I'm at my wits end with this cat....

I love her to death --- but I'd really like to strangle her right now.

She has urinated on the bed twice in the past week now. The first time she did it was Sunday and then again tonight.

She is still using her litter box and nothing has changed.

She has done this once before right after we got her and she urinated on it three days in a row and pooped on it once. After that she hasn't done it again until Sunday.

I WILL not have a cat that urinates on things for no reason or because she is mad about something.

I will call her vet tomorrow, but she was recently into the vet and everything checked out fine.

Could the smell still be in the bed? You can wash sheets and blankets but it's hard to wash a mattress, so maybe some of the smell is still there. Maybe you just need to ban her from the bedroom?

I no longer allow Sho in the bathroom because he peed on stinky laundry that was left on the floor a couple of times. Even though I scrubbed and scrubbed I'm not 100% certain I got the smell out of the carpet or that it's not soaked into the pad underneath.

When you had her into the vet, was she checked for a UTI?
It's entirely possible that the stress of coming to a new environment caused her to get a urinary tract infection and that is one major reason that a cat will pee our of the box. It would probably be a good idea to have another worm check too. I had one that pooped out of the box a couple times due to worms.

Oh yeah... Zero Odor or Nature's Miracle are both great cleaners for totally getting the smell out.

It sounds like she has a Urinary Tract Infection. A regular vet check up wouldn't find out about a UTI. She would need a Urinalysis done. It is inexpensive and easy to diagnose and meds are not too bad either so I would definately have her in to be tested for that.

Cats do not do things to get back at you or for revenge. Cats don't think that way. There is always a reason. People just don't usually want to take the time to figure it out and give up too fast. She is probably also bothered by your negative reaction to it which stresses her out too. It is tough, but remember there is a reason for her doing it.

Have you cleaned off the bed where she is peeing on with something like Natures Miracle? Just because you can't smell it doesn't mean she can't either. She will continuously go back there if she can smell it.

Closing the door might help?

Whenever someone's cat has a problem of peeing outside the box, I notice most people typically say it's UTI problem. I was wondering, what is it about a UTI that causes the cat to pee in random places? Is it because the cat cannot control it's bladder and cannot hold in it's pee?

But then I've read that owners will see their cat walk to a certain area and purposely pee in that one spot. Such as the original poster, she was saying that her cat pees on the bed specifically.

I've also read people saying that the cat's urinating is a way of "telling" humans that they have a medical problem. This seems like pretty intelligent thinking. If cats are capable of trying to communicate pain, then I would think they are capable of doing something out of anger? I'm not saying it's definitely a behavior problem, but is it possible?

It is very possible that it is a behavior problem. But it isn't anger, because they don't know before they do it that it is going to make you made.

They also do not pee outside the box to let us know there is a problem. It is that when they pee outside the box we are smart enough to know there is a problem.

85% of the time, when a cat pees or poops "inappropriately," it is a medical problem, so it is simply an issue of statistics pointing to a problem. A regular vet check up would not check for something like a UTI. They will need to express her bladder to have the urine tested.

However, it can also be a behavior problem. When a cat pees on something that has your smell on it, it is a sign of stress. Rather than repeat everything I wrote in another thread with just this problem, PLEASE read this thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=114216

If it isn't a UTI, then these suggestions should help.

There are also more ideas in this thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9563

I expect you'll be able get this taken care pretty easily since it doesn't seem to have gone on for long.

Laurie

She was tested for a UTI when she was in, but I have made her an appointment to drop her off and try to collect another sample for testing.

After peeing on the bed twice this morning she urinated on two different blankets in two different areas of the house. She urinated on the blanket on the couch and on the blanket on the bed. She hasn't urinated on the bed since the first time she did it all and that was about a week or two after bringing her home and I do believe that was probably related to stress. She didn't come from a very good home and was VERY shy and scared.

The mattress has been cleaned several times with Nature's Miracle and everything is washed in it as well...so I don't believe it's because she can still smell the urine.

I could close the bedroom door and lock her out of the bedroom, but she goes into the bedroom as her 'safe' spot. Won't that only add stress to the situation if she can't get to her safe spot when she feels unsafe?

I have to ask though --- if cats don't do things to get revenge then why can't they simply be punished? Things I've read say that if you punish a cat they will respond by acting out or with behavior issues.

Right now she is confined to our bathroom with her crate and when the door must be left open she is put into her crate. I'm sure she is very angry right now, but I can't have a cat running my house urinating where they see it to be a good spot.

Could she be doing this because she smells our dogs on the blankets and bed? Our dogs don't sleep with us and are generally not on our bed but they were on the bed the other day for a few minutes. Is she trying to mark the bed as hers since she lays on it daily and doesn't like the fact that the dogs were on 'her' bed?

Thanks!

I imagine if this is behavior, as soon as she gets out of the crate, she will pee and poop on everything in her path. If it is not medical, she needs love and hugs, as hard as it can be not to lose your temper or lock her in her crate. I found that has always been the situation with my cats, and I learned this from a cat psychologist. If the animal is angry about something, an angry reaction from you will make matters worse.

Another thing is, keep an eye on her litter box?? If my cats dont like a litter i bought, or if i go away and my family 'forgets' to clean it (and thus it gets nasty) they think my bed makes a WONDERFUL substitute... I know this probably isnt the case, but i thought id throw it out there for consideration.....



Teni

Originally Posted by gailuvscats

I imagine if this is behavior, as soon as she gets out of the crate, she will pee and poop on everything in her path. If it is not medical, she needs love and hugs, as hard as it can be not to lose your temper or lock her in her crate. I found that has always been the situation with my cats, and I learned this from a cat psychologist. If the animal is angry about something, an angry reaction from you will make matters worse.

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So what do you suggest I do with her until she goes to the vet and we figure out what is going on? I'm not about to let her have free roam of the house and urinate on everything while waiting on test results to see what in fact is going on.

Yes, I'm upset with her but it isn't like I'm ignoring her and have thrown her into this deep dark hole to figure things out. She is still getting treated just like she was before. I have a small zoo at my house so I'm fully aware they pick up on emotions.

UTI can be very painful for a cat. I would get her an appointment to find out ASAP!

How many litterboxes do you have and how often are they scooped out and cleaned?

Since getting Sonic, I have realised that we were a bit spoilt with Radar, who is so un-fussy about everything, food, litter, he takes it all in his stride. Sonic however has peed on the bed 3 times now, and I have noticed that he does it when we don't scoop out his tray before we go to bed - basically if there's any doings in his tray come morning left over from the night before he will pee on the bed rather than use the soiled litter.

Use an enzyme cleaner, scoop and clean the litterbox regularly, and provide 2 boxes, one for pee and another one for poo (Sonic only pees on the bed when the box is soiled with poo, he doesn't want to do them in the same place), check the privacy of the litter tray and move it somewhere else if the location is too open and she might be getting disturbed 'mid flow' which would put her off, if that doesn't work over the next day or so take her to the vet to have her urine PH checked, and please show patience towards her, she's still a kitten.

Although I say that she's a kitten - has she been spayed yet? Because an entire female can and is likely to urinate over things when she comes into heat - and they don't always call or have other obvious signs when in heat.

So what do you suggest I do with her until she goes to the vet and we figure out what is going on? I'm not about to let her have free roam of the house and urinate on everything while waiting on test results to see what in fact is going on.

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Well, it is hard for me to say since I don't know what you have available, but I think a separate room that has a litter box, food, and maybe plastic over the funiture. A poop and pee proof room. Being confined in a crate while others roam might tend to make her angrier.

I had a problem with 2 cats, the big one chewing on the younger one, and I mean chewing, he would put puncture wounds in his head. The psychologist said he was angry and I had to figure out what he was angry about. I figured it to be jealousy of the other cat because the other cat was a lover and this guy was aloof, but he did want the love just as much. So I began including him with me and the other cat. I would sit him on the couch with us, and in the beginning he would jump off, and I would bring him back and after a few weeks of loving him, praising him and including him, I soon had two cats laying on my belly in front of the tv! He stopped chewing on the other cat and we were very happy. I was amazed.

I don't pretend to know what is wrong with your cat, but if it is behavior and if she is angry, I don't think crating is going to help.

Originally Posted by FiftyFour

Whenever someone's cat has a problem of peeing outside the box, I notice most people typically say it's UTI problem. I was wondering, what is it about a UTI that causes the cat to pee in random places? Is it because the cat cannot control it's bladder and cannot hold in it's pee?

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A UTI is a very common cause of peeing outside the litter box so whenever a cat starts to do that it makes sense to exclude medical causes first. There aren't always any other signs - such as blood in the urine - so I'd always get a vet check anytime a cat peed outside the box on more than one occasion.