Kitten messing up our bed :(

carlyface

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Messages
4
Purraise
0
Location
Glasgow, Scotland
Firstly I would like to say hello and thanks for me on the forum, this is my first time on here and I hope to be on more often.

My partner and I are having a bit of an issue with our new kitten, she is a 8 week old (approx) moggy who seems to want to pee and poop on me and my boyfriend's bed.

When we got her she was fully toilet trained (on estimation I think she is about 7 weeks now, got her at 6/12 weeks) and using her tray no problem. I asked the woman we got her from what litter she used and made sure I got the same. She has no problem getting in and out of her tray.
We spent most of Xmas day out but left her lots of food and cat milk, when we got home in the early evening she had eaten most of the cat food and used her tray successfully.

Later on in the evening I noticed she had peed on our bed, this was no biggie as I presumed she was either upset at being left alone or something had maybe gave her a scare outside.
But later in the evening I woke up to her poop on the bed and then doing a pee right after it. I grabbed her and put her in her tray where she carried on no problem.
I noticed her pulling her bum along the carpet so ran behind her cleaning up and I know this is a sign of worms (been checking her poop since and no sign of any worms but still getting her worming tablets today) so I stayed up with her for the rest of the evening/early morning and made sure she was ok. Again she went back to using her tray with no issues. I got worming drops for the back of her neck and applied them the following day and she hasn't done it since.

I spent Boxing day in bed full of the flu but Ellie has been with me the whole time. She has been in high spirits, eating ALOT for a kitten her size (again I think this is to do with the worms) and sleeping loads, mostly on me.
Had a good nights sleep but woke up again to catch her pooping on our bed. Grabbed her and put her in her tray and she carried on.

I am getting worried now, she is more than happy to use her tray whenever she is not in our room.
I am calling the vet tomorrow to make her first appointment for her jobs and get her on their books for a health check.
I changed her litter every 3-4 days so she knows where she is meant to go.
I feel bad for scolding her as she is as good as gold all other times. We even went away to a different house for new years and she was an angel there, only using her litter tray.

But tonight when I went to bed I noticed she had pooped on the bed again. I think she done this when we went out for shopping during the day. We were gone about 2-3 hours max.
We want her to sleep in the living room area - she has her own little secluded part of the house where her tray and food dishes are and she knows to use them and has no problems with this at all. She likes it in here as her bed is nice and cosy and she has lots of toys so I know its nothing to do with the area her stuff is kept in. She cries a little at night but nothing too bad, its just her worrying she is missing out on something!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I have never had this problem with a cat before and its putting a damper on the whole situation as otherwise she is the perfect cat for us.
 

kluchetta

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 5, 2005
Messages
11,023
Purraise
30
Location
Golden, Colorado
Welcome to The Cat Site!
That must be terribly frustrating!

It's really good that you are putting her in her box to finish, that's a really good thing to do. How are you cleaning your bedspread? If you don't use an enzyme cleaner, it's likely she can still smell where she went before.

A couple other things: how far away is her litter box? Little ones, especially ones with worms, often get the need to "go" and can't get that far before it's "time". Most experts advise a litter box on each floor of your home, and have one more litter box than cats (so it would be best to have 2, possibly)

Also, don't put their litter box and their food too close together, cats don't like that. We have our litter box and food in the same room, but the food is on a table, and it seems ok with our cats.

I hope you and your new kitty get it all figured out!!!
 

carolina

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 17, 2008
Messages
14,759
Purraise
215
Location
Corinth, TX
Are you cleaning the spots with a good enzyme cleaner? When you take her to the vet, make sure to ask for a urinalysis, although since she is pooping and peeing, it might be that she did once and is going back to the same spot due to the scent... What are you cleaning the spots with?
 

stephanietx

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 1, 2005
Messages
14,813
Purraise
3,545
Location
Texas
Welcome to TCS! Sorry you're having such a time with your kitty.

Prior to giving her free reign of your house or bedroom, did you confine her to the bathroom with food, water, toys, bedding, and litter box until you knew for sure that she knew how to use the box? Also, what kind of litter are you using?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

carlyface

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Messages
4
Purraise
0
Location
Glasgow, Scotland
Thanks for the welcome and the advice!
I have been cleaning the duvets (that is what she has been messing) with hot soapy water and using a scent remover to take away her smell. I might see about getting something specifically for strong scent removal.
The litter tray is really close by - she spends most of her time in the living room and she walks off to go whenever she needs, she is fantastic like that. She stops playing or doing whatever she needs and runs off to the potty - its so cute!

Litter we are using is compressed wood that becomes a dust when wet - this is the litter she was trained on before we got her.
She uses it no problem an has never had any worries in using it.

We are moving her food dish away from her litter today, she how she manages with this. The only other thing I am thinking of doing is stopping her from going into our room, which I don't really want to do as I have always let my pets have free roam of the house
 

lynsgems

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Oct 7, 2005
Messages
102
Purraise
1
Location
California - U.S.
an issue with our new kitten, she is a 8 week old (approx) moggy who seems to want to pee and poop on me and my boyfriend's bed.

You say this kitten is about 8 weeks old? If she's sleeping on the bed, maybe she is too small to jump down to get to her litter box? It might be best to keep her confined until she grows. She's awful young to know when to leave a nice toasty bed and use the litter box.
 

kluchetta

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 5, 2005
Messages
11,023
Purraise
30
Location
Golden, Colorado
Originally Posted by Carlyface

Thanks for the welcome and the advice!
I have been cleaning the duvets (that is what she has been messing) with hot soapy water and using a scent remover to take away her smell. I might see about getting something specifically for strong scent removal.
The litter tray is really close by - she spends most of her time in the living room and she walks off to go whenever she needs, she is fantastic like that. She stops playing or doing whatever she needs and runs off to the potty - its so cute!

Litter we are using is compressed wood that becomes a dust when wet - this is the litter she was trained on before we got her.
She uses it no problem an has never had any worries in using it.

We are moving her food dish away from her litter today, she how she manages with this. The only other thing I am thinking of doing is stopping her from going into our room, which I don't really want to do as I have always let my pets have free roam of the house
The best scent removers are ones that have enzymes that "eat" the biological products left by the urine and such.
 

ellsworth

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Jul 1, 2009
Messages
57
Purraise
1
Location
Southern California
My boyfriend's cat did the same thing at the same age when she was a kitten. It was almost like she was having such a good time she didn't want to leave. We moved the litter box to the end of the bed, on the floor. I don't know if that really helped. She only peed on his bed sporadically after that but mostly, I think, she just grew out of it. She stopped after about 3 weeks.
 

feralvr

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Messages
18,474
Purraise
689
Location
Northwest Indiana
Hi,
I just joined the site too!!
I would confine the kitty to a small room at night and keep her our of your room during the day. This would only be temporary to retrain her away from your bed. I would also suggest getting another kitten for a friend. I have always gotten kittens in pairs. They help eachother with training, play together and keep eachother company while you are away. Also, your kitten would have a friend in her santuary room. I have young kittens (5 mo.) and they still sleep in their own room but have the run of the house during the day. They love their room and feel safe in there when I am not home. I have a big plexi-glass section that I slide across so they can still see our of their room.

Good luck with the kitty, she sounds so good otherwise.
 

carolina

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 17, 2008
Messages
14,759
Purraise
215
Location
Corinth, TX
Ok, by your post, immediately I can see two problems: the way you are cleaning and the litter.
You need to use a good Enzyme cleaner to clean the spots.
Also, change the litter at once. Many cats have problems with pressed wood/pine litters. I myself, the only time I ever had soling problems in my house was when I switched litters to pine (pressed wood) - Lucky immediately started peeing in the living room. Some cat are ok with it, a lot are not. A lot of them don't like the scent, or the texture on their feet.
Peeing outside of the box is usually an indication of health issues, but pooping is frequently a sign of box/litter aversion. I strongly believe this is your case.

Get your self a good enzyme cleaner, and a bag of Cat Attract Litter, or Kitten Attract Litter, if your cat is a kitten. Once she is used to the box, you can slowly switch to a clumping litter. If you want to be on the natural side, there is World's best cat litter, made of corn... But for now, since you want to re-train her, I would highly recommend getting Cat/kitten attract first.
 
Top