after it was
well dried and the color stained).   All the other spots have faired out
nicely.   Although once our weather cools down this fall, I'll be renting a
steam cleaner and doing a deep cleaning on the carpets in those rooms.

Vinager has done well for nutralizing the oder for us.   NM is decent.   And
my final touch to the odor problem is followup with Fabreeze.

Good luck - and most importantly - Good luck with getting the cats to STOP.
hope you find the root of the problem to make them stop.

Things to try:

1.  Put bowls of cat food over the pee'd area.  (cat's won't potty where
they eat)
2.  tinfoil over the spot.  (this works for some)
3.  multiple litter pans.  If you have 2 cats, you need at least 2 pans -
maybe even up to 3 or 4.   (we did this with Sabrina for a while too, she
had 2 liter pans as if one had poop in it that we didn't clean up, she'd
poop outside the box.)

I have similar problems with my cats that used to be indoor/outdoor cats and
are now just indoor cats.
In my case, I cannot get new carpet like I really need.

First, be sure to have your cats checked for possible medical problems.
Urinating outside the box is often a sign of urinary tract infections.

Next, how many litterboxes do you have?  The general "rule of thumb" is to
have one box per cat plus an extra box.  Certainly, two boxes would be the
bare minimum because some cats will not use the same box for both stool and
urine (and some will not share a box with other cats), and try different
locations.  I would also suggest that you try the "standard" litter boxes if
Littermaid is the only kind you have.  Use a very soft type of clumping
litter.

How large are your cats?  When I first adopted one of my cats, I had to get
a much larger box because he simply wasn't comfortable in the boxes I had.
Even the "large" size litter box didn't work.  The solution for me was to
buy the large-size hooded litter box and use only the base of it.  I simply
threw away the hood and left the base as an open box.  Some people buy
plastic storage units if they need an even longer box.

PetZyme (available from Petsmart and other locations) is an excellent
enzymatic cleaner, but you may have an exceptionally difficult clean-up job
if the urine has soaked into the padding.  Is this confined to only a few
locations, where you might be able to replace the padding only in those
places?  Or is it throughout your apartment (which would be much more
difficult to deal with)?  From the tone of your message, it sounds like it
might be confined to one general vicinity.

Are your cats declawed?  That can also be the source of problems such as
this.  There is a much larger incidence of inappropriate urination among
declawed cats than with clawed cats.  I adopted a declawed cat many years
ago.  Starting about the time when she was 13 years old, she began to
urinate outside the box.  I attributed that to arthritis and difficulty
digging in the litter box.  I bought the very softest type of clumping
litter I could find, and that helped (but did not eliminate) the problem.  I
found that "Better Way" litter was the product that worked best with her
(but it can be difficult to find).  She developed CRF, and much of her
problem was related to illness.  I eventually simply accepted that she could
not make effective use of the litter box, and I found it easier to let her
use one area of the carpet and continually clean that area (even though I
knew it would be ruined) rather than have it spread in various locations
around the apartment.  After she died, I replaced that section of carpeting
and padding and even had the concrete under it sealed to remove any possible
remnant of odor that might be detected by another cat.  I realize that some
of this would not be feasible for you because you have more than one cat.
Also, I know that your cats should not need to dig in a Littermaid, but it
is possible that they find something about that setup to be annoying.

Good luck!  I hope some of this helps.

MaryL

Yep.   Buy a litre of Vodka and pour it over a scrapper so it spreads
over the entire area.   Put plenty down,   the smell well make your eyes
water but as it dries in about two days the area will be clean, you
should have no more problems.   The Alcohol reacts with the urine,
changing it to a different substance hence the smell, but it's one cat's
don't associate with peeing.

First of all, you should take your cats to the vet to rule out any medical
condition. Second, you should have more than one litterbox if you have
more than 1 cat. A good rule of thumb I've seen is number of cats +1.
Third, use Petzime to clean the odor and then Feliway to prevent future
accidents.

Thanks a LOT folks for the kindly responses...And very informed as
well.

I really like the Vodka idea.  I can buy cheap, cheap cheap gallon
jugs of Vodka for $7 as opposed to a gallon of that "Get Serious!" for
$35.  

I am going to try the vodka...Tomorrow!

I do have two cats- one is older... About 9 now- maybe 10.  They both
eat science diet adult because it would be just too hard in my
lifestyle to feed them separately with separate foods...Plus it
doesn't affect the younger one except make him a little fatter than
usual.

Someone mentioned the transition from outdoor to indoor.  This exact
thing occurred from a giant house in May to a 2 bedroom (very small
comparitively) apartment ....During the first 3 months they did NOT
make a mess in the house.  They learned the littermaid instantly and
it was fine...It was when the littermaid BROKE that they started using
the apartment as a litterbox.  This is understandable as they don't
want to sh.t in a nasty litterbox (neither would I), and I believe
they think its OK now.  

I am working on training them but they are sporadic and they are
equally hard to catch in the act.  Its almost as if they know its
wrong.  Perhaps there's some anthropomorphic thing going on here? :)
Such as, they think this new place sucks and they're showing it.  I
also have a training spray for cats/dogs which smells pretty damn bad
that I've just started to use.  Same sort of philosophy I'm using
you'd use for dogs.  Stick their face in it and spray 'em (for all you
activists out there, its non-toxic/dangerous).  They run away and
hopefully, if my animal psychology is up to par, should connect that
smell with their bad behaviour.  As well, the area get sprayed with
the same stuff I sprayed *them* with, so as to potentially "remind"
them what happens when they smell that.  As if to imply that they
won't want to hang around.

I am truly on the verge of adopting them.  I love them but they are
destroying my apartment.  I have gone to great lengths and GREAT
EXPENSE to prevent them, humanely, from doing these things.

To answer another persons question- I have one Littermaid "Mega" which
is for two cats (well, so says the company).  Its not too small for
either of them, especially the older, skinny'ish one.

I would believe in the Urinary tract thing except I am also getting
sh.t and piss.  Now I don't know if this is a double-edged sword where
one pees then the next poops on the pee from the pheremones or
whatever, but its driving me nuts.

Neither Nature's Miracle or Get Serious! have not replied to me yet.
Petzyme did nothing for me- just like the rest.  Only thing Get
Serious! did was cost me a lot of money.

I am sick of using UV lights by now too... :)

I think the concept of Vodka is a good one.  The alcohol seeps into
the carpet, neutralizes the odor and perhaps the pheremone, and then
evaporates.  I see a product! :)

See the thing about carpets- the way I see it is- Pee soaks in.  Even
a steam cleaner with a gallon of Get Serious! (microwaved) didn't
remove the smells- makes me truly think its soaked in or it just plain
doesn't work.  It has a nice smell- so does the air freshener in my
car- it doesn't mean its clean :)

Again, thanks to everyone.  Off to the liquor store tomorrow-----Appt.
for the vet next week for both of them.

Cheers,
-sd
http://www.zoom.sh