Cat/s peeing on bed - advice?

[beforeihit30]

First time in ‘the litter tray’ for me so apologies if this has been done lots!

We have two cats, a little over 1.5 years old, rescues that we got 7 months ago. Two brothers, moggies, no health issues and good with children. We have two young DC (5 and 3) who like the cats and are usually gentle (we supervise), but generally tend to just live with the cats rather than trying to spend lots of time with them (ie they’re not constantly bombarding the cats!). DH stays at home so is around with them a lot and they go outside.

They settled really well when we got them, and have been fine ever since, until a few days ago. Cat 1 peed on DC1’s bed, stripped, cleaned etc and did it again. It seems that Cat 2 has now just peed on DC1’s bed! We can’t be 100% sure it was always Cat 1 that had peed previously (circumstantial evidence of him in the room rather than seeing him pee), but definitely Cat 2 did it this morning.

No major changes but during the same period they’ve been a bit fussy with food (particularly/mainly Cat 1, they usually prefer dry, but now sometimes ignoring dry but then miaowing for food and eating up all the wet when we’ve offered it, then not wanting wet later and preferring dry again).

I’ve ordered some stuff (another litter tray to have upstairs, we have a couple downstairs, cat urine neutraliser, Feliway spray and some toys for good measure) but wondering if anyone has prior experience or tips they could share?

We have a good vet locally and I will be calling them, but I am both frustrated and worried so looking for some words of wisdom from other cat families!

For info, we live in a 3 bed house, fairly large, front and back garden, quiet, so lots of space for them to hide away, play and so on.

Even thought you washed the sheets after the first time, some smell remains (to them) which encourages them to wee on the same spot again.

Try using a special enzymatic cleaner for pet wee, scrub the mattress with it and it might get rid of the lingering smells which are saying "mark territory here" to them.

I can't remember the brand I use but I got it on Amazon.

I had this problem when I first got my rescue cat. He did it a couple of times a day for a week or so. I took him to the vet first who ruled out UTI etc.

Like you I added a third tray upstairs and extra felliway diffusers. I also used this www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/simple-solution-stain-and-odour-remover-750ml on all the bedding before washing & drycleaning everything.

He's been fine for a couple of months now and he uses the new tray when he is upstairs so hopefully he's sorted.

Thank you, very helpful (and reassuring!), will make sure we have some of that cleaner!

Sorry to state the obvious but keep them confined to downstairs or at least shut bedroom doors

Thanks Roly doing that now! Originally we had kept it to keeping them out of the bedroom, but when DCs got up in the morning (and left door open before we woke up...) is when they snuck in and peed but now we’re keeping them in the kitchen in the evening/overnight so no sneaking hopefully. It’s easier during the day as we don’t go upstairs for anything (we have a downstairs bathroom) so no opening bedroom doors etc and cats spend most of their time outside anyway.

I think we’re getting somewhere, thanks all!