Soiling on the bed - but also uses the litter trays

[AlltheFs]

I have 2 new kittens, boy and girl siblings, currently 15 weeks old. We have had cats and kittens forever (I think they are the 12th and 13th we have had-not novice cat slaves).

One of them (I suspect the boy) is weeing and pooing (sometimes both sometimes one or the other) on the beds but it is not all the time (about weekly) and they are using the litter trays happily too. It could be both of them but I think it’s probably not. It only started 3 weeks after they arrived (we have had them 6).

All of the guidance online relates to issues using the litter trays - but we don’t have that. They both happily use the trays almost all of the time.

Points of info:
They are not yet neutered-booked for end of Aug as they are too little yet. I wonder if that might help though.

They are indoor only at the moment but will go out from 6 months.

We have 3 very large litter trays in a small cottage, there’s no room for any more
I have tried using different litters, but they seem to like any. They had all sorts at cats protection. There’s no reluctance to using the trays. They are kept very clean with solids removed as soon as seen and litter completely changed every 3 days. I wash out only with water so it’s not to do with chemicals or fragrances.

They have seen several vets recently (cat protection adopted and have had various appointments for health checks and vaccinations etc). They are physically tip top.

They were born at Cats Protection to a lovely mum, so no trauma.

I have added Feliway diffusers yesterday to see if they help. Too soon to tell.

We are already £2k in now with costs of replacing mattresses and bedding!

We can’t stop access to upstairs due to cottage layout and can’t shut 2 of the bedroom doors as we have a child that can’t open them and she needs to be able to go in and out of her and my room etc.

What else can we try? I do wonder if it is related to separation anxiety as it has coincided with when I don’t WFH/am out, but it happened last night after I got home, not when actually out. My DH WFH every day but from a garden office. He is in to see them every couple of hours though so they aren’t left long-never properly alone for very long at all.

I’m a bit flummoxed as it genuinely doesn’t seem to be a litter tray issue but everything online talks about the trays and assumes they aren’t using them.

Mattress protector for a start! Why do you need to replace the bedding? Did you replace every time your daughter wet the bed?

Our boy cat did this as a kitten when he came to live with us and we already had an adult cat. He was asserting his dominance. A few tweaks with the litter trays and he stopped before too long. The vet also recommended neutering him quite early (I don’t know if I would recommend it myself, am just saying what we did).

Why have you had to replace so much stuff? Make sure you have mattress protectors etc!

We have those, we didn’t have a waterproof one on one of the beds to start with.

We didn’t change the mattress to start with but on the second go in same we decided to as it was soaked through and couldn’t get the smell out. It’s a superking, they are not cheap! The duvet was £200

The duvet, topper and pillows were not washable-hungarian feather and down. He obviously has a penchant for expensive items….

Cat urine is very hard to get rid of, just because we can’t smell it-they can. It was advised that we get rid of it all, as otherwise the smell encourages repeat performances.

The second soaking of the big mattress though was beyond saving, it was absolutely awful. That room can be made out of bounds at least though so that’s something. The new mattress has two waterproof sheets on, one on the mattress and one over the new topper.

Fortunately DD’s mattress is fine, she isn’t dry at night so it was well protected. Her duvet is washable at least and he didn’t walk poo all over the whole bed this time. I can’t deal with the trauma of binning her paw patrol set that was realized hard to get in the first place to fit her bed.

I really hope the neutering fixes it, 4 months is the earliest they will do and he needs his other testicle descending first too, but hopefully it will happen on 25th.

It’s a good job they are bloody cute that’s all I can say.

I would put a few cat treats like Dreamies on the bed exactly in the spot he has previously wee’d on. Cats don’t urinate where they eat so he won’t want to wee there if he associates it with food instead. I know treats on a bed might be too far for some though!

Alternatively they don’t like citrus so some citrus scent on the bedding might help.

Id shut them out for the minute tbh as much as a ballache it is. See how it goes after neutering.

I can’t shut my 3 year old in her bedroom, I just can’t. She would be absolutely beside herself.

I can shut the doors while DD is at nursery but not at night.

Happy to try that! I’ll get some - they haven’t had treats before so it’s worth a try.

Good luck!

That's not what I meant. Keep the doors shut when the rooms aren't occupied.

Well the plot thickens, just now whilst reading bedroom stories the little boy kitten shoved the little girl off my lap as he wanted to lie there. She then looked like she was trying to wee on the bed. I jumped up and she legged it to the other bed and tried again. I might be being paranoid as it is hard to tell if she was squatting to pounce or not but it looked deeply suspect as she scratched the bedding first like they do in a tray.
I hoiked her downstairs and she did a wee and poo in the litter tray. So now I am wondering if it is her, not him, and it is what she does when the boy cat pisses her off and is being dominant?

Either way hopefully neutering will help, just 2 weeks left.

We haven’t had any repeats since I posted before today but we are being hyper vigilant.

*bedtime stories

Don't allow the kittens in the bedroom. I hate cleaning bed linen so would just have a stairgate at the bottom of the stairs

We can’t.

It’s an old cottage and there is no way of attaching anything to the stairs that could stop a cat, but be safe for a 4 year old to go up and down unless we change the entire staircase which isn’t happening. They could easily jump a standard stairgate anyway, they can jump into the windowsills and they are well over 1m.

I love cats on the bed so I am hoping they grow out of it!