Cats peeing on blankets

About 6 months ago I brought in 4 strays from outdoors. They were vaccinated spayed/neutered. I gave them litter boxes and they seem to use them. I keep them in a room while we are gone and when we get home we let them out (they have litterboxes in the room). When they come out they are fine and they have their litter boxes close by, but the 2 females keeping peeing on our blankets. They don't do it everyday, but sometimes. I always take them and show them their litterbox when they do it, but I don't know how to deter this behavior. The litterboxes are clean and only the females do it.  Any suggestions?

I had an issue with my female cat doing this and tried a lot of different things to encourage her to use the litter box.

First, make sure there is nothing wrong medically that could explain the issue.

Make sure that the litter boxes are easily accessible and not in a corner somewhere. Cats don't like to feel cornered, so make sure they can enter and exit easily.

Make sure you keep it clean. Some cats won't go if the litter box has been used by another cat or if it is too smelly. Clean it 1-2 times a day depending on how many cats you have.

Take the lids off, because a lot cats don't like to be enclosed while going to the bathroom because they need to be able to see what is going on.

Try different litters, because sometimes it is something about the way it feels that could be painful or irritating to them.

What worked best for me when I was trying out these different things was getting an extra litter box and filling it with soft material that was similar to what she was peeing on. Sometimes cats just like a softer surface to urinate on. I cut up fabric and put it inside of one that had litter in it previously, so she knew it was for her and placed in the area where she had been urinating. She started peeing in there instead of on my rug and I just had to switch out the fabric every so often and wash the soiled stuff (with a fragrance free detergent so she could still smell herself).

Good luck! There are lots of options out there. You just have to find what works for her...

autumb said:

About 6 months ago I brought in 4 strays from outdoors. They were vaccinated spayed/neutered. I gave them litter boxes and they seem to use them. I keep them in a room while we are gone and when we get home we let them out (they have litterboxes in the room). When they come out they are fine and they have their litter boxes close by, but the 2 females keeping peeing on our blankets. They don't do it everyday, but sometimes. I always take them and show them their litterbox when they do it, but I don't know how to deter this behavior. The litterboxes are clean and only the females do it.  Any suggestions?

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Nox gave some good suggestions.  First off, how many litter boxes do you have for them?  Are they all in the same area of the house?  Next, how often do you scoop?  Lastly, do you refresh the litter as you scoop? 

I have 4 indoor cats.  One of them developed a behavior issue with peeing on the living room sofa.  It made me crazy.  I have 5 litter boxes in the house in different areas and I scoop/refresh daily so that wasn't the issue.  I tried everything.  Finally I bought a Feliway diffuser because the cat seemed to object to my walking the dog every morning.  It worked !!!   His behavior got better in a couple of weeks and I've used the diffuser ever since.  It's pricey but well worth it to me.  I now have a new sofa with no cat pee on it

autumb said:

About 6 months ago I brought in 4 strays from outdoors. They were vaccinated spayed/neutered. I gave them litter boxes and they seem to use them. I keep them in a room while we are gone and when we get home we let them out (they have litterboxes in the room). When they come out they are fine and they have their litter boxes close by, but the 2 females keeping peeing on our blankets. They don't do it everyday, but sometimes. I always take them and show them their litterbox when they do it, but I don't know how to deter this behavior. The litterboxes are clean and only the females do it.  Any suggestions?

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Thank you for rescuing these four cats! Why do you limit them to one room during the day, though? It may well be that it's too small a space for four cats to share for so many hours. This would lead to stress, which in itself could cause litterbox avoidance. It could also trigger or aggravate urinary tract problems, which could lead to peeing outside the box.

Thanks for the suggestions. The one female stopped peeing on things, but the other keeps doing it. They have a whole room to themselves, it's like all kitty stuff. We can't let them out until we are home because my mom has a dog that will kill them. They are used to being in there while we are gone, so it's not a big deal anymore. They have 6 litter boxes and I scoop every day.  She will have a clean litter box, but she'll pee on my pillow on the bed, or a blanket.  She doesn't have any symptoms that would indicate a UTI or underlying medical condition, she just seems to really hate her cat litter. It's weird though, she won't pee on her sleeping blankets. I have about 7 designated areas where I have blankets for them to sleep on and be cozy, she loves those, but if there is a random pillow or blanket she will pee on it!

I am definitely going to try the fabric thing. My husband thinks it is gross, but I will try anything lol Thanks so much

They will know that dog is out there, and that could be very stressful for them.

Are any of the sleeping places high up?  Cats lot to sleep high up as they feel safer there.