Confused long shag bath mat for litterbox, peed on mat?

the_food_lady

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Hello,

My new cat Bitsy (adopted her Dec 12) just did something very strange. In my ensuite I have 2 long shag-type bath mats, washable. I just washed them today. Not long after I placed them back in the bathroom, I saw Bitsy walking across one of them, making "digging motions" in the rug (which I thought was kind of cute). She's about 1 yr old. I guess in some respects the long shag might ? seem like something to "dig into" (like litter). Well shortly after I noticed she'd peed on the rug!!

Now 2 weeks ago I had her checked for a UTI, she had a urinalysis done and it was negative. The reason I'd had it done was I feared she might have been peeing more often than normal (about 5 times in a 24 hr period). As it had been years since having such a small, young cat, I wasn't sure if that was "normal" and though my Vet thought it was, I had a urinalysis done just to be on the safe side, which of course was negative.

Has anyone ever had a cat who confused a long shag-type rug with litter? Does this even sound plausible? She's certainly not exhibiting signs of a UTI that I can see (I have 4 other cats, and 6 litterboxes in total, all of them down in the basement, which she uses just fine).

I have a large shag area rug in my kitchen nook that Bitsy loves to lie on, play with her toys on...........it's a large area rug and surely not one that could be "washed" so now I'm paranoid that she'll start peeing on it?

Would appreciate your thoughts on whether it's likely that she just confused the ability to "dig" this freshly washed mat with the digging she can do in the litterbox and that's likely why she peed?

(If so, do I stop using these mats in my bathroom? (there's lino beneath them so easy to clean the floor). She's loved that mat in the past; in the mornings when I'm in the bathroom getting ready for work she'll roll around on it)

TO ADD: I just read somewhere on the internet that mats with a "rubber backing" really attract cats (my mats have a rubber backing)....the person who wrote the info stated that there's something about the smell of the rubber backing that attracts a cat to pee on it. I've never heard this before, has anyone here? All of the mats down in my litterbox area have rubber backing and nobody's ever peed on them. I will admit though, these 2 shag rugs in my bathroom have a weird strong odor to them. It was really bad when I first bought them, I had to wash them twice to try and get rid of the "odor"....?
 

cheylink

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Our beloved Sweety would pee on anything left on the floor of the bathroom, literally! Couldn't leave a bath mat, a towel, clothing, she would pee on it. Only place, only time, as if she was saying clean up after yourself!
 

motoko9

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Does the mat have a rubber back? I've never had this problem, but I've heard it's common for cats to urinate on rubber-backed bath mats (I don't know why this is so).
 

atinsley

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Brandy enjoys going on piles of dirty clothes if we dump them on to the laundry room and leave them there too long... I don't think Cat Attract would be the way to go here as she already knows to use the litter box, she might just like your rugs!
 
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the_food_lady

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Originally Posted by motoko9

Does the mat have a rubber back? I've never had this problem, but I've heard it's common for cats to urinate on rubber-backed bath mats (I don't know why this is so).
Yes, it does! (see the ADDITIONAL INFO I added in my post, re: this very thing).

I have 2 of the same type of white shag-like rugs in my main bathroom too (the length of the shag is about 1 inch so definitely "deep enough" for a cat to be able to 'dig into' as I'd seen her doing) and I checked the underside of them, no stains which would be easy to see as they're white, so thank God she hasn't peed on them, or on the other one in my ensuite.

These mats gave off a nasty odor once I got them home from the store, it was something in the rubber backing. It was so bad that I nearly returned them but had looked high and low for months to find white washable shag bath mats so decided to try and wash them a few times, let them soak in the washing maching with bleach............that did help some but the smell is still there a little, more noticable I think when they are freshly washed. Perhaps that was it?

Thankfully the shag area rug in my kitchen nook is NOT rubber backed, so hopefully I'm okay there.

I wonder what I should do? Is there something I can spray on these mats to deter her? Do I have to get rid of them? Funny I've had her since Dec 12th, she's spent lots of time rolling around on this particular mat and has never done this until now.........
 

kluchetta

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You say you the mat was freshly washed? Bleach can make cats want to urinate on whatever the object was that was bleached...
 
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the_food_lady

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Originally Posted by kluchetta

You say you the mat was freshly washed? Bleach can make cats want to urinate on whatever the object was that was bleached...
No, I didn't use bleach on it today. I only used bleach when washing it about a year ago, when I first bought it, to help get rid of this awful smell due to the rubber backing. Today I just used the usual liquid Tide and some OxyClean powder.
 

motoko9

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the_food_lady;2800352 said:
Yes, it does! (see the ADDITIONAL INFO I added in my post, re: this very thing).

That's so funny - we must have posted around the same time.

I'm not sure what you can do about the smell. I would probably try airing the mats outside, but surely washing them in your machine would accomplish the same thing? Anyway, I hope the mats weren't too pricey, so that if worse comes to worst, you can replace them with something that doesn't have rubber on the back.
 

ldg

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I am one of the people that many years ago had a cat that peed on a bath mat with a rubber back. It was the day we bought it and put it down - Spooky - who at the time had never had a problem peeing outside the box - immediately used it instead of the litter box. It wasn't shag.

I posted here, and hissy, the most experienced rescuer who posts here, said it's the rubber backing. We immediately replaced the bath mat with one that had no rubber backing - and no more problems!

A number of people have had this problem, and as soon as the rug was replaced, there were no more problems.

Replace the rug - and even if you replace it with shag, I'm willing to bet there will be no more problems!
 

white cat lover

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My small dog (an adult female Bichon with housetraining issues) as well as most of my cats will pee on any rubber backed rug used. I don't know what it is about them - but we don't have them around here!
 

otto

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Originally Posted by the_food_lady

Hello,

My new cat Bitsy (adopted her Dec 12) just did something very strange. In my ensuite I have 2 long shag-type bath mats, washable. I just washed them today. Not long after I placed them back in the bathroom, I saw Bitsy walking across one of them, making "digging motions" in the rug (which I thought was kind of cute). She's about 1 yr old. I guess in some respects the long shag might ? seem like something to "dig into" (like litter). Well shortly after I noticed she'd peed on the rug!!

Now 2 weeks ago I had her checked for a UTI, she had a urinalysis done and it was negative. The reason I'd had it done was I feared she might have been peeing more often than normal (about 5 times in a 24 hr period). As it had been years since having such a small, young cat, I wasn't sure if that was "normal" and though my Vet thought it was, I had a urinalysis done just to be on the safe side, which of course was negative.

Has anyone ever had a cat who confused a long shag-type rug with litter? Does this even sound plausible? She's certainly not exhibiting signs of a UTI that I can see (I have 4 other cats, and 6 litterboxes in total, all of them down in the basement, which she uses just fine).

I have a large shag area rug in my kitchen nook that Bitsy loves to lie on, play with her toys on...........it's a large area rug and surely not one that could be "washed" so now I'm paranoid that she'll start peeing on it?

Would appreciate your thoughts on whether it's likely that she just confused the ability to "dig" this freshly washed mat with the digging she can do in the litterbox and that's likely why she peed?

(If so, do I stop using these mats in my bathroom? (there's lino beneath them so easy to clean the floor). She's loved that mat in the past; in the mornings when I'm in the bathroom getting ready for work she'll roll around on it)

TO ADD: I just read somewhere on the internet that mats with a "rubber backing" really attract cats (my mats have a rubber backing)....the person who wrote the info stated that there's something about the smell of the rubber backing that attracts a cat to pee on it. I've never heard this before, has anyone here? All of the mats down in my litterbox area have rubber backing and nobody's ever peed on them. I will admit though, these 2 shag rugs in my bathroom have a weird strong odor to them. It was really bad when I first bought them, I had to wash them twice to try and get rid of the "odor"....?
I have read that many times. And this may very well be a case of that.

However I'd have another urine check done just to be sure. Ask your vet to send it out to the lab for a culture. It's expensive, but you want to get to the bottom of this. Untreated urinary tract issues can cause lifetime problems for kitty.

I need peace of mind, and the urine culture would either pinpoint a problem, or give you that peace of mind.
 

missmyra

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my cat is diabetic so she does pee a LOT, but she usually goes in the litterbox. however, i cannot have any throw rugs or area rugs in my home because she immediately starts peeing on them. thank goodness she does not pee on wall-to-wall carpeting. i have no idea what causes this but it is freaky!
 

mira's_mommy

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Originally Posted by MissMyra

my cat is diabetic so she does pee a LOT, but she usually goes in the litterbox. however, i cannot have any throw rugs or area rugs in my home because she immediately starts peeing on them. thank goodness she does not pee on wall-to-wall carpeting. i have no idea what causes this but it is freaky!
Same thing here. I do have mats in the bathroom but I have to keep the door shut 24/7. I've found that they also rip out the tiny little threads when they try to bury their mess, so I was having to replace them regularly as opposed to just washing them all the time. They go on the kitten rug too. I can't shut them out of there, but I need a mat to collect the spray-off water when I do dishes so I have to have it. So I replaced that rug with a heavy-duty door mat. The weave of it is dense enough that the urine doesn't soak in and it has a very thick rubber backing as well (it's similar to tire rubber, not the stuff that's on traditional bathroom/kitchen mats). That has been holding up nicely. Of course you might not be able to find something like this that matches your decor but my kitchen is primarily done in black so the mat coordinates well.
 
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