My Cat started peeing on the carpet for the first time.

I've had my cat for 3 years and he has never had an accident, but about a week ago he started peeing in roughly the same place on the carpet. He still poops in his litter box. I've tried rubing his nose in it and lightly spanking him, I bought a spray that was supposed to keep my cat away from the place where he pees, but it didnt help, I've tried blocking it off, but he would just go as close to it as possible. Right now I put the litter box on my carpet where he regularly started peeing in hopes that he will atleast use the litter box and then I could move it back to its original place. Nothing seems to work. What should I do?

Sad to say, but you are doing all the wrong things. Cats are not dogs, they do not respond to being spanked, or having their nose rubbed into their mess when they miss the pan.

The pan is being missed for a reason:

Is it to dirty?

How many pans do you have? You should have two?

Has the cat been to the vet to be checked to see if there is a health issue? That should be first priority

Did you recently change litter, or placement of the litter pan

is there stress in the house, a new cat? Anything new?


Take your cat to the vet and ask him to check for UTI If that gets ruled out then look around carefully and see if you can figure out what is wrong. Cats are fastidious creatures and they pee and poop in their litter pans unless something is wrong.

I don't know why your cat's peeing on the carpet but please don't rub his nose in it or hit him. That's outdated advice that's cruel and won't solve the problem. There will be a reason for why he's doing it - he's not being naughty so please don't punish him. Have you changed the litter recently? Are you cleaning the box often enough? Has anything happened that might have stressed him out?

The box is as clean as it has always been. Recently my mom broke up with her b/f of 3 years and she has been really moody could that effect my cat somehow?

If your cat was attached to your mom's b/f, sure it could affect her behavior. And yes, your mom's moodiness could adversely affect your cat as well.

Urinary tract infections or blockages are the number one causes of inappropriate urination. So, please take your cat to the vet right away and ask the vet to test the cat's urine for signs of infection or crystals.

If the vet finds that the cat is healthy, please click here to read about how to stop peeing outside the litter box.

Remember it usually is not an accident when the cat goes on the carpet. Rarely do they just not make it to the litterbox. Is he neutered? That is the number one thing to rule out.

A lot of times when a cat goes on the carpet, it is because of a Urinary Tract Infection or crystals. UTIs can be caused by stress (among other things) I would say that the stress of someone moving out could be a likely cause.

Please don't punish you cat, he did nothing wrong and punishing him will only make you look like the bad guy. If he is already stressed out but your current living situation, that won't help any.

Take him to a vet. If money i an issue there may be a low cost clinic near you. Check around, call shelters and ask or google it. A UTI/crystals are fairly easy to treat but they need to be treated as soon as you can. It can actually be painful for him to go to the bathroom, (he will not make this apparent to you, you most likely won't know) but cats will associate the pain as coming from the litterbox and refuse to use it. Another reason why he shouldn't be punished.