Going Insane!!! Please Advise!!

I read thru the Pee Problem Sticky, but I was hoping that I could get some one on one feedback. I have 2 cats (Male - Lane & Female - Lita) & 1 dog (Female - Icicle). I've been living for several, several months with a bed wetter. I know it isn't my dog. Lots of times the comforter isn't even wet and my cats like to sleep under my comforter. More often than not it's my female cat, Lita that can be found there. She is my main suspect. I called my vet, & they referred me to a pet behaviorist. I called her & she said to rule out urinary tract infection with the vet & I did so. My Vet says she is healthy. She only goes pee either in the box or my bed, no where else. Sometimes it's once a week sometimes not for a few weeks and I think she's stopped. But time & time again she proves that she isn't stopping. I would just buy a new bed if I was sure that it would stop but I'm so confused right now I don't know what to do. All I can do to ensure that she doesn't pee in the bed is close my door when I'm at work, and truly hate to do that. My dog so enjoys getting in bed while I'm gone I would feel like I'm punishing her for no reason. Well, It's 10pm now I just AGAIN got done with steam cleaning my bed, blow drying it, & putting new sheets on. I am getting soooooo tired of this. Can anyone help me?????? I'm at a loss


BTW Both my cats are fixed.

Make sure you clean the area throughly as the remaining smell can make kitties return to a certain area. Nature's Miracle is one of the more recommended solutions on this site. (I use Simply Green and Hydrogen peroxide, but I don't have a reoccuring problem).

Also, try doing an actual search for peeing problems. There are lots of other posts from people who have problems and some great advice. I'm sorry I don't have more specific advice... Good luck!

Have you tried placing your cat in a crate at night with a small litter box?

We had a serial urinator and lived the routine you just described, this seemed to work for him.

And a good idea would be to have two litter boxes at least, if not 3, for 2 cats (ideally always have one more than the #of cats you have) and keep them very clean - and make sure the cats know where the new one is.

Thanks for the responses!

I only have one liter box now. I think I will toss it since it is old & buy 2 new ones tonight. I keep it in the laundry room aka the cats domain, which my dog can't get into due to the cat door. Can I keep 2 boxes in the same room?

I will also buy some simple green for the time being & see if that helps.

I read here that cats dislike citrus. Is there any citrus product I could spray on my bed that would help out or is that going too far?

Roofrabbit --> I have a problem crating an animal. These guys are like my kids and it would break my to have to do that to them. Call me weak...I just can't.

Thanks again for the suggestions. And by all means keep them comming. lol I'll search more here later tonight when I get a chance.

You should have +1 litterbox for the amount of cats you have.

If you have 1 cat, you should have 2 boxes.

2 cats, you should have 3 boxes.

Originally Posted by kosharek

Thanks for the responses!

I only have one liter box now. I think I will toss it since it is old & buy 2 new ones tonight. I keep it in the laundry room aka the cats domain, which my dog can't get into due to the cat door. Can I keep 2 boxes in the same room?

Click to expand...

I would recommend to put the litter boxes in 2 different rooms to see if she prefers one location over the other.

Originally Posted by kosharek

Roofrabbit --> I have a problem crating an animal. These guys are like my kids and it would break my

to have to do that to them. Call me weak...I just can't.

Click to expand...

Sometimes if you just crate them for a short time, it ends the behavior. My Festie was pooing in every room in the house following a worming. She is not a dirty cat, and never had a problem before or after. She was crated for about 3 days. She was either in the crate or under direct observation at all times. She has not had a mistake since then.

You could cuddle with her at bedtime, then gently place her in the crate with a thin blanket folded up. Also have a litterbox available to her. After a week or so, try leaving the crate open at night, and put her new blankie on your bed. Place her in the crate that night, but of course she will probably jump right out and get back in bed with you. I would guess she will be out of the habit of peeing on the bed, and into the habit of peeing in the litterbox, and you will live happily ever after.

I foster cats, so there are times when the crate is necessary. My crate is two dog crates wired together, with 2 shelves inside. So it is rather deluxe. In fact, when Festie was on her restriction, the other two cats got into the crate with her in the morning on day 2 and 3, as if they felt left out the first day! LOL! Remember, it is NOT a punishment, just giving a naturally clean animal a chance to relearn her manners.

I've had two cats who have at different times got obsessed over peeing on my bed. With one I think it was territorial, with the other it was definitely an insecurity thing that then became a habit: I have the same issue now with Mitz who is a champion sprayer. The habit gets cast in stone and every time he gets back to that spot he has to spray it again. The only solution was to make my room off limits and stick to it for several months. I hated it too, I hated that I couldn't have the cats in bed with me and I felt it was mean to the others, but some behaviours really are difficult to live with and that was the price of stopping it. After a few months - and really a few months - I started letting them into the bedroom again, to start with at nights only and then during the day too, and both times the cats had broken the habit and we had no more problems.

I have heard on the grapevine that peeing on your bed or on the sofa makes the cat feel close to you - its something that carries your scent very strongly that they add their scent to. That might be something one of the site experts could explain more about if it's relevant? If you close up that room and the peeing just moves to another area then you know it isn't the place/bed but a wider behaviour issue.

Incidentally having been seen by the vet repeatedly for spraying Mitz is now on a very low daily dose of anti depressant medication, and the spraying stopped overnight. However we did get there after trying a lot of behaviour strategies, soaking the entire house in feliway and checking him repeatedly and carefully for UTIs. The issue with him is minimal brain damage which the vet suspects came from a virus he picked up in the womb. Does show though that it's so worth working through and through the ideas on the site here about UTIs, blood work if need be, behaviour strategies, calming strategies, and you do eventually get to the answer. (Even if its that your cat has learning difficulties! )

I went through this with Sparkles 2 summers ago. She would actually back right up to me as I slept and pee right on me. I caught her in the act once and that was it. She was banished to the porch when I wasn't interacting with her. I put her food, water and litterbox out there. In her case she wasn't getting enough attention. We lived in a small house with 4 cats and 3 dogs and it was a HOT summer so 15 pounds of furball on your lap wasn't very appealing. We ruled out UTI and gave her extra, extra, extra attention and that resolved the problem. We still make an extra effort to cuddle with her. She's really our only lapcat of the 4. Tigger and Princess wouldn't be caught dead on your lap and Pooh will only grace your lap on rare occasions.

The folks here at TCS were wonderfully helpful and supportive !!

Well, so far I'm kind of taking Rangers approach. Although I think it is more for selfish reasons, but I have closed my bedroom door every day this week while I've been at work. This has proven to work before but I never have done it for too long. Lita has never gone pee anywhere else but on my bed, meaning that when the door is shut she doesn't go & find a different area to pee. I believe it has only happened when I am at work. And she never pees in bed at night or anything.

I'm unsure if I should just keep shutting my door during the day time for awhile or not. It certainly works, but I just don't know if that will solve the problem.

I still think I will get a black light this weekend & make sure my bed is truly clean. I was sure steam cleaning it was good enough, but I guess I'll find out huh?

I really appreciate all your stories & how you guys resolved them. Gives me a lot more to think about.

If you don't use a neutralizer, you may as well not use anything. You need to destroy the enzymes because that is what holds the smell. If the cat smells her urine on an object, she will return every three days to the same spot and "refresh" it. Generally, when a cat is peeing on soft objects that have YOUR smell on it, the cat is stressed. Peeing on top of your scent, calms her down to a degree.

I am currently working on an article about how to get rid of cat pee. It will be featured next month, on the homepage of TCS. You need something like anti-icky poo, Nature's Miracle, or Zero-Odor to cut down the enzymes and remove the odor.

I did go to a pet store & get Nature's Miracle. The Store owner said it was the best stuff he carried to try although he seemed to be very pessimistic about it really helping me. But I have hope.

Hissy, when you say Lita may be stressed and therefore peeing on my scent are you meaning that she's mad at me or upset in general?

Originally Posted by kosharek

I still think I will get a black light this weekend & make sure my bed is truly clean. I was sure steam cleaning it was good enough, but I guess I'll find out huh?

Click to expand...

I've had problems with my cats urinating, so I was going to buy a new carpet steam cleaner to make sure the smell was completely out of the carpet. Then I read on the internet on how to get the smell out and there were several places that didn't recommend using a steam cleaner because the heat will bind the protein in the urine to the fabric. Thus, it will never come out. I had a really bad spot and used white vinegar and an enzyme treatment and that seemed to work the best. Cats urine is alkali and vinegar is acidic so when you add vinegar to the spot it neutralizes it. There will be a vinegar smell until it dries.