Cat is peeing on my clothes.

[tammyp]

Unfortunately for us mere humans,mistaken.  Cats don't think with nice human rationality (they have nice cat rationality

).  It could be another mysterious thing that sets her off on these occasions, or any small variation in smells, stress, routine, how she's feeling etc, that just trip the wire that 'it's nice to pee here' - because that wire has already been created.

We are still in training mode too; no stress in the house at present, but we do have a new mattress and pillows (with foreign and interesting smells), so we are being vigilant - no cat in bedroom without active supervision.    Sure enough, Kato jumped on the sheet part of the made up bed (pillows already put away in cupboard, most of the bed covered in his rugs) and scratched around and lowered himself a little.  I put my hand under him to interrupt any thoughts of peeing (he did a cartwheel thinking I was playing, landing with belly and feet up!), and then he left the room.  Just 10secs later when I went out, I could see him peeing in his box.  He got tonnes of praise and made blinky eyes at me from the box, so he knew he did the right thing.  I'm working on the theory of never letting them refresh that wrong pee idea, and always to refresh the right pee idea, until this becomes the dominant behavioural thought 'wire' in their head.  It takes absolute vigilance; which is why the small room confinement works in cases where the inappropriate peeing is happening over a wide space. You know this is a safe room where they can't do the bad peeing - the only lovely pee option in the room is the clean litter box.  Then you let them out only under your gaze so instance re-routing can be given.  (In our situation, with the bad peeing only happening in one room, it obviously works in reverse but still with the same principle; access to the areas where only good peeing is the pattern, strict supervision in the liable areas.)

 

[mani]

What I don't understand is that 90% of the time, she pees in the box. It's usually only once a day that she pees on something else. Or it'll go a week without incident and then she'll pee on something else every day for the next week. If it were a litter box aversion I would think that she would never (or rarely) use the box. Or am I mistaken?

I can only assume that it is a habit that has taken hold, and there is probably a trigger.  I don't know what that is, although the UTI and stress are a likely combination.

You have moved a lot.. there has been a lot of disruption in their lives and that can lead to stress which is often a factor in these things. 

Retraining is really the option now.

 

[peowmeow]

I SERIOUSLY recommend that you change your vet. You vet is obviously someone who doesn't understand that cats have personalities and issues just like people. You do not prescribe valium and such stuff to cats because they are peeing.  I have had cats all my life(seriously there's picture of me with cats when I'm a baby) and currently have four. This has happened to me lots and lots of times. Unless there is a definitive medical cause like UTI etc, it is obviously a behavioral issue. Sometimes some cats start with a UTI but then continue the behavior when UTI is gone because they are still unhappy with something. Here's my advice:

-try a whole lot of different types of litters. My cats don't like the wheat, some of them are okay with the corn, one of them will only go on your plain ol normal clay type litter(though I sneak in some corn litter and she's fine when its a combination). Also, go buy a whole bunch of litterboxes (buy them off craigslist or buy the disposable ones they sell at pet stores or supermarkets) and put them everywhere you can think of(at some point have like 10 litterboxes at the same time) and see which are being used the most and then keep the 2 or 3 top used. They might hate the location of the current litterboxes. We currently have one litterbox in the laundry room,  two in the garage in different corners of the garage, and one in our bathroom(remember I have four cats)

-change their food a few times. Look up articles about only feeding cats dry food or only feeding them wet food. For most cats its not a good idea to only stick to wet or dry. In my experience cats' systems work the best when they get both(also helps ward off UTI's). We feed our cats only twice a day in morning and night and in the morning we give them dry food and at night we split a large can of wet food between them and add in a little bit of the dry. We like Hills Science the most after trying exhaustive brands but we do switch it up and add in a few cans of different brands of food every once so they won't get bored with the same food and hopefully get different types of nutrients. Oh also make sure they have lots of clean water and more than one water bowl. We have three in different areas of the house.

-buy a lot of cat trees or cat window sill perches(again craigslist or ebay if you can't afford)

-for areas that they keep going back to pee on, try spreading a light coat of lemon powder(or lemon oil but powder is cheaper) all over the area if you can(if it won't damage the area). You will have to keep adding a little bit more every once in a while(like every other day or every two days) for a long time like weeks or months until it stops. Cats don't like lemon scent. Here's a few links of cheap lemon powder https://www.spicesforless.com, http://www.abesmarket.com/frontier-bulk-lemon-peel-powder-certified-organic-1-lb-package.html.

-If you allow them to go out, make sure they go out more often. If you don't allow them to go out, the more reason to give them tons of window perches on various different windows to look out. Our cats are allowed to go out every single day for at least a few minutes but they are outside almost all day on weekends and from 5-8pm during the week after work. Except for winter, they hardly go out as they don't like the cold. They usually come right in when we call them knowing they are going to be fed soon. Yup you guessed it, we do have cat doors to the outside and luckily they are lockable so we are able to control when they go out.

-Buy them lots of different beds until you figure out what they like. Cats really like it when they are made to feel special. Our cats have a combination of a cube like bed they sink it to which they love, hammock type bed, and even a big fluffy dog bed. Though they love sleeping our bed lots of the time also.

-Lastly, I have to go there, don't get mad at me, but It is very common that cats display this pee all over the place behavior when they are being yelled at, locked up in rooms(or locked out of rooms and kept away from interaction they want from their owners), physically hit, ignored for long periods of time etc. Make sure no one is doing anything at all mean to them.

If all of this doesn't work and you decide to get rid of them, please find and take them to a center that has a no kill policy please.

If you actually read all of this, well thanks for reading all of this

 

[candybars84]

I have this same problem. cat rarely pees in her box. she is 4 yr old calico, spayed/neutered. she goes for the clothes. she seems to be in great health but. visit to the vet my be in her future. she doesn't pee on furniture or rugs or carpet. but bottom of laundry shoot seems to be her new fav place.

two environmental factors can be mentioned since this started. we babysitted a small dog for a week, they tolerated each other. we figure she may be mad at us because of the dog. he had returned a few times but only for the day.

the second factor is we have begun to let her outside under supervision. she loves it, she has been an indoor cat for her first few years we got here when she was almost 3. she has all her claws and loves to play. she doesn't like people food or cat treats, she likes to play and cuddle. But now she may be peeing because she can't go outside all the time? only when we let her...30mins every few days

 

[coco and rose]

I agree with Mani, retraining your cats is the best solution to your problem. I also live in a small apartment and have two cats so I understand how horrifying a problem like yours can be.

If I were you, I would try to do, at least while you retrain them, everything people have recommended here. I.e. playing with them, feeding them healthy food, getting rid of any odor that might encourage them peeing in the wrong places again, maintaining a clean litter box, making sure they have enough scratch pots, etc. 

But the crucial part is the training. Locking them up in an area with the litter box available is, in my opinion, the way to go. Then, reprimanding them when they do it anywhere outside their box is what I would do. 

When one of my cats peed where she shouldn't (granted, this has happened only once to my kitten Coco, but I would do the same again) I made absolutely sure she understands she should not do that. Yes, this may be controversial, but I took her firmly her by the neck (without hurting her) and pushed/rubbed her nose against the peed place while at the same time making harsh noises with a piece of paper or newspaper against her body and face, so she was very scared. I am usually very loving and gentle with both my babies, so to get that reaction from me definitely sent the message that I was extremely unhappy. She also slept in the bathroom by herself, while her brother Banjo slept with me. It broke my heart but had to be done. She and Banjo were only allowed into the area where this happened under supervision for about a week. If this horrible experience only happens when they pee when they shouldn't, I bet they'll eventually stop, especially if everything else is as it should be.

 

[tammyp]

Yes, it is controversial Coco and Rose - because it is not good training.  Rubbing noses in business done outside the litter box is old school thinking, and we have come a long way from that.  In my opinion, it is abuse. Cats don't WANT to go outside the litter box, it is contrary to their nature, and they have an abhorrence for 'mess', so shoving their acutely sensitive noses into smelly, acidic/basic substances HURTS.  When cats go in an 'inappropriate' spot, it is for a definite reason, so it is up to the humans to figure it out, (we wouldn't shove pee or poo in a human's face if they burst into tears, or were incontinent - it's the same thing.)

I have had a long road in working with my Kato who pees on our bed in times of stress - but I know WHY he does it (heck, he even did it when unbeknown to us, my husband had leukemia - he was diagnosed 1 week later), and I have a recipe of techniques to live happily in a clean bed.  We can help our cats - both in the underlying causes, and in the behaviour we don't want - with humane methods.Cruel methods risk harm, making us 'monsters' in their eyes, and exacerbating their stress - which effects their health, and both of these things can lead to inappropriate elimination...just the thing we want to fix, not perpetuate.

 

[coco and rose]

I never said it was "good training" it is simply what I do with my cats when everything else (and on top of everything else) fails. I don't think it's inhumane, but I do think it is harsh. And especially harsh for a kitten, like my Coco, who I am sure did not do it on purpose. (I think in this occasion the attraction might have been a few lose papers that were on top of the bed, which most have had a funny smell.) Regardless, this harsh reprimand has worked for all the previous cats in the family, and like spanking for kids, I agree it is "old school thinking" and I don't particularly like doing it either. I think patience, as well as a healthy and loving environment along with play eat love and a clean litter-box is absolutely essential. Hopefully more cat owners can be like you and never need to resource to such methods. 

 

[tammyp]

 I never said it was "good training"

Then please don't advocate it as a 'last resort' method - it is not good.  Because I agree with you here,  many 'more cat owners can be like you and never need to resource to such methods ' - they (and you) really can!

 

[coco and rose]

Then please don't advocate it as a 'last resort' method.

Haha, I'm not advocating. Simply voicing my opinion and also my personal experience, in this particular case, in hope it might help Juliet, Selene and their owners.