cat lovers -- i need advice

I have 2 cats.  Sisters who have been with me for a year and a half. 

Both are very "good" cats, but one of the sisters has not been behaving herself for a couple of weeks now.  She has apparently decided that my bed is an acceptable place to pee. 

It started when my DH and I went on vacation for a week (mid-July)and my son who was supposed to be taking care of them didn't give much attention to their litter box.   So I bought stuff to get rid of the scent and washed everything (waterbed, so no mattress to worry about). 

Everything was fine for couple of weeks until we went out of town overnight and it happened again.  The litter box was certainly not the problem that time.  Since then it has happened several times.  So we started covering the bed during the day with a plastic tarp and that seemed to solve the problem. 

Until the last 2 days -- now she has apparently decided that she is only going to get the opportunity to pee on the bed while we are in it!!

I thought that possible the problem was because I was unable to completely rid the comforter of the smell, so I actually went out and bought a second set of sheets and comforter.  I used them last night and I woke up this morning to another wet spot.   And to top it off, just a few minutes later I observed her use the litter box (defecating), so apparently it's not too dirty for her... besides the fact that I had cleaned it out last night. 

I'm going to take off work early this afternoon and take her to the vet to get checked out even though I'm convenced this is behavioral.  Other than banning her from my bedroom, or crating her at night, does anyone have any suggestions? 

You're going to have to clean the sheets thoroughly. You may need a new mattress instead. No, I'm not kidding.

Once the cat's pegged a place as a litter box and it starts SMELLING like a litter box, she'll probably keep using it.

You probably WILL need to kick her out of the bedroom until the behavior is under control.

I had a cat that did this, who I also thought was being vindictive for me being gone. Turns out he just had a bladder infection and he was trying to tell me! Hopefully that's all that's wrong with your kitten. Now, that's still not to say he's not a brat, because if I leave he gets mad and throws up on my bed...but I guess that's just a cat thing. Sometimes I think dogs are easier, lol!

Clean all of your bedding (again), a couple times, and keep your cat out of the room for awhile. Hopefully she stops.

Original Post by hkellick:

You're going to have to clean the sheets thoroughly. You may need a new mattress instead. No, I'm not kidding.

Once the cat's pegged a place as a litter box and it starts SMELLING like a litter box, she'll probably keep using it.

You probably WILL need to kick her out of the bedroom until the behavior is under control.

Yeah, I know.  I've cleaned them thoroughly -- spraying them with stuff purchased at the pet store (Nature's Miracle I think?) and letting that do it's work (enzymatically) and then soaking in a vinegar solution, and then regular wash. 

Plus, the new sheets and comforter I bought yesterday and used last night did not have any scent on them.  It's a waterbed, so the mattress isn't a problem -- I made sure I sprayed it down with the store bought stuff.

So, there was nothing on the bed last night that should have had any cat scent on it. 

But, I think you are right -- iI may just have to ban her from the bedroom or crate her at night.  Banning her causes it's own set of problems because the litter box is in the master bathroom, so I may have to get another litter box.

Original Post by karozel:

But, I think you are right -- iI may just have to ban her from the bedroom or crate her at night.  Banning her causes it's own set of problems because the litter box is in the master bathroom, so I may have to get another litter box.

You definitely will.

Also, you should expect chaos while you're sleeping and probably not a little bit of whining and batting at the door. So be prepared.

I didn't think of the bladder infection, but now that agent said it, I think she might be on to something.

Yep, that's why I'm going to take her to the vet this afternoon.  I want to rule out any possible urinary problem, as I know that can make them have accidents.  Although since the timing was a first strictly related to our being gone overnight --- well I think it's behavioural. 

Actually, I may take them both to the vet.  Some of my reading states that if the other cat has urinary problems they may have "leaking" of urine.  Then the second cat smells it and urinates in the same place.  

I'm prepared for the noise and crying.  She definitely won't be happy to be banned from the bedroom. 

My concern about that is if we don't figure out the "real" problem, then she is just going to find some other place to urinate.  If it's just a bad habit this might work... if she is distresssed, or ill, then it's likely just going to relocate the bad behaviour. 

Original Post by karozel:

My concern about that is if we don't figure out the "real" problem, then she is just going to find some other place to urinate.  If it's just a bad habit this might work... if she is distresssed, or ill, then it's likely just going to relocate the bad behaviour. 

I understand your concern. It's a fair concern.

Good luck. Hopefully you get an answer to what's going on AND a solution soon!

if she checks out as healthy by the vet, try moving the food bowl to the bed. Cats are less likely to pee where they feed.

If they had irregular water availability, as it sounds like your son may not have cared for them properly, she may well have a problem w/her kidneys and that's something the vet will be able to find out.

Yeah, I thought about putting the food on the bed.  But won't work at night... lol.  Still, if they get into a mindset of eating there, I imagine it might help.

My son was good about keeping them fed and watered.  He just conveniently (<sigh>) forgot to check the litter box which was in my bathroom.  They drink out of the toilets half the time anyway, so I'm sure they didn't have a lack of water. 

Another thought is to to get 2 litter boxes, one for each cat.  Sometimes, cats do better when they don't have to share.

Also, I think you are smart to take both cats.  If there is a physical problem, then they might both have it, and you'll be better off treating both of them at the same time so they don't re-infect each other.

Good luck!

I suspect it is one of two things.  Either the cat has some sort of urinary tract infection (which was the case when one of my cats did this; she has not ever peed on the bed since getting better) or she's not happy about having to share a single litter box. 

The general recommendation for litter boxes is one per cat plus one extra - which sounds like a lot but isn't really any more work because it's the same amount of pee/poo either way.  With siblings, sometimes you get away with less boxes than that.  My parents' two cats have shared a single litter box all their lives.  My two have special problems (one likes to chase/jump on the other while she's using the litter box) so we have three boxes - one of which is in the bathroom so I can physically separate them while the little one goes, and one of which is in the basement so that if big cat is on one floor, little cat can find a 'safe' litter box on a different floor.  (The whole reason she got the UTI in the first place was from "holding it" too long to avoid being jumped on while peeing.  So, silly as it sounds, she now gets escorted visits to the litter box with the other cat shut out of the room.  It works.)

I totally sympathize. One of my cats had an inappropriate elimination issue - no fun at all. We'd recently gotten a new cat, and it pushed him over the edge.

I actuallly took him to a cat behavioral specialist (had to drive the cat to the nearest vet school - not fun, not cheap, but it worked). Once a medical issue was ruled out, her approach was multipronged:

1. Remove him from the environment. In my case, this worked out pretty well, since we had a large, screened in porch that had a cat door to my bedroom. For two weeks, he was confined to just the porch, then slowly reintroduced to the bedroom. It was half a year before he was allowed in the rest of the house.

2. Give him lots of choices for litterboxes, and keep them clean. This was a real pain. I had four litterboxes - two with regular clay litter, one with scoopable clay litter, one with pine litter, some covered some not - that I scooped out twice a day, every day, and washed with soap and water every week. Gradually I reduced this to two litterboxes and reduced the cleaning frequency *slightly*. I kept notes on which box he used and adjusted the litter/box to his preferences.

3. Completely clean the areas where he used to spray. The vet recommended the same stuff you're using (the Simple Solution/Natures Miracle enzyme cleaner). I still to this day associate the smell of that stuff with cat pee, but it worked. By completely clean, I mean throw away rugs/linens, mop repeatedly for a couple of weeks, air out wooden objects and clean several times with Murphey's Oil soap.

4. Put him on prescription antidepressants. Not every vet can prescribe these, and there are side effects. Plus, you have to pill your cat every day. And I, at least, had to buy these at a human pharmacy (fun fact: my cat got  a letter inviting him to be a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit regarding generic drug price fixing!!) Ultimately we weaned him off these, but he was on medication for a full year.

Ultimately, his problem behavior stopped entirely, but it was a major hassle, and pretty expensive. I wouldn't recommend a course of treatment without talking to your vet, but the "litterbox cafe" approach she recommended is benign and instantly reduced his probem behavior by about half. Cats like variety, and he spent much of the first day enjoying the novelty of going from box to box.

Good luck - it can be dealt with!

Well, the vet was unable to get a urine sample, but they went ahead and gave me anti-biotic for her.   They did think she *might* have one based on palpating her bladder.  They think the second cat is fine. 

They did give me a kit to try to collect some urine, but it seems like a rather difficult process, and timing may be an issue. 

They also recommended a second litter box which I went out and got and  I also went back to our original litter as we had changed several months ago to a new brand... maybe she wasn't as happy with the new one... but the timing is off.

I'm going to crate her for a few nights until she is comfortable with the new litter box.  I can't ban her from the bedroom at this time because the current litter box is in the master bathroom, so until she is using the new one, I guess we are crating her at night.