We have four cats. One of them is a 9-year-old male. We suspect he’s the culprit since we frequently find him loafing on the bathroom rug. Why does he keep peeing on it? The catbox is clean and he leads a pretty stress-free life. The only stressor I can think of is another alpha male cat we have who lives in the basement but never comes in contact with the other three. We’re tired of washing the rug several times a week. Can anyone offer some advice?
ETA: I don’t think he has a urinary tract infection, since the bathroom is the only place he does it. The last vet visit gave him a clean bill of health.
He continues to pee there because now it smells like cat pee and therefore it’s a place where he can pee. He thinks he’s allowed.
You need to remove the rug entirely, do a deep cleaning with enzyme cleaners to ensure that there is no smell whatsoever (just because you can’t smell it, doesn’t mean he can’t!) and retrain your cat. Perhaps provide an extra box or replace the litter bins with newer ones if they are old, as sometimes the plastic gains an odour over time. Keep the boxes clean and hopefully your cat will relearn better litter habits.
Just because your cat was health “last time”, whenever that was, doesn’t mean he is now; males are prone to UTIs and urinary blockages and these things can develop rather quickly. Get him checked out, just in case.
First off, I’d get rid of the rug. Once the smell of cat pee is in something, it’s near impossible to get out, and he’s just going to keep peeing on it.
One of our cats does the same thing. Within minutes of a rug hitting the bathroom floor he pees on it. We’ve solved this problem by not having a bathroom rug.
My girlfriend’s cat (older male) started peeing in inappropriate places some time back (piles of laundry, gym bags, etc) despite having access to clean litter and the backyard…he’s on Prozac now.