Young cat is suddenly peeing on soft things, no UTI. Please help.

I have a fixed male cal who is around 3 years old now, I also have a female who is around 2 1/2. I got them at separate times when they were around 6 months old (male first). They have always gotten along with one another to the point where they will share 1 jumbo litter box and not fight over it or do anything weird. I thought I had perfect dream kitties, never once having an accident outside of the box.....up until around 6 months ago.............

Around 6 months ago I found the first "accident". My male cat had jumped in our dirty clothes hamper and I found it in the hallway toppled over and peed on......I thought it was a fluke, like maybe it fell and he got scared and peed. Then after that I discovered he was peeing on actual piles of dirty clothes on the floor (oops), I thought "Okay I just won't be a slob and leave clothes on the floor, problem solved".......but no, then I discovered he started peeing on a fleece throw blanket on our leather couch. He even peed on my purse once because I left it on the couch. He's peed on my jacket. Anything soft you leave out, he will pee on if he feels like it.

I took him to the doctor, no UTI. They couldn't tell me why he was peeing. They said pee problems were tough to diagnose and tough to stop

I washed everything he's ever peed on with Nature's Miracle Laundry Boost, I don't think he cares because he still pees.

I thought okay......I just can't leave out soft things around the house, I can't have a comfy house now.....at least he doesn't pee on the bed.........up until this morning

This morning leaving for work, I found a fresh pee spot on my bed. It soaked ALL THE WAY TO THE MATTRESS! What do I do now?!

You guys I don't know what to do anymore........He will use the litter box with zero issues if I don't leave anything out for him to pee on. Even sometimes when I do have soft things out, he will use the litter box instead. He always uses the box for #2. It's like his thought process is like "Why go to the litter box when I have this soft thing to pee on right here?", grrr.

Bullet Points:

- I have washed everything he's ever peed on with Nature's Miracle multiple times.

- I went to the vet, no UTI.

- He is acting completely normal and he does not strain to pee, I never find blood.

- He will pee on soft things like blankets and clothes, hasn't peed on carpet (yet?)

- He has his own soft throw blanket in his "room" that is on the floor, he's never peed on that.

- He still uses his litter box for urine most of the time.

- I've tried switching the litter, but he's always used the same litter since we got him. I even bought Cat Attract litter but he will still sometimes pee on things.

- Tried adding an extra litter box but he didn't care.

I have no idea what to do anymore. This is so random and out of the blue.

Hi! So health wise he is okay - like normal blood count, kidneys, liver okay, no sprains, etc.? He is behaving as usual, active, playful, loves cuddles? Have you changed perfumes/ colognes? even soaps or shampoos? It could be that a new scent is triggering his spraying. 

yayi said:

 
Hi! So health wise he is okay - like normal blood count, kidneys, liver okay, no sprains, etc.? He is behaving as usual, active, playful, loves cuddles? Have you changed perfumes/ colognes? even soaps or shampoos? It could be that a new scent is triggering his spraying. 

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He is behaving normally but I do have to note that he's started kneading when he never did before. I thought maybe his Mom left him early (was a stray but not feral) and he didn't know how to knead, but recently he's actually been doing it. He's always been a lap cat but now he will knead you before laying down. No idea what this means, honestly. All of his tests came back fine. I can't think of anything I've changed. Btw, he isn't spraying like an unfixed cat, he is squatting and peeing like it's a litter box.

Keep his litter box as clean as someone would who has OCD. See if that helps. Add a deodorizer to the litter too. Cats HATE litter box smells, and some cats, just like some people, care more about things being clean than others.

Good luck. I can imagine you must be SO frustrated. I would be too.

Lifewith3cats said:

 
Keep his litter box as clean as someone would who has OCD. See if that helps. Add a deodorizer to the litter too. Cats HATE litter box smells, and some cats, just like some people, care more about things being clean than others.

Good luck. I can imagine you must be SO frustrated. I would be too.

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I clean their box daily, they don't go #2 too much since I buy a grain free dry. I suppose I could scoop more. I do also add a special baking soda to their litter after each scoop. I have no idea why he's doing this.

If you only have 1 box, I highly recommend buying 2 others. And a variety of types too...maybe one covered for example, or uncovered if you have covered. Scoop twice a day at least. Vary litter levels higher and lower to see if he prefers one type.

Some cats will only pee and poop in different boxes, and not enough boxes per cat ratio (usually 1 per cat plus 1 more so in your case 3) are prime reasons.

Lastly, you mentioned he is fixed...is she also?

What "special bakig soda" are you using? Many of the litter box deodorizers sold in pet stores and other places are heavily scented and some cats find the scent so offensive and irritating that they will stop using the litter box. Stop using the "special baking soda" for a couple days to see if that resolves the issue. You may need to dump the litter box out completely and wash it out to remove any lingering pefumed scent. Plain baking soda, the same one you buy in the baking aisle of the grocery store, will work just fine to absorb odors and it has no no offending smell.

Scooping at least twice a day is a must. Cats can be really picky about how clean their litter box is.

Alright so i dont know how reliable this is because i saw it on "How clean is your house" but the vet they went to on the show said you can actually clean the litter box TOO much and he cant smell his scent in there anymore. Does he do this right after you clean it?