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dee_light's avatar

Why does my kitten keep peeing on my bed?

Asked by dee_light (17points) July 6th, 2007

I have 2 stray kittens, a boy and a girl, that I rescued about 2 months ago. They both use the litter box regularly; however, the girl occasionally pees on my comforter, roughly every other week. This week, she peed once on the comforter, and once on the other kitten who was lying on the comforter. I can't figure out why and/or how to get her to stop. I keep the litter box very clean, and it is in the same spot it has always been in. I've tried negative reinforcement as well as rewarding her when she does use the litter box. I've never had cats before, so I hope this is not regular behavior for cats. Can someone please offer some insight because I have run out of ideas? Thanks!

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13 Answers

natewlsn's avatar

Try leaving your kittens outside your bedroom at night, and during the day time close your door to your room. Now if you live in a normal house this shouldn't be a problem as for an apartment this might be a problem, as some apartments might not have doors to the bedroom. Now if you don't have a door to your room and it is wide open or it won't close properly, buy two of those, like, baby proof gate things, to prevent kids to go up or down the stairs and hurt themselves. Stack them one on top of each other and you have a simple way to keep your cats out of your room, this also helps if you want to leave your door open during the day to keep the air curculating through your house/apartment. Cats can still climb them though, so be careful with this choice. Depending on where your litterbox is, being 4 rooms away or 1 you should try moving it closer to your bedroom, if you REALLY want them to sleep with you during the night, you could even put it in your bedroom if you would like. Yes it may stink, but if you keep it clean like you say you do, you'll be fine. Keep your door open if you don't want it in the room though, so that she can actually go out and access it, if you didn't leave the door open and she did her business again on your bed, that is your stupidity. Another thing you could try is going to a Pet Store and buying some books about cats. Now, try everything that I gave you, if none of it works, take a good look at the books again and try to find a solution there. I hate to say it, but if all else fails you might have to get rid of it. Hopefully you were writing this all down and paying good attention. Hope this works.

samkusnetz's avatar

you could try using a product called feel-away, which is a synthetic cat pheromone spray. it helps relieve anxiety, which can be a cause of elimination in unwanted places. it is unlikely that your cat thinks your bed is the right place to pee...

ava's avatar

One thing to keep in mind is once a cat has peed somewhere they can always smell it. It is inmortant that you get something to neutralize the urine. Otherwise, she will continue to pee in the same spot. They have some really great sprays at PetCo.

christopher_x's avatar

I've got a couple of ideas. An easy test is to get rid of the comforter - at least temporarily - to see if she's just peeing on the same spot (as ava said earlier), or if she's peeing where you sleep. Another thought - I know of two cats that did bad things on beds because they were either angry for some reason or didn't like the smell of a person that was scented on the particular spot. I'm no expert. But, a cat's smell is his or her mark of ownership. If something leaves a stronger mark - a cat will reclaim territory with its scent.

laurakeens's avatar

i had a kitten that did the same thing, no matter what i did he would not stop. My kitten would pee in the same spot and would do it every day. i tried everything to get him to stop. apparently putting lemon juice down where they like to would stop them as they do not like citris smells. this did put my kitten off for about a week but then as soon as i would put new bedding on he would just carrying on peeing on the bed. i tried putting towels over the bed where he like to pee but he would just pee on the towel. in the end it got just so exhausting having to clean and scrub my bed every night as the smell was unbearable i just had to give the kitten away.

Jill_E's avatar

I agree with the mark of ownership.

If you can catch her in time, you can spray water from a bottle.

I've used this on our cat when she was aggressive toward our dog. It works on naughty behaviors.

breedmitch's avatar

Water bottle is the way to go. A pet is not malicious. They are just trying to communicate with you. Who knows what?
Small brains. When you spray them in the middle of bad behavior, they get it. A few times and it should stop. You have to catch them, though. Ps. I find Lysol liquid in the laundry is good to disinfect.

samkusnetz's avatar

if you do the water bottle thing, remember that it is only effective if you spray the cat right as the bad behavior is occurring. if you spray after the fact, the cat won’t make the associateion.

Atanti's avatar

i recently got an abandoned kitten and she did the same thing went in the litter box then on the bed then box then bed we when she went on the bed we rubbed her nose in it told her No then placed her in the litter box, changed all the sheets and put a water proof bed cover on the bed. She is a smart kitten and learned to stop after 2 times.

APRILSMUSTANG97's avatar

i have a kitten i just got at the endo fapril which was 6 wks old/ have not had any problems but now this week she has peed on my dirty clothes and today as going to bed my sheets. nothing else. what to do. my husband says get rid of her. i dont want to.

spins's avatar

I have just had a bengal kitten brought for me he is 9–10 weeks and a boy (georgie!) He is very aggresive and has really marked my arms ans feet. We tap him on the nose and shout “NO Georgie” everytimt but it doesnt seem to be workin. He has peed twice on our bed so we rubbed his nose in it. He does use his litter tray and its in the same spot. Hes not always like this he suckles and paws my neck alot but only my neck never my fiances. Does n e 1 have any ides to help? from readin ure answers i have started sayin no and clapping my hands together once but loud. thanks :)

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Chrissy_5221's avatar

Bangles are a very aggressively playful breed and usually do the best in pairs. If he is still intact ( not fixed) then that could be part of the problem , this breed matures very early and because of their wild breeding tend to be more aggressive while maturing. If possible, and if your family is open to it, I would think of getting another cat (as I said they do better in pairs) and if you are not planning to breed him I would get him fixed ASAP which will help a lot. Check with your local pet rescues an petco about vouchers for a lower cost for getting him fixed.

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