Peeing on dog things

Hi, I am new to the forum, and as I understand everyone starts a new thread for their questions? So I'll do that, please let me know if I misunderstood...

So my question is that I have a cat, she is one and half years old and I have been trying to figure it out for quite some time, and now really got lost with it... I've started to believe that it is all about the dogs. She pees on anything that my dogs use. Their water or food bowl, as soon as it gets empty, the dog beds, the dog basket, the couch.. Recently, my cats got a new sleeping and scratching rug (she uses it for sleeping), which my dog slept on yesterday evening, and by the morning, there was her pee on it.

I have 3 cats, 3 litter boxes, which she does use normally otherwise. She is not afraid of the dogs, even sleeps or plays with them. She never pees on my bed, although, sometimes my dogs join me there, too. It is only those things that my dogs use.

I read that it can still be a medical issue, even if it doesn't look like that, so scheduling her for a checkup, but even until then, any idea would be appreciated. I feel sorry for my dogs that I have taken away their beds until it is sorted out somehow.

Thank you in advance

It seems like territorial marking, leaving her scent on everything, to tell the dogs this is MINE.  They leave their doggy smell on it, so she retaliates with her catty smell.  It could be a medical issue but it sounds more like a territorial thing.  She is being the dominant one.

I suspect that, too. Is there any way it can be helped?
 

I mean of course she gets more attention than the others, but that is because she is young, energetic and talkative, and is awake a lot more than the others. And she is able to interrupt me even while I'm working - which the dogs have learnt that there is not much point in it.

And to be honest, she is too cute to resist and apart from this problem, a very "easy to live with" type of cat. She has a "sad kitty face" by nature and with time she learned how to respond with a "heartbreaking" look when she can't get what she wants. (My fault that I taught her it works. )

But she is not the most dominant in the family. It is definitely the old female who puts everyone to its place. Yes, challenges her sometimes, too, but with not much success.

If the older kitty is the dominant one in the house, they she is not challenging her.  She is challenging the dogs (Cats rule, dogs drool).  Usually with every new arrival there is some jockeying for position on the totem pole until everything is worked out to everyone's satisfaction.  Creating personal territories is known to help a lot.  If you had a room with HER bed and little box and food and a few toys that was closed with a baby gate so she could go in and out but the dogs could not, then she might stop marking their beds if the were not stinking up HER bed with their doggy smell.  Also, having severallevels helps, i.e. wall stairs and beds for the cats, part of the move to "Catification"  - very popular now.

Here is a link to my Pinterest board on Catification where there are numerous great ideas.


Also, I am including a photo of the catification an adopter did in her living room to accommodate her new cats' fondness for heights.

WoW! Looks good and I can see your cats really enjoy it.

The one who drives me crazy about peeing on the dog things is a relatively newcomer in the family: I found her when she was about 4 and a half weeks old in a very poor shape due to cat flu, then just couldn't give her to someone else when she was ready for adaption.

The real dominant one is an older female, but no problems with her. I mean she needs "emotional special care" (what I call it and it comes from her earlier life), but we all learned to get by with her and she also changed a lot through the years. There was no change when the kitty arrived, at least not a negative one. Challenging her means that sometimes, she walks up to her and starts a fight, then has to walk away after a few slaps.

I quickly counted the number of places where my cats can have a rest, we have about 25 for the 3 cats, and only four of them are accessible for the dogs: one is the couch, which she practically killed with her urine. The other one is my bed, but she has never peed on it. Maybe because it has my smell? The rest are a cat rug and a basket. I even thought of trying to sleep on the couch and dog beds, maybe if they have my smell, too, she stops urinating on them? I wouldn't try the basket.

They of course don't use all the possible cat resting places, eg. there is a cat furniture with 6 possible beds - they completely ignore it wherever I move it around the house. I tried to feed them the way that they have to "work for it" and used the furniture for hiding food there, they still don't care about it. It's obvious that the most popular places are the ones where they have the feeling that they are around me, or there is sunlight, at least.

I also counted quickly the number of places she likes to use: it is 11 places and among these, my bed is the only one that the dogs can reach. So not sure adding more would make a change..

I attach a photo of one of the favorite places - on my desk. The top box is for her (the lower one is for a true gentleman ).

Very nice.  It is possible that once she has established her place on the totem pole, she will stop peeing everywhere else.  I'm not sure if spraying the peed on places with perfume might help, but cats do not like perfume in general so it might discourage her.

Oh, I would have never thought of it! Thank you, will give it a try.
 

I tried vinegar, cat off spray and orange peels (I used to protect the Christmas tree with it, before she arrived), but gave up, because she didn't care much about them. But yes, it makes sense that if one smell doesn't work, it doesn't mean the next one won't.

I just put the dog bed back to its place now with some perfume on it and looking forward to the next few days.

Thank you.