Help Urgent!!!

my cat emma, we have had her for 2.5 months now....she is about 20 wks old. we got her from an animal shelter. when we got her she had URI pretty bad, but we gave her antibiotics. she was fine and has been fine health wise since.

we are suppose to go in nov. to get her from making babies. (i'm telling you all this to let her know her med. history and health, b/c it might have something to do with this, not sure)

she had NO problem with the litter box, i just put her in the litter box and shes used it with no problem ever since (except occasionally she likes to play with her litter...but no big deal)

YESTERDAY.....i found she urniated on a pillow. (before i moved out on my own i grew up and had at least 6 cats in my house, so i know about cats and what not)

I thought maybe the litterbox was a little dirty and maybe she didn't want to pee b/c of that. so i cleaned it out.

well then....she peed on the goose down feather bed cover. i thought maybe there wasn't enough litter in the litter box, b/c we ran out, so i could only put a little...i punished her all the same, held her nose by your pee and gave her a little tap on the rear and said "EMMA, NO"

so anyway, i put litter in the litter box, a differant kind. pine litter (which she has used before) i didn't put that in there earlier b/c we have an automatic box, and the box doesn't like the pine litter.

THIS MORNING...JUST NOW she hops up on the bed, i see her about to squat...she jumped down, and peed on the blanket again. not more than 15 min later, i saw her jump up on the bed to pee on it again,...and she pissed on the blanket again.

she is acting 100% fine. she is a little more "vocal" than usual...but its like happy talking. her nose feels fine. she is playful. shes prob going to go into heat fairly soon....maybe in nov sometime, which is why we are going to the dr to have her snipped.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. BUT I CAN'T HAVE HER PISS ON A UNWASHABLE BLANKET ANYMORE! the smell is making me sick alone!

any ideas?

First of all, 'punishing' her or telling her not to after the event is not going to work - she will not connect what you are saying with what she has done. And once she has marked the blanket, unless you can clean it with an enzyme cleaner that takes all the smell away (to her, not to you) she will always associate it with peeing.

Are you sure she does not have a medical reason for this behaviour? I would get her checked out again by the vet as URIs can recur very easily and that is the most likely explanation. And I would get her spayed as soon as possible. It is important that she has enough litter boxes - if she is an only cat she should have two, and that they are kept clean and full. Cats are very fussy about their toilet facilities.

Good luck - I am sure others will have other suggestions.

I have 2 cats...one is 4 yrs old (male) and like i said she is 20 wks old (female)

If i get the blanket dry cleaned....is that enough? or do i have to get the enzyme cleaner?

would her about to go into heat possibly have anything to do with her peeing?

also, she peed on the blanket no more than 8-10 min (i said 15 but looking back now it was less) first she jumped on the bed to pee, and i pushed her off and she peed on the blanket.....and that is how it happened the 2nd time as well. she tried to pee on the bed. but i pushed her off. i put the blanket on the floor b/c the smell was making me want to vomit

As the previous poster said, this does sound like it may have something to do with her past Urinary issue. I would take her back into the vet to get her checked out asap.

You need to use an enzyme cleaner to rid the blanket of smell to HER. You may not smell it anymore but she will if its not cleaned with a neutralizer.

But first take her into to get checked. I bet she has an infection.

Sounds like you need to get her to a vet to have her checked out. Sounds medical to me.
Also - as a previous poster said - "punishing her" by putting her nose in it does nothing. Cats don't understand this. I know a lot of people do this with dogs (and I know nothing about dogs so maybe it means nothing to them either), but I do know it will only confuse the cat.
I would contact the vet, but in the meantime - what about locking her out of this room? That way you can at least get everything stripped and cleaned thoroughly with the appropriate cleaners and curb the behavior until you bring her to the vet.

for the down blanket...spray the enzyme stuff on it first and then take it in to be dry-cleaned, that usually works out best, if you spray it on afterwards it can damage the fabric (at least for our down comforter).

Your kitten has to be seen by a vet! This is most likely a medical issue.

As far as your goose-down feather bed is concerned, forget about it not being washable (I've been washing them for about three decades, along with down pillows, jackets, and coats.). Use the enzymatic cleaner, and then wash the comforter (cold or warm (not hot) water, gentle cycle, gentle detergent). Hang it up for about 24 hours, and then put it in the dryer (low heat) with a tennis ball. You can put it directly in the dryer, but it'll take forever to get it dry.
If your washer and dryer aren't big enough, many laundromats have "industrial-sized" ones.

OK, let's clarify. A URI is an upper respiratory infection, like a kitty cold. A UTI, is a urinary tract infection.

This sounds like a UTI to me. Whether your cat has had one before or not, she needs to be seen by a vet. Punishing her won't do anything; she will not stop peeing inappropriately until her medical issues are resolved.

I wonder if she's in heat, she's about the right age and you mention she's more vocal. Some females do pee on things when in heat.

As everyone else has said, please take her to the vet.

Originally Posted by jcat

Your kitten has to be seen by a vet! This is most likely a medical issue.

As far as your goose-down feather bed is concerned, forget about it not being washable (I've been washing them for about three decades, along with down pillows, jackets, and coats.). Use the enzymatic cleaner, and then wash the comforter (cold or warm (not hot) water, gentle cycle, gentle detergent). Hang it up for about 24 hours, and then put it in the dryer (low heat) with a tennis ball. You can put it directly in the dryer, but it'll take forever to get it dry. If your washer and dryer aren't big enough, many laundromats have "industrial-sized" ones.

Click to expand...

Yup, down comforters are machine washable. i've got a kitty who's quite fond of peeing on ours if we don't keep her out of our bedroom. We've gotten very good at washing it. We take ours to our laundrymat to use their 5 load washer. Don't bother wasting your money on dry cleaning.

Do get her checked out for a Urinary Tract Infection, if that comes out negative, then I would assume it's due to the feathers. I figure my girl pees on them either because she's scent marking the "prey" smell to mark it as hers (and not our other cats), or she does it to mix her smell with ours to comfort herself. Fortunately for us, she seems to be growing out of this habit and we haven't had any accidents in awhile.

~Julia

we called the vet and told them exactly everything that was going on and they said...before i even finished the rest of my sentence...."She is in heat".

I've never had a cat pee a lot on random objects b/c of it being in heat, and she wasn't acting like she was in heat...until 2 days after the vet call. then she was going all crazy. but we are going tomorrow (wednesday 18th) to get her spayed. I didn't do it yet b/c she was still so young but they vet said shes old enough now. (the vet agreed that she was 99% peeing b/c of being in heat, and unless i saw that her health was fading then to just bring in her in tomorrow)

and she only urniated 2 days on random things. but she hasn't done it again. and she will go smell the blanket right where she peed and tries to cover it up and walks away. I'm going tomorrow to get the special cleaner.

but thanks to all of you who commented and helped. i appriciate it.

Callie began going into heat at what we thought was a young age for a cat. She was not even a year old when she peed on both ME and MY HUSBAND due to being in heat. It happened 3 times... all were at night, in the bed. Yep, the first time I awoke to a strange warm sensation on my FACE at 3 o'clock in the morning and realized that I had been "marked," I knew it was time to take her in to get spayed! She has not done it since the procedure, and has stopped howling so much too. I don't know much about UTIs in cats, but I thought "she's in heat" as soon as I read your story!