We have an 8 month old female cat who has been spayed. She’s an indoor cat and when we got her (at about 6 weeks old) she instantly knew what to do with the litterbox. We never had a problem with this, even after we had her spayed.
In the past few days, she’s suddenly started using the master bathroom bath-mat as her litter box. Not every time, but often enough to notice. We keep her litterbox clean and she is the only cat in the house.
Any ideas why she would be doing this?
Also, isn’t there some easy way to repel cats, such as mothballs or something like that? I’m sure I’ve seen this before, but I can’t find any info. The bathroom seems to be the only place that she’s doing this…maybe she’s picking up some scent from the toilet. If I could keep her out of the bathroom, that might be the end of the problem.
There’s one thing I’ve heard. I can’t vouch for it personally, not having had the opportunity to try it for myself. But I’ve heard that if you draw a circle on the floor with chalk a cat will never pee inside the circle. You might try it, let us know if it works.
Any changes around the house lately? New baby? New furniture? Additional pet?
Cats can get funny if there any changes to their world. For instance, four years ago, our fixed cat decided to start pissing on our infant son’s basinette. He got banished to the outside world for a few months. He’s now an indoor/outdoor cat (mostly indoors - he’s a big chicken).
You’ve certainly tried to wash the mat, but I would toss it, as it’s near impossible to get the scent of urine out (as far as the cat’s sense of smell is concerned) and she’ll associate it with doing her business there.
Could be a sign of a urinary tract infection - good idea to check with your vet. (Discomfort while peeing can become associated with the litterbox and thus the mog decides to whizz somewhere new).
Is she acting different in any other way? She might be sick, though that would probably make it more likely that she’d go in several places around the house.
Any changes in the litter box lately? Different litter, new location, a new plastic mat under the box, new stuff being used to clean the box, etc?
Did you do any cleaning in the bathroom with an ammonia-based product that might have gotten on the rug? Those smell like urine to cats, and the smell can make them think it is OK to go there.
You may want to try some softer (probably sand-type) litter. She may be using the bath mat because she likes something softer than the litter she has.
I would get rid of that bath mat, and don’t replace it for a couple of weeks.
If she pees on the new bath mat, or keeps going there when there is no bath mat, there are a couple of things you can try. You can keep a food dish or water dish there for a while- cats generally won’t go where they eat. Alternatively, you could put a litter box there, and gradually move it to a more acceptable location once she’s using it.
If none of this works, you could just keep the door to that bathroom closed all the time, and make sure she doesn’t follow you in there when you go in.
The symptoms of serious urinary problems in cats can be subtle, so it might be worthwhile to take her to the vet even if she’s not acting different in any other way. Cats usually try to hide it when they aren’t feeling well.
Peter Morris: Are you really serious about this? Cats are weird animals, so it wouldn’t surprise me…but a chalk circle in the middle of the bathroom floor wouldn’t stay long
BwanaBob: No changes around the house. I can understand pissing on the baby’s bed because cat’s are extremely jealous. You give attention to the new baby and the cat’s not happy, so the cat pisses on the baby’s basinette to express his/her discontent. We don’t have a new baby or anything else though.
BobT: The rug’s about to come out of the dryer right now. The tile floor has been thoroughly cleaned, so we’re going to try keeping the door closed for now.
Boldface: If the cat finds a new unusual place to do her business, or somehow continues to get into the bathroom and do it there, we’ll take her right to the vet
Anne: You might’ve hit the nail on the head. I cleaned the tub the other day with “scrubbing bubbles” aeorsol cleaner, which I never liked the smell of. It may have ammonia in it. I mopped the floor with a non-ammonia cleaner, so that might get rid of the smell of the other stuff.
I still wonder if there’s something that I can put in the bathroom that’ll just make the cat stay away from there.
When cats have urinary tract problems they tend to associate the litter box with pain, so they pee in other places. So you MUST take her to the vet NOW. These problems develop quickly and if you do not act now it might be too late tomorrow morning. I know what I’m speaking of.
I agree about taking her to the vet - the sooner the better. I have had cats my whole life and the only time I have had peeing problems was when there was something medically wrong with the cat. I almost lost a cat to a blockage, and even though we made it to the vet in time to save him, I still feel guilty and it has been almost 20 years since that happened.
Yep… lucky I already had this drilled in my head before I got my 2 cats… urinating in weird places for no apparent reason = illness. So when my kitty peed on the carpet, I rushed her to the vet.
Furthermore, a blockage is bad, bad news. if a blockage happens, it’s gonna cost you thousands of dollars to get the surgery fix it… way more than a simple off-hours animal hospital visit. In addition, if a blockage does happen, you have only a matter of hours to fix it until you’re burying kitty.