Why is the cat weeing on my bed?

[LondonLady1980]

Hello everyone!

I’ve wanted a cat for years and years and years, and I used to come on this forum just to look at other people’s cat photos and seethe with jealousy 🤣

Anyhow, last week we finally got some rescue cats after spending weeks finding a pair that felt like the right match for our family.

They have both settled in beautifully and are currently indoor cats only whilst they adjust to this being their home.

However, one of the cat keeps weeing on mine and DH’s bed ☹️ It’s the only place in the house she does it and otherwise is quite happy to use the litter tray.

I try to be as vigilant as possible at keeping the bedroom door closed, but sometimes she sneaks by me, makes a beeline for the bed and then automatically does a massive wee on it.

I want her to stop doing it for hygiene reasons, but also because I don’t want it to be a case of me always feeling anxious about her being in rooms on her own in case she wees on the furniture.

Is this normal behaviour for a cat coming into a new home? (as in targeting one place to urinate in that isn’t the litter tray).

Thank you.

Hello! Welcome to the litter tray and a life of cat slavery 😀. I'm not a massively experienced cat owner and have always had boys, but in my limited experience cats wee outside the litter when they are distressed or the litter tray isn't suitable for some reason. Are you sure the two get on well? It could be that the other cat is blocking litter access. Also do you have a litter tray for each cat? They don't like sharing. It could also be a sign of infection so a trip to the vet might be a good idea

I totally second the “one litter tray each”. We used to have two cats - sisters - but they wouldn’t use each other’s litter tray.

How many litter trays do you have? You would ideally have 3 for two cats, placed in more than one location. Make sure the litter trays are in a safe place where they aren't near people constantly walking by but also have more than one exit option. You might want to look at giving the two cats space from each other, also, such as their own separate feeding areas, as sometimes if one cat is dominant, the other cat can feel stressed which could manifest in weeing outside the litter box as you've experienced.

The cats are a bonded pair of sisters who had to be rehomed together which was fine as we wanted two. They are two years old and have always lived together.

One is much more dominant/outgoing than the other, and it is this dominant cat that is urinating on the bed.

We have got three litter trays in three different locations and she is happy to use them. She has never had a wee anywhere else in the house except the litter tray, apart from these instances when she has a wee on my bed.

I guess I assumed if she had a problem with the actual litter trays she would also be weeing in other locations of the house (rather than wanting to use the litter trays), but she isn’t.

Sometime I wish I could just read their minds.

Just digging deeper and the most common reasons seem to be illness or territory marking. If she is the more dominant one, then she maybe trying to mix her scent with yours. If she's pronounced healthy by the vet, then she may settle down as she settles in. In the meantime, you need to clean religiously with an enzyme cleaner, so she doesn't even get the faintest whiff of past pees and make sure she is kept out of the room. Feliway diffusers are also good for some cats if the cause is stress. The most comfort I can offer is that cats do go through phases as they settle into a new home and their behaviour does change. Marvin had some horrid behaviours in his first few weeks / months, but has evolved out of most of them as he's settled down.

@LondonLady1980 It would be worth getting the cat to Vets to check it doesn’t have a uti my DC when we first got him when he was 5 months old peed all over my daughters bed took him to vets straight away he had a uti so meds and he never done it again that and we had to get rid of my daughters bed and bedding the same day and buy new.
It could also be stress which the vet will be able to advise how you can help and what products are safe to use.
I would suggest closing all bedroom doors when you aren’t able to keep an eye on the cat all our bedroom doors remain closed when we are not in them and it’s never bothered any of our cat/ kittens only when we are in the room they are allowed in.

Cats will keep toiletting in the same spot once their smell is on it - you can get enzyme cleaners that help break down the pee but I would actually replace everything just to be sure.

No idea but I never let my cats in any bedrooms. Doors are always kept shut.

If it's the dominant cat it may be more territorial. Sometimes even indoor cats can mark territory if they can see other cats outside through the window. As long as there isn't a physical cause it should be solvable, you just have to be a bit of a detective to work out what's upsetting her. It's difficult though, I know, with cats you don't know very well. How long have you had them?

My cat went through a stage of weeing on my bed (including a few times when I was in the bed!) Vet couldn't find anything wrong, but she is quite an anxious little thing so it was put down to that.

Things that seemed to help included putting her food bowl on the bed for a few months, with the thought process that animals don't toilet where they eat. Obviously had to take the bowl off at night, she got some dreamies on the bed before I went to bed.

Now, we have been accident free for a few years, the food bowl is back in the kitchen but we kept up the routine of bedtime dreamies.

One of mine wees outside his tray if I get a different litter! You could try a different litter and see if that helps?

I had a cat that used to do this on and off. No UTIs and we tried everything including multiple trays and feliway. Multiple vet trips and the only suggestion was that maybe there was an entire male in the neighbourhood causing him anxiety. We had to keep shower curtains on the beds in case the kids left the doors open.

Our rescued male had a spate of doing this… on my daughter’s pillow one time and my son’s clothing which he had left on the floor. He was rolling over in these spaces and sniffing ecstatically beforehand. We think it was stress related sometimes and also humming to cover their scents with his own. I also recommend quiet areas with less “traffic” from the other occupants in the house for their litter trays. We keep the bedroom doors closed now unless someone is inside to keep an eye out.
Congratulations on your new role as cat servant! ❤️ Photos??

Our cat has done this before on occasion when he’s been stressed. We do similar, but instead we feed him treats on our bed- it’s the same idea, they won’t want to pee where they eat. We make time to play with him on the bed, and we tend to leave a few of his toys there, again to break the association. Also, make sure you religiously wash the bedding as hot as you can with the enzymatic cleanser. In fact, when this happens I tend to wash with the enzymatic cleanser, and then wash again straight away with a dose of the pet safe Zoflora in the machine, to really get rid of the smells. I also keep him out of the bedroom for a few days to break any associations.