Problems with peeing on my bed again!

I wrote in here back in Sept. about Tiki peeing on my bed. I took her to the Vet and she checked out completely healthy, plus I got her spayed at the time. Well...at first, she was doing such a GREAT job of not peeing on anything, but inside her litter box. The past week, she started her "habit" again. I'm at my wits end with her! I've been extremely sick for the past week, so I just have very little energy for this nonsense. Today I was so damn frustrated with her...she peed on my couch right in front of me! Usually, if she's gonna pee on something, she does it when I'm not around. I just don't know what to do with her! I don't know how to train her to go to her litter box. She poops in it and will pee in it too...but once in a great while she'll pee on my bed or now my couch. Right now, I have found a temperary solution to my bed. I put a mattress cover over my linens and pillows during the day while I am gone...this week, I was home all week sick and forgot to put it on the bed.
Sorry this is so long....I'm just so frustrated with her! Any suggestions would be great. I've already talked to my Vet and he was worthless & didn't give me any suggestions.
Thank you so much,
Shell

Ok some personal questions? How many boxes do you have? You should give her two. One to pee in one to poop in. They should be close, but far enough apart that she will use them, they need to be big litter boxes, they need to be clean, scrubbed, cats are very fastidious creatures. They should be in a private place and if you are using perfumed litter, try switching to plain and see if there is a difference.

I read the anger in your post.I hope you are not yelling at her or worse when she has these accidents. She is not doing it to upset you, she is doing it to tell you something, you just have to figure out what that something is.

Did the vet check her for UTI?

Oh my! The anger and frustration in your post is almost palatable. Hissy is right, your little girl is trying to tell you something. I'll ask the same question Hissy did...was an UTI (urinary tract infection) exam done? It is necessary for the vet to draw a urine sample for this test. Have you seen bloody stains left by her urine on your bed or couch? Does her urine have a strong odor? Is she drinking normal amounts of water, or not enough or more than what you consider normal?

Your kittie's message can be something physical...UTI, kidney problems...did your vet run a renal (kidney) panel? Did you change her food, water; or an emotional problem...has something changed in your household? A new person move in...have your work hours changed? Have you changed her litter or location of her box? Are you doing any remodeling, painting? Cats love schedules and routines. They are easily upset by change. I also agree with Hissy in providing two boxes for her. She just may be one of those super fussy cats. I have one in a house hold of six that positively will not share a cat box, and if that isn't enough, she positively refuses to use the same kind of litter they do. So, I have to provide her with her own private box...which is a great challenge, and buy her special litter.

How old is your little girl? Sometimes age will cause problems.

I know this is very difficult, but really keep a hold of yourself when you find another 'accident' or she relieves herself in front of you. Yelling, swatting or making otherwise threatening gestures at her only will make the problem worse.

There is a step you can take to help give you some control back. When you are home to watch your kittie, you can put some doggie heat pants on her with a panty liner in them. In effect, this is diapering her. However, you must be very careful that she can freely defecate when necessary. You'll know when she needs to do this just by watching her. Do not put these pants on her while you are away or if you are going to take a nap...only when you are home and can watch her closely!

Obviously, something is going on and she's trying the best way she knows how to tell you about her problem. This is one of the biggest challenges of animal ownership...they can't tell you, you just almost have to know.

This is a case where owner and vet must work closely together. If your vet isn't giving you the support you need...find another vet. There are multitudes of them out there. Do not settle!

I wish you the best in solving your kittie's problem. Don't give up, because something is very wrong. You need to find it and fix it for her...for the both of you!

Stay strong, keep your chin up and your voice down.

Please don't diaper your kitty. She could develop a lot of problems if you choose that for a solution. Instead invest in a good enzyme cleaner- Here is a link with a lot of different companies that make good product that will help you and your kitty.

meowhoo.com

Chances are pretty good that she has either crystals or a bad urinary tract infection. She may be unable to hold her urine because of it and you need to get her to a vet and on antibiotics if this turns out to be the case.

First of all, thank you everyone for your suggestions. I truly am embarrassed by how my frustration came across as anger in my message. I am not mad at her for this and I know that she is just trying to telling me something is wrong. I am more mad at myself about all of this. I've been trying my hardest to fix this problem since I got her in August and solved it for a while. The strange thing is NOTHING has changed! I have not changed her food, her litter, my working hours, no one has moved in with me or anything like that. I have 3 litter boxes in my house, but I also have 3 cats too. Bud always uses the one downstairs, Echo uses the one upstairs by the staircase and Tiki uses the one upstairs the bedroom. They don't usually share boxes, but have seen her go in Echo's box before. I also clean their boxes daily by scooping out the waste and clean the boxes throughly every week (by the way, I use scoopable litter...is this bad?).
As for taking her to the Vet, I took her in to get spayed in September (by the way, she just turned one year old). She was peeing on my bed almost everyday at the time and by spaying her, it seemed to solve the peeing problem for a month or so. While she was at the Vet, I asked them to give her a complete physical and all the results came out ok. He said that she didn't have a UTI, so this must be a behavioral problem. He also said that if she would have a UTI, she would pee in many little spots instead of one big spot my bed. When she pees on my bed or on the couch, she completely empties her bladder.
I'm just a little frustrated with the situation because I've done everything in my power to fix whatever she is upset about. I just don't know what her problem is. Once again, I'm really sorry for sounding so angry. I've never hit my babies if they do something bad...I'm so against that! I did give her a stern "NO!" when I seen her peeing on the couch. I could tell that she was embarrassed after I caught her doing that because she hid upstairs for a while.
If you guys have any suggestions, please write me. I hope that I gave you all enough info about her...if not, just ask I'll tell ya. Thank you again,
Shell

I didn't mean diapering for a solution...just as a respite for a couple of hours, if the problem is really chronic, as this poor girl sounds like she's on the edge. This is why I told her only under absolute supervision.

There are also cat foods that have ingredients specifically designed to keep the urinary tract healthy...once a problem is addressed and recovery has been established.

Natural Balance is a wonderful feed. www.naturalbalanceinc.com is their web site.

Counsel with your vet as to his feeding suggestions.

Please don't be embarrassed. It is really difficult to 'hear' the true tone of an email. Please know I wasn't inferring that you hit your cats, either. I was just covering all the possible scenarios that over come all of us when we are highly upset.

Since your vet did run an UTI, then as you say, this problem seems to be behavioral. Sounds like Tiki has a wonderful home and stable environment. It is suggested that one cat box be offered per cat, which you have done.

Scoopable litter is not 'bad' for grown cats. As a breeder, I strongly urge kitten owners not to use it until their babies are several months old. I have stopped using scoopable and switched my cats over to Feline Pine. The solids are flushable. The bottom of the box stays dry. Even with six cats, I have no box odors.

I am going to back out of this thread and leave it for the more learned on this forum.

You have all my well wishes for a quick and successful solution!

I was not insinuating that you were hitting your cat either. I am glad you clarified. It is sometimes hard to tell through a computer screen.

I would add two more litter boxes especially if you have 3 cats. I also would start putting her food bowl right on the spot she pees at. That usually stops them from doing that. You can also take an old sheet and soak it in an extremely strong lemon juice water mixture. Let it soak for a few hours- wring it dry and hang it up somewhere to finish drying. Put this sheet over the area she is peeing on.

But adding more litterboxes may also help. Are your other cats perhaps chasing her off when she is using the box or trying to?

My girl Sugarly had/has the same prob. She doesn't deal well with change and she shows us her stress by peeing on the bed, under the bed, etc. She is health, but has been diagnosised with antisocial behaviour. He is on kitty cat antidepressants (specifically Amitryptolene). Any time we try to take her of the meds and there are changes she acts out again. We are now going to keep giving her a pill for the forseeable future. You may want to look at anti social behaviours and possible medication if she is doing it often. I fully understand your frustration - there have been times I have been in tears wondering what to do!

Thank you for helping me...all of you have been very helpful!
Yesterday I bought another litter box and so far we haven't had any problems. Tiki doesn't pee on my bed very often...maybe once a week. I did notice her acting funny the other night. I was laying in bed and I seen her go to her litter box. She got inside and scratched around a bit...but didn't pee. Then she jumped up on the bed and started scratching around (as if she was in the box). I caught her before she started to pee. I gave her a sturn "No...that is naughty. You go to your box and pee.". Well, I don't know if it was just luck or what, but she went right back to the box. She just sat next to it...wouldn't pee or anything in it. I got up to see if she was peeing on the floor instead and then I checked her box. I had forgotten to change her litter because I was very ill with bronchitis. It smelled strong of ammonia...very stinky! So, I changed her litter before I went to sleep and so far we've had no problems. Hopefully by adding an additional box will solve our problem...if not, I plan on taking her to a different Vet. I live in a very small town and only have 2 vets...so I don't have too many choices to pick from. I guess time will tell and I'll keep you all posted. Once again, thank you for your suggestions! I've attached a picture of her too. I just got these back yesterday, so I was just dying to share them with all of you!

I tried to attach a picture...but it said it was too large? I don't know how to fix that. If anyone knows what I'm talking about and knows how to fix it, please let me know. Thanks!
-Shell

Shell,

I cant post pictures either and they have tried to explain it to me. But it's like my brain and fingers dont work together. Keep us posted about the cats....it could happen to any of our kitty babies as well.

Patty

I had the same problem a little while. After recieving a clean bill of health, my cat was diagnosed with having an anxiety disorder. We put her on elevil, and are weening her off of that and onto an herbal remedy called rescue remedy. She hasn't done it again, and some of her other unusual behaviours are calming down as well. Perhaps your baby has the same problem?

Shell and Patty, pictures are a bit tricky here. If your pictures are too large, you have to reduce the size in a photo editing program. There is a pretty good Freeware program that I use, which you can download at www.irfanview.com (I should get paid for all the advertising I do for them! ).

Open your picture using Irfanview, then go into the Image pulldown menu. Select "Resize/Resample" and in the first set of boxes on the left side of the window, make the largest side of your picture 400 pixels. Generally, as long as the picture is less than 400x400 pixels, you should be fine to post here.

In the picture I'm attaching of the Resize box, my picture was 448x336 pixels. When I resize the biggest side to 400, I was able to attach the pic. Just save the pic with the new size and attach it using the Browse button under the posting box.

Hope this helps!

You are SO awesome Valanhb!!! That program is really cool and it seems a lot easier to understand than the one that came with my computer. I'm going to give it a try with a picture that I resized...wish me luck!LOL! It seems a little distorted, but I think it's because my pictures were really huge compared to what they are now. Thanks once again!
Here is a picture of my 3 Amigos (Echo, Tiki and Bud).

I tried to attach a picture...but it didn't work I'll try again tomorrow...I think I'm just too pooped to think straight!

Thanks again...and hopefully I'll get it right next time!

I can't seem to get the one picture that I wanted to post work...so I'm trying a different one instead. Hope it works this time!

Well it looks like I figured it out...so I'm gonna try it again! This one is of my 3 Amigos...

Is everything ok with the urinating problem?

I just wanted to add a couple of things.

First, UTI's or if we use the proper term FLUTD (Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease) can be tricky to diagnose. While your vet is right in saying that the classical symptoms are usually urinating in small amonuts, it doesn't have to be that way, especially not with females. Please make sure that your vet has taken a urine sample. Some vets don't like to do that with cats and end up with the wrong diagnosis. In my experience in about 50% of cases of urination outside the litterbox there is some form of FLUTD in the background. Another reason why it can be difficult to diagnose is that the cat's immune system can sometimes get over the problem by itself. One thing that is very very important to remember is that once a cat has had FLUTD, it is prone for future flareups - so ALWAYS check for FLUTD first.

For more about FLUTD read here:
http://www.thecatsite.com/health/flutd.html

Once FLUTD is truly ruled out as an underlying cause - you need to look at either stress or the litterbox, or both. I have written a comprehensive article about the litterbox - make sure you read that and that you provide the cat with the best litterbox possible. Some cats are more picky than others and require optimal conditions:
http://www.thecatsite.com/care/box.html

I am assuming we are talking about simple urination outside the litterbox and not spraying (marking with urine). As you say this has started before she was spayed, I just wanted to make sure that you know the difference:
http://www.thecatsite.com/behavior/spraying.html

Anne,
Thanks for clearing this up for me and everyone else with this problem. So far little Tiki is doing great...knock on wood!:tounge2: The only thing that I've noticed was that she was scratching around on the couch....but I realized that I forgot to scoop her litter boxes out last night and she's very picky about that. As for my Vet, I honestly wasn't 100% bought on the story he was telling me...it was just a funny feeling that I was getting from him. Since I live in a very small town, I only have 2 Vet Clinics to choose from. After talking to quite a few people who have pets, they told me not to go where I've taking my animals. If she starts acting strange again, I plan on taking her to the other Vet in town. Hopefully they will help me out if I need it. Thank you once again for the helpful info. I'm so grateful to have stumbled across this website a few months ago. There are so many questions that need some answers and this is a great place to find them. Keep up the great work everyone!
-Shell