Cat suddenly started peeing on the carpet

In My Humble Opinion
1

Cookie Monster has been perfectly toilet trained since I got her as a tiny kitten. She lives happily with me and my roommate, and we have no other animals.

In the last two or three days, though, she has suddenly started spraying pee on one part of the dining room carpet.

At first there was a cardboard box there, and yesterday my roomie saw her pissing into the box. I removed all the junk from the box and found that the bottom of it was soaked - she’d been doing this for a little while. So I put carpet shampoo down, and this morning found a streak of piss on top of the foam. Cleaned it again and vacuumed, and this evening she did the same thing.

In nine years, she has never gone to the toilet outside her litter tray, apart from this one series of incidents. She still pees and poops in the tray, but seems compelled to spray on this patch of carpet now too.

I don’t really know what might have caused this. The only thing I can think of that’s changed is that I made a minor rearrangement of the dining room furniture - but I have done this before without any problems.

So two questions: 1. any ideas what might be causing this? It seems behavioural, but I am happy to get her to a vet if it might be medical; 2. any suggestions for getting her to stop? Is there something I could put on the carpet that would prevent her from doing this - though would that transfer the problem to a different place?

Finally, I have noticed a weird smell coming from one of my Timberlands. I don’t have smelly feet, but this is quite rank and acrid. I’m now wondering if she’s peed in my boot at some time recently too…

2

It could be medical. She could have a urinary tract infection that makes urinating painful. Some cats that have those start associating the pain with the litter box, and think that if they go outside the box, maybe it won’t hurt so much. Get the vet to check her out first thing. Sometimes litter box avoidance is the first symptom of illness in cats that you’ll notice, because they try to hide it when they are feeling sick.

There’s no chance that something simple happened like her getting shut out of the room where her litter box is, is there? Or that something traumatic happened to her while in that area, and now she’s afraid to go back to it? The litter box isn’t right next to something noisy like a furnace or clothes washer or dryer, is it? She’s not having trouble getting up or down the stairs to the litter box, is she?

Has anything changed about her litter box recently? Brand of litter, covered/uncovered, cleaning products used? Are you scooping the litter box at least once a day? Having to use a dirty litter box is probably at least as unpleasant for cats as having to use a really manky gas station rest room is for humans.

You may want to try a new brand of litter. Cats usually like unscented sand-type scoopable litters. Scented litters can be overwhelming to them, since they have a much better sense of smell than humans do. If you do find a brand of litter that works, stick with it. Don’t just buy whatever’s on sale this week. Cats don’t like change.

First, a very thorough cleaning of the carpet where the box was, and where your Timberlands were, just to be on the safe side. And I mean very thorough- a cat’s sense of smell is much better than a human’s, and if they smell urine somewhere, they will think it’s OK to pee there (this is why rubbing an animal’s nose in the products of an ‘accident’ doesn’t work). Use Nature’s Miracle or a similar cleaning product designed to remove the odors of pet urine. Check the pad under the carpet, too, if you can. Urine can soak through carpeting.

If she is just peeing in this one area, you can get her to stop by putting food dishes down in that area. Cats generally won’t pee where they eat. If it’s a problem with her litter box or a physical problem, though, she’ll just find somewhere else to pee.

3

It cost me $3,000 and a 2 day hospital stay for my cat Joey to learn this lesson. Take her to the vet now and get her checked out ASAP!

4

Stop having sex with the other cat-- Cookie Monster is taking that as a sign that you’re just not that into her anymore, and is responding in kind.

5

Most probably it’s a urinary infection.

Oxyclean in water works great to clean up cat urine from fabric and carpet. Thoroughly soak the area then either shop-vac it up or sop up with a towel or paper-towels.

6

LOL.

OK, vet tomorrow!

7

One thing that absolutely will not work is punishing her if you see more pee in that corner. If you don’t catch her in the act, she won’t understand why you are punishing her. If you do catch her in the act, don’t rub her nose in the mess or force her into the litter box. The former will just reinforce that this area smells like pee, so it must be where she’s supposed to pee. The latter might make her think of going into the litter box as a punishment, so she’ll avoid it even more.

8

Fifthing, or whatever, the advice to get her to the vet. When my cat started doing this after 14 years, it turned out to be diabetes. He’s now on special prescription cat food, and his blood sugar is totally stabilized. And he doesn’t pee on the carpet anymore.

9

It’s phase two of a plan to drive you insane. Phase one was burying your passport in the litter tray.

10

Yep, vet. In the meantime, try cutting out a square of a trash bag and taping it over the spot where she’s peeing. That will discourage her from peeing there again, and if she does pee there, it’s a lot easier to wipe it off a trash bag than scrub it out of the carpet.

I have two cats, and one of them was peeing on the floor because of bladder illness, and the other was doing it for seemingly no reason. We got the first to stop by taking him to the vet and finding out he had bladder issues and needed special food; he’d been avoiding the litter box because of the pain associated with urination. The second one stopped with a combination of trash bags on the floor over her favorite peeing spots, a plug-in of a substance called Feliway (de-stresser for cats), scooping the litterbox every day (as opposed to every third day like we’d been doing before), and the other cat no longer peeing on the floor. We’ve removed the trash bags now and kept all other conditions the same, and we’re still pee-free.

ETA: I didn’t notice you said you rearranged furniture. It’s very possible that it upset her when you did that rearranging, and now she feels she has to re-establish her territory by urinating there. Either way, the vet can rule out medical issues for you, which is a must.

11

I can’t really add to the great advice you’ve already gotten, but I just gotta say I love the name Cookie Monster for a kitteh. She’s a cutie, hope the problem gets solved soon.

12

Do let us know what the vet has to say.

This thread was driven home to me this morning, when I heard my Luna pawing at my parka that was on the floor in the dining room. I looked at it, and she’d peed on it. There was some blood in the pee. She went to the litter box right afterward, so the problem isn’t with her litter box. I’m taking her to the vet this afternoon. I just hope she’ll be OK :frowning:

13

Most UTIs can be cured by a course of antibiotics. My dog needed a drug the vet did not have so I had to get it at a regular drug store. They put her name on the prescription, not mine but they added K9 to the name.

14

I’ve had two UTIs in my lifetime, and they make peeing painful. If it’s the same in cats as in humans, I can understand why they might avoid the litter box.