Your cat is supposed to be housebroken, but suddenly she keeps peeing on your bed instead of using her litter box? There can be many different reasons why a cat suddenly becomes unclean. You can read here which emergency tips can help you immediately and what the reasons for your cat’s behavior are.
Why does the cat pee in your bed of all places?
Do you find it extremely annoying that your kitty chooses the bed to pee on? This can be easily explained from a cat’s point of view: Abed offers the cat an ideal toilet. Because it is soft and warm and smells intensely of its human, the cat feels particularly safe there. In addition, the urine is quickly absorbed by the fabric.
5 Emergency Tips: What to do when your cat pees on the bed
Basically, if your cat suddenly becomes unclean, you shouldn’t be angry with her. Because it means that your kitty has a serious problem that should be solved immediately. These measures can help you quickly:
Visit your vet
Because one of the most common causes of sudden uncleanliness in cats is health problems.
What to do?
The first step is always to visit a vet and have your kitty checked over completely!
A blood test and a urine test should be performed.
If your kitty is having pain while peeing, she’s associating it directly with her litter box. So she avoids it to be on the safe side and looks for a new place to pee. Another possibility is that your cat cannot control its urge to urinate and therefore does not make it to the litter box in time when it is in bed to sleep.
Physical causes of pee problems usually have to do with the kidneys or the bladder. The following diseases are particularly common:
- kidney problems
- cystitis
- urinary crystals and stones
- Incontinence (due to illness, dementia or old age)
If a cause is found and your cat is given medication, she will quickly stop having pain when peeing. As a result, she gets used to her litter box again after a while, since the uncomfortable connection “litter box = pain” is gradually forgotten.
Change the litter box
If your cat has been physically checked and is healthy, an inappropriate litter box can be another reason why your cat prefers to urinate on your bed over her litter box.
What to do?
You should find the right litter box for your kitty. You can read how to do that here: Buying guide: Which litter box is right for my cat?
There can be several reasons why your cat is refusing her current litter box:
She doesn’t like the type of toilet. Have you ever changed your cat’s litter box? No? Then it may be that the model that she accepted well as a young cat simply no longer suits her needs. Perhaps it has become too small for her and she can no longer move properly in it. Or the edge is now too high for her and she feels pain when she has to climb over it. Or she was surprised or disturbed in the closed litter box with a lid and is now afraid to go in. In all of these cases, only one thing helps: you need a new litter box that fits your cat.
By the way: It can also be helpful if you offer your cat two different litter boxes in different locations in the apartment.
The location is not appropriate. Litter boxes are often in an inappropriate location. It should be in a quiet, sheltered spot where your cat won’t be disturbed while she’s doing her business. In addition, it should not be in the same room as the food and water bowl. Easy access is also important. Make sure your cat can still get to her litter box easily as she gets older and less mobile.
Something has changed about the toilet or the environment. Have you recently changed the cat litter? Or used another cleaning agent to wash it out? Or put a new dresser next to the litter box? Cats don’t like change and can be very sensitive to it. Make sure that nothing changes in the area around the litter box. In addition, you should not use harsh or strongly scented cleaning agents for cleaning.
Clean the litter box regularly
Cats are very clean, so they want a clean, fresh place to do their business. If you then don’t clean the litter box regularly, your cat may find it disgusting and prefer to look for a new litter box.
What to do?
Clean the litter box at least once a day.
It’s even better if you clean the loo right after each use
You should also wash out the toilet once a week and completely replace the litter.
It’s also possible that your kitty just doesn’t like the litter and prefers to pee somewhere else. In that case, you can try different materials, from pellets to shavings to scented litter.
Avoid stress & provide a sense of security
Cats are creatures of habit and very sensitive. Therefore, they are very susceptible to stress and anxiety. So it’s also possible that your cat just wants to show you that she’s not happy by peeing on the bed.
What to do?
Give your kitty a lot of love and attention.
Spoil her with lots of treats and cuddles.
Use special fragrance diffusers with pheromones. These are the cat’s own odor messengers, which strengthen its well-being and sense of security and ensure that it feels good.
In particularly stressful times (moving, new family member, renovation, etc.) you can give your cat Bach flowers, which are herbal tranquilizers. Talk to your vet first though.
Introduce socialization to new cats, dogs, other pets, or new family members slowly.
There are many situations and reasons that can affect the sense of security and thus cause stress.
Changes in the daily routine. Do you have a new job or new working hours and are you suddenly out of the house at different times? Or do you feed your cat at other times? That can be enough to make her pee on the bed in protest when you’re not around.
changes in the environment. Have you moved or bought new furniture? Then your kitty can be completely overwhelmed by the new situation and simply needs time to get used to it.
A new family member or pet has moved in. Have you had a baby or gotten a dog or a second cat? Then your cat can definitely develop jealousy of the competitor or be very insecure as a result.
Conflicts with other cats. Do you have multiple cats? Then it may be that your kitty is in competition for resources such as scratching posts, toys, or food, or is being bullied by another cat. Here you should watch your cats closely.
Protect the bed & take away its “toilet suitability”
If you’ve found the cause of your cat’s uncleanliness and are waiting for your kitty to relax and go back to her litter box, or if you’re still investigating the cause, you should definitely protect your bed. Make your cat pee in the bed as uncomfortable as possible.
What to do?
Use a waterproof mattress protector to keep your mattress from getting soaked.
Put a rescue blanket from the first aid kit or newspaper over the bed, the crackling can scare your kitty off.
Place your cat’s food and water bowl right next to the bed. Cats don’t usually do their business where they eat.
Of course, thorough cleaning is also necessary after your cat has peed on the bed. On the one hand, cat urine stinks quite badly and, on the other hand, cats like to pee in the same place over and over again if they can still smell the urine.
You can use various cleaning agents or household products for cleaning.
First of all, it is important that you really find all the urine stains. Small stains in the particular smell so weak that we humans can no longer detect the smell, but your cat can.
When in doubt, use a black light to find all of the stains.
Wash all bedding, sheets and pillows, and blankets at the highest temperature possible.
Use vinegar or an enzyme cleaner when washing to make the urine smell go away.
If there are stains on the mattress, you can also brush them out with vinegar water and enzyme cleaner.
