Cat won't stop weeing on the beds 😭😭

[Cannotsettleatall]

We adopted a bonded pair of cats two months ago. We already have two small dogs (chihuahuas), and they are really good with the cats-they tend to leave them alone, but will have a sniff of the litter trays. Other than that the cats and dogs don't really interact. The cats will hiss at the dogs if they are nearby though, so they clearly aren't happy with them.

One cat is 5, and one is nearly 2. The 5 year old is much more friendly and outgoing, but he is also only using the bed for eliminating. The first three weeks he used the litter tray, and then just stopped and used the bed instead. The mattress was not salvageable, so I got waterproof mattress protectors and a new mattress, threw the pillows and duvet and thoroughly washed everything on the sanitise and steam setting. Now it is only the sheets and waterproof sheets I need to change as I don't leave pillows or a duvet on it during the day.

We have Feliway, he has his own safe room (my daughter's bedroom where he is peeing on the bed), he has been checked for UTI's and kidney issues.

We thought it might be because he was stressed being stuck behind a baby gate in my daughter's room if we went out, so now the dogs are shut downstairs and the cats have upstairs when we are out, and everyone has free roam when we are home, but that then meant that he not only eliminated on my daughter's bed, but also mine while we were out, and again weed on the pillows and duvet.

We only have four usable rooms in the house-two bedrooms, a lounge and a kitchen, and a very small bathroom, so I can't shut them in a utility or anything to stop the bed weeing.

I contacted the previous owner to see if this had happened at theirs, and all she said was "oh yeah, he used to do that all the time here".

Does anyone have any advice? I'm finding it really difficult. Thank you.

How come you can’t lock the cats downstairs instead of upstairs?

Shut the doors and let them have the hallway & landing.
You can't be letting the cat soil your beds everyday.

There’s too many pets in such a small house.

Are they outdoor cats?

One of our cats does this. I hate it SO MUCH.
We’ve now banned both cats (including my lovely good boy cat) from both bedrooms and shut the doors when we go to work.
I’m heavily pregnant and the one cat who wees has weed (weed? weeed?) in the baby’s new car seat.
She now wees on everything possible in the living room instead. Any towel/item of clothing left on the floor. Any bag on the floor. Any bag left on the table.
We have two cats and three large litter trays and she wees absolutely everywhere.
We’ve had her spayed in the hopes that’ll stop it.
I’m going insane.

Guessing yours is young if you’ve only just had her spayed? Hopefully she will grow out of it

Put tinfoil on the bed and she won’t go on there. Unfortunately she will probably just find another unsuitable place to go.

How many litter trays do you have? For 2 cats it’s recommended to have 3 trays (number of cats + 1) and have a Google of optimum positioning of trays.

You may have done this already but I couldn’t see it mentioned how many litter trays you have.

Our cat has 2 trays but he barely uses them. Will choose to do his business outside unless he has to stay indoors.

No, she’s 2, but she’s tiny! We adopted our first cat and then kind of “rescued” the kitten from a bad situation and she’s stayed so tiny so we didn’t really want to put her through surgery.
We booked her in post-car seat weeing.
We go on holiday on Monday so we’ll be letting her out for the first time when we’re back. I’m desperately hoping it stops the weeing.

You can try two things. First give them treats on the bed, like put it on the bed itself. They might leave crumbs which is bad but they wouldn't pee at the same place they eat from.
Try changing the litter type, maybe he is sensitive to the litter you are using or even if not sensitive he can smell it. Catsan non clumping litter could help plus there are some litter brands to help litter training. I am not sure how many litter trays you have in total but for 2 cats you need three.

Thank you all so much. We have three litter trays, but the previous owner was using Catsan and I am using Pets at Home wood shavings clumping, so that might be a fix! I didn't even think that he might be opposed to the clumping.

I will also swap it up so that the cats are downstairs and the dogs upstairs-I don't want the cats weeing on the sofa so will keep the lounge shut.

I have been giving him his wet food and treats on the bed but he goes on there anyway. I also didn't know about optimal tray positioning, thank you.

It does sound like too many pets in a small house, but the house is actually quite spacious, it just doesn't have a lot of rooms if that makes sense? Each room is in two sections, so for example my bedroom has my bed, chest of drawers, wardrobe etc, then a lintel running up the walls and across the ceiling, then the next section is my home office, so has a desk, bookcases etc. My daughter's room is the same, there is her bed "section' and then her playroom "section".

Thank you all so much. I feel like I am massively failing at cat ownership!

I don’t think you’re failing at all xx You clearly care about your pets and having them wee on your bed is not nice for you. I hope some of the fixes do the trick.

Bit shit of the previous owners not to tell you like. Sounds like an ingrained habit.

I don't think some cats are set up to live in houses, they're better off on farms.

Have you tried putting litter tray in the bedroom he's peeing in? My cat peed on the spare bed, I had bought one of them litter robots and he didn't like it rotating so chose to pee on the bed instead. I have now turned it off and rotate it manually and he happily uses it and stopped peeing on the bed.
If they aren't keen on the dogs could the dogs be putting him off using the tray? Is there some where you can put them where the dogs can't get to?

Update for the day;

I covered the bed in tin foil, put a litter tray on the cat foil as close as possible to the side that he jumps up on, and he jumped over the litter tray, kicked up the tin foil and weed underneath it 😭😭. The other cat has also started weeing in the bedding cupboard, so I got home from picking my daughter up to the strongest wee smell-we could both smell it as soon as we opened the front door. I honestly don't think I can cope with this 😭😭.

This sounds like the only option is to go outside?

Where did you adopt them ?

You didn't answer the question posted earlier about whether they go outside?

You need to let the cats outside to roam.

@Cannotsettleatall oh no ! Imagine the Winter, and having all that washing . I'd let them out. If that doesn't work then .....well..., re-home them.

Oddly enough my dog used to do this. You could have walked through the woods, come home, and she'd jump up on the bed and pee. This seemed to coincide with her coming into season.

I have tried putting the cats out and every time they just freak out and leg it back into the house and up to the bedroom. I am also a bit scared that they won't come back again!!

I have narrowed it down to the dogs barking. If the dogs bark (not at the cats, but at a van or postman outside) then there will be a wee on soft furnishings somewhere. They have also started marking the carpet outside the bathroom; it seems to be getting worse instead of better.

We re-homed them through a cat cafe, but it was not as "vetted" as I had expected. We sent an initial enquiry, and then it was just a case of "text the owner". The owner was very keen for them to go ASAP and I was very upfront about the fact that we had 2 small barky dogs, and she said "oh, they are fine with dogs, we have a Yorkie". They did have a Yorkie, but the cats are clearly not ok with dogs. I think we are just stressing them out too much, it has been over two months and they haven't de-compressed at all.

I have tried putting the cats out and every time they just freak out and leg it back into the house and up to the bedroom. I am also a bit scared that they won't come back again!!

It can take weeks or even months for cats to get used to being outside if they've never been allowed out before. It's not an immediate solution, it takes time - especially as they're adults.

I’m sorry your cats are so unsettled. It may be that they’re happier in a home without dogs/children.

FWIW I had a pair of ‘bonded’ cats who didn’t seem that fond of each other. I’m convinced it was just a way of rehoming two at a time!

One of them weed and pooed on beds, sofas, rugs, floors, in bags etc. it drove me demented. After a few years of this, trying everything possible, closing all doors, waterproof mattress covers etc and investigations for UTIs she became very unwell.

It was suggested that she might have a thyroid issue or diabetes. The vet said we should test her next time we came in for one or other. I pushed for them to test there and then. Got a phone call I think the next day to say she was in keto acidosis from diabetes and may mot survive the weekend. Started on a regimen of insulin twice a day (wasn’t too expensive but was a real bind having to be home EVERY day at 12 hour intervals, plus access to food at the halfway point between injections.). She stopped peeing inappropriately and went on to live for several years.

After the other cat died she came into her own, was so much more relaxed and eventually the diabetes went into remission as it had clearly been brought on by the stress of first being in the rehoming centre and then living with our other cat. Poor little mite at least got a few months or normal life at the end.

All of this to say, the situation clearly isn't right so please investigate diabetes, thyroid etc and if no cause is found, don’t feel bad about re homing as your cat may be suffering from the environment they’re living in.

I would go to a proper rescue shelter with proper cat lovers, and offer to adopt two cats that can go with your dogs and ask them to take your two current cats.

As you say they are very unhappy with your dogs and that cannot change ! Even if they were like one of mine that loves being outside all day, they still want to come back and be in a happy home.

Op, has you had any success yet?
one of my cats started weeping on the bed in the summer, on and off. The vet said she was stressed. She started again about two weeks ago. Done 2-3 times now only in the morning after breakfast. She basically is downstairs eating with the other two, fed by my partner, then she comes upstairs and wees on the bed with me in it. This morning she was coming in as I was going downstairs. When I got back there was a big puddles under my partner’s pillow.
the vet gave her gabapentin, suggested feliway, I have two in the house plugged in at all times. he also told me to leave her toys on the bed. It worked for a while but then started again. We have had another kitten for 2-3 months now, he can be a bit op much but she also plays with him.
She only pees on our bed; she claimed the spare bed which was bought after she started weeing, she never does it on that one.
My question to you is what brand of mattress protector you use? I bough for convenience silent night and B&M own brand but they also get wet. I now use two at a time, but I am looking for better quality ones.

My cat lives downstairs and we have a pet barrier. That’s only because he scratches carpets. I sure as hell would have put a pet barrier up a long time ago if it was pissing on beds!