My cat pisses on anything soft - driving me crackers

[Cryojeenic]

Let me preface this by saying we've had her thoroughly checked out by the vet on more than one occasion, including very recently, and she's not ill. She's 9. There's also nothing that I can see that would be causing her stress - no house moves, no building, no fights with other cats, not even a small environmental change, no visitors. We are a very quiet household - my DH, my DS who is 8 and very gentle, and me. We have another cat but they've been together since they were kittens and they never fight.

She's always had a tendency to prefer weeing on soft things - my son's bed was always a particular favourite, so we have got used to keeping the door to his bedroom closed. However in the last couple of years she will piss on anything soft - she's now not allowed in the living room unsupervised because she will wee on the sofa, she will also wee on mine and DH's bed, she will wee on my chair in my office. The only places she won't wee are places she sleeps, so the spare bed is always unsullied and so is her own cat bed in the landing, and one armchair that gets the sun.

We've got more litter trays (we now have 5 in total!), we've used the feliway, we've moved the litter trays to different areas, we've done everything I can possibly think of and nothing helps. We have to be vigilant about keeping doors closed and covering up the sofa if we can't be watching her and it's doing my head in tbh.

She does her poos in the litter no bother at all so she clearly knows how to use it, and if there is no other option she will wee in there too - sometimes I can see her sniffing around on a soft thing and I will put her in the litter and she will wee immediately. We've had new things as well so it's not even that she's smelling her wee and repeating the behaviour.

I'm at the point now where the only thing I can think of is putting down a soft blanket or something near her litter trays specifically for her to wee on, as at least that way I'll know where she's done it and I can bung it in the washing machine!

Any ideas????

I have no ideas but just wanted to show solidarity. I've tried everything with mine but she generally uses the hall floor as her litter tray.

I have the same problem but with hard things my cat likes to wee on hard shiny surfaces like floor tiles etc.

The only solution I have is to change the texture, so rugs etc, cushions on wooden sears

Can you put something shiny like one of those plastic fabric tablecloths over the sofa when no one is sat on there to change the texture

I've also been to the vets and their only remaining solution was to put the cat down, which they wouldn't have agreed to do and I could never do so we just have to live with it with buckets of disinfectant. Its easier for us I appreciate because its just a couple of floors to deep clean regularly

Have you tried changing the litter ? Mine doesn't like the woody stuff so I use
Biocatolet which is really soft & made out of newspaper.
Available from amazon & B&M

I feel your pain, lovely neutered adult male insists on scenting my house.

Would a soft blanket in a litter tray work? It's worth a try if it keeps it to one place.

I think we will have to try the blanket in the litter tray option. At the moment we are quite good at keeping her shut away from things she will wee on, it's just annoying if we leave the house and forget, to come back to a weed on sofa!

You could try one of those washable fleece liners you get for rabbit and guinea pig hutches and pop it in a litter box

We've also tried a change of litter and not only did that not work, but the other cat didn't like it and started shitting on the floor 😂

this is a great idea, thank you

Let us know how you get on. I'd be interested to know if it works. Sadly my furniture peeing cat is no longer with us. But I well remember the pain of yet again trying to get cat wee off the sofa.

Once a cat starts peeing in the house they don't usually stop

You could try puppy pads, either in her litter tray or just loose.

And I thought mine was bad! He just wees on random things including, yesterday, the digital kitchen timer on the kitchen counter.

helpful, thank you!

we are pretty vigilant about closing the door to the room with the sofa so thankfully she doesn't get the chance much. I do feel sorry for my other cat though as before this they would have the run of the whole house.

Weeing on soft surfaces is sometimes just a sign of urge incontinence. The cat's feet feel the texture and the bladder lets go. If all else fails, a cat nappy with a cat onesie over it will save the soft furnishings

Mmm I don't know, I can tell when she's specifically looking for somewhere to wee as she comes skulking into a room looking shifty.

I know it's not ideal but puppy pads are good, waterproof too..It doesn't solve the problem but at least protects you surfaces

😂😂😂
Typical cats!
Op have you tried using big puppy pads where she goes, maybe with a throw over it? I had to do this on my settee. At least you're only washing the throw then. You can also get waterproof covers from Amazon.

My friend had a lovely range cooker that developed an awful smell. Couldn't get to the bottom of it, but when it developed a fault the engineer took it to bits and found the cat had been standing at the back of the cooker at night and weeing on the vents down the back.

I don't really want to encourage her to go on it full stop, the strategy at the moment (which is working quite well but it would be nice not to need it) is that we just don't allow her in that room unless it's in the evening, when we are sat on the sofa and she comes to sit on us. Was sort of hoping that would mean she starts associating it with nice cuddles and not a piss party.

Our cat is the same - leave a jumper on the bench or a tea towel on the kitchen counter….she will wee on it. So annoying.

No advice but solidarity here, we have a cat like this and the only solution has been to keep the doors of the living room, bedrooms, etc closed, same as you. It’s really annoying

for cleaning I bought that Simple Solution - I initially used it as a cat had sprayed on my front door & it stank - It took the smell away and discouraged them from coming back. I now use it for my own cat. it really works.

Has the vet checked her kidneys? Sounds like she may not be able to control herself and just pees where she is. Cats like to sit on soft things=she pees on soft things.
My MIL is incontinent but strangely dry at night in her bed, while she’s sleeping.

I’d have your cat checked over.

I’m glad this is not just my problem!

Things I found helped were getting a much bigger litter box (we actually use an under bed storage box), and a coir based litter, which is soft and a bit soil-like. Really dusty which is a bit of a pain though. I was almost at the point of putting out a call on Facebook for old towels to leave in strategic locations! He now wees in the litter box the vast majority of the time, so contrary to an earlier poster it is possible to change this behaviour!