Cat keeps peeing on every bed??

The breed is cadian sphinx. She is 1 years and 1 month old. We have her for 7 months, and she won't stop peeing on everyone's bed. We got her sterilised the minute she turned 6 months thinking the problem would stop but it didn't. We got her transported when we bought her and she stayed in a relatives house where she peed on their bed the first day, we came to collect her 3 days later. We love and care for her and along with 2 other cats we both give them all plenty of attention, and she gets along with the other 2 cats so it's not that. And since she started peeing in our house we've been cleaning the litter box 5 times a day but it's not that as the problem is still persistent. She has peed twice on my bed and 3 times on my parents including one time in the laundry basket on my mam's bed sheet, peed in the cat bed and peed at least 5 times on my brothers bed. We keep all doors closed to the bedrooms but the little kids sometimes forget to close them. We give her natural calming tablets thinking it's stress. And she only pees in the bed when no one is in the room and it happens maybe twice a month. Me and my mam don't know what else to do so open to any suggestions

Please make sure you clean the areas properly. Here is a link http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-remove-cat-urine

Cats typically go outside the litter box because of medical reasons (infection, pain etc) or because of territorial reasons.

I like to rule out medical with a vet visit.

Your sounds more like a territorial issue. The question is why. And why always the bed. How does she carry herself? Tail straight up or down? Walking tall or slinking around? Avoiding any areas? Hiding under things or up in the world? 

I would do a couple things immediately to try to give her territorial security, We want your cat to feel like she owns the territory.

I would step up play with her especially around any areas she is marking. After a good play session feed with treats or a meal. I would also add cat trees and cat scratching posts so that she can own those. And keep giving her love and attention. Cats can take on our emotions so please be as calm and confident around her as possible.

Does your cat have good relationships with everyone in the house? If not, ask the person that doesn't get along with her to feed her and play with her if possible.

Is there a chance anyone has contact with other animals outside of the house? Are there feral cats in your areas that might be coming around your house?

Let's see if building her confidence will help in getting her feeling more territorially secure. Hopefully that will solve it.

Also think of anything that might have happened before the incidences of her going on beds. More stress in the house, etc. We can't rule out the otehr cats even though on the surface they look like they all get along.

Please let me know how things go. Hopefully I can help you end this problem.

Wash all the bedding with 1lb. of bicarbonate of soda added to a pine, lavender, or citrus scented detergent, an enzyme detergent, if possible.  Put paper towels on the mattresses to soak up stray pee, then scrub with a bicarbonate of soda solution in water.  This should deodorise the smell completely and neutralise it, so that nothing is smelled on your beds.  Then cover each bed with an emergency blanket, which you can buy many places for less than a $ as cats don't like the feel of aluminium on their paws, and it would be a quick & easy thing to put on & take off each day.


Try to keep bedroom doors closed.  Put pennies into a tin can, which you then shake if you catch her in the act, as she won't like the noise and will associate it with the beds in future.  Also, a quick shirt with a water sprayer will aid in her associating beds with unpleasant things.  She won't be a bed sleeper for a while, not until she gets the hang of the litter box, but she will get over her attraction to bed-peeing in time and so will be able to sleep there in future, if allowed.

Vet check her for a urinary tract infection.

Change at least one of your litter trays to either open or closed, depending on which you have at the moment.  Change your litter also, try 'cat attract' litter first.  Make sure the litter boxes are kept scrupulously clean.  Think about where the litter boxes are located, and whether they give her privacy; are too penned in; do they have multiple escape exit directions from fear of ambush by your other cats; or have some object next to them;, or are in busy walkways; or too near to her food and water.  Do you have multiple boxes?  The general rule of thumb is to have one box per cat, but I expect just two would do in a pinch. 

Get a Feliway diffuser plug, which emits cat de-stressing friendly pheromones, to go along with the calming tablets.  The upheaval of a new home and family is probably stressing her out.  

@CalicosRSpecial, thank you for your input. She as a cat is really greedy, she took the oldest cats bed and whenever the other cat is sleeping on it she'd go on top of her and sleep on her. Same with food once she's done eating she would try steal the other cats food even though we feed her the appropriate amount for her weight. My brothers are 4 and 6 and they argue and fight and shout a lot so I guess that could affect her but she has been doing that since the 2nd week we adopted her.. she gets along with everyone, even strangers . We also wash the cat litter basin out properly once every 2 weeks. Sometimes her tail is up sometimes it's down but if is sterilised how can she mark her territory? She definitely walks tall and proud. When we first got her she spent time in my room to get used to everything and for the other cats to get used to her, she peed in my bed first and within 2 weeks she did it again. It's strange because my whole family definitely gives her attention, talk to her softly, plays with her, so I honestly can't figure out why she would react like this.

Also going to the part where she is greedy, she is really attached to my mam and whenever there's another cat on her it's as if she gets jealous and jumps up on my mama chest to get the other cats away, and if my mam comes back from somewhere she would be first to run and is always with my mam. We feed all cats raw meat and give them all equal attention, treating them almost as our own children.

@Brian007 thank you for your suggestions, we will be using those in the future, my mam is thankful for your reply and for now we have put a rubbish bag under the bed sheet just in case.

Before she came all our doors were open for the 2 cats to walk around freely but because of this incident we have to keep them closed and it's unfair on the 2 cats and we also do want to help her overcome this problem so she can walk around freely too.

Also another thing I have to add is that when she goes no2 in the cat litter she never covers it up with the sand, just leaves it, if thats any help

Brian007 said:

Change at least one of your litter trays to either open or closed, depending on which you have at the moment.  Change your litter also, try 'cat attract' litter first.  Make sure the litter boxes are kept scrupulously clean.  Think about where the litter boxes are located, and whether they give her privacy; are too penned in; do they have multiple escape exit directions from fear of ambush by your other cats; or have some object next to them;, or are in busy walkways; or too near to her food and water.  Do you have multiple boxes?  The general rule of thumb is to have one box per cat, but I expect just two would do in a pinch. 

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Yes we have 2 litter boxes. They're placed in the hall very close to our kitchen which has their food and water. We clean the litter about 4-5 times a day and my mam washes them out properly and changes the cat litter completely every 4 days, not 2 weeks that was my mistake, she washes them every 4 days.

Can the boxes live elsewhere?  The hallway sounds like a very busy thoroughfare in your house, what with your brothers shouting, and everyone walking up & down.  Cats like to have a bit of privacy when they go to the loo, they can suffer terribly from embarrassment.  And, what with having to keep one ear open and an eye peeled for passers by, or possible ambush, it must be very off-putting for a proud, sphinx cat.  

Also, cats don't like to go right next to their food.  Saying that, my litter box is in my kitchen and so is Dudley's food but they're on different walls and far enough apart (and there's only him here).  His water fountain is out in the hall, as cats like to do their eating, drinking, and excreting separately. 

One of the most common causes behind peeing outside the box, especially on the bed, is to do with a dislike of the present litter box situation.  It's a protest.  It's the only way she can communicate her feelings to you.  If you could move at least one box to somewhere calmer like your bathroom, say, then I expect that would encourage her to use it.  Also, put "cat attract" litter in this box until she gets the hang of things.   

Not covering her poo is like shouting, "I"M HERE!" to your other cats.  It sounds as though she might be insecure if she gets jealous easily.  By giving her her own, private, litter box somewhere else in your house, she might feel more at home.  You have to bear in mind, that six months is not a long time, and she's still settling in and finding her paws.  

 

(And look into Feliway for household harmony)

Angelika00, we had a very similar situation with our newest cat, Leo. After we tried various suggestions about litter box and so forth, which unfortunately didn't help, our vet suggested the Feliway plug-in, which I see Brian007 already mentioned. The vet wasn't very enthusiastic about the Feliway and so I didn't think it would work... but it did. The inappropriate peeing stopped pretty much immediately. Feliway is not inexpensive, but it is worth it. I have found that you can make a plug-in last longer by plugging it in every other day instead of leaving it plugged in all the time. Plugging in every other day seems to be fine to keep our Leo from peeing on beds, laundry, etc.

The more I hear the more I think it is territorial. Telling the other cat's "this is mine".

Did the other cats spend time in the beds that she is going on?

I would add more boxes as Brian suggests in more out of the way places.

But I think it is an insecurity. You mention how she is very close to your mam. That she tries to go on your mam's chest when another cat is on her lap. Now the fact she walks around with her tail high at times tells me she is not totally insecure.

I really want to build her confidence. As Brian mentions 6 months is not a long time and she is still settling in and making this her home. I really want you to step up play with her in all parts of the house. After a good play session feed either treats or a meal. Also please try to add some cat trees and scratching posts. We want her to "own" some of these and get her scent on them. And going "up in the world" high in a cat tree builds confidence. We want her to own territory. And keep letting her know she is loved. Give her places that are warm and comfy to hang out.

Your brothers could be adding some stress so if you could try to explain to them to be more calm that could be helpful. But boys will be boys. Building her confidence should help her deal with the brothers.

I am really thinking she just feels insecure, that she doesn't totally own the territory. So she marks and doesn't always cover in the litter box. To say "I am here and this is mine".  Building her confidence will help her a lot I believe.

Hang in there, we will figure this out. Between all of us I am sure we can figure this out. Please feel free to ask anything anytime and update us on how things are going. We will be here for you.

@Angelika00  have any of our suggestions helped in any way?  What's her behaviour like at the moment?  I think this problem will need a fair bit of tweaking to correct it, so am just wondering if you still need further advice and support?