Your cat is actually housebroken, but suddenly it pees where it shouldn’t, for example on the carpet? There can be various reasons why your cat no longer wants its litter box and prefers to use your carpets as a pee pad. Here you can read which emergency tips will help you immediately and what the reasons for your cat’s uncleanliness can be.
Emergency Tips: What to do if your cat pees on your carpet
Basically, if your kitty suddenly becomes unclean, you shouldn’t get angry. Because she doesn’t do it to annoy you, but because she has a problem that you should solve. These measures can help you quickly:
Off to the vet!
Basically, the most common cause of sudden uncleanliness in cats is an illness.
You can do this:
- Have your kitty checked out by the vet!
- Ask for a blood test and urine test to be done.
If your kitty is in pain when peeing, it’s easy for her to make the wrong association: she’s associating her pain directly with her litter box and prefers to avoid it.
However, it is also possible that your cat simply cannot control the urge to urinate due to an illness.
Physical causes of pee problems usually have to do with the kidneys or bladder, so these should be investigated thoroughly. The most common diseases are:
- kidney problems
- cystitis
- urinary crystals and stones
- Incontinence (due to illness, dementia or old age)
- If your cat is ill, the right medication will make it better quickly, so that it will no longer
- be painful when peeing. After a while, she usually gets used to her litter box again on
- her own and will gradually forget the connection “litter box = pain”.
Get a new litter box(s)
If your cat is physically healthy, she may be unhappy with her litter box.
You can do this
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 refuses her litter box and prefers to pee on the carpet:
She doesn’t like the toilet model (anymore). If you’ve never changed your kitty’s litter box before, it’s possible that the model just doesn’t fit her needs anymore. Perhaps it has become too small for her or the edge is too high for her now that she is older. Or she got very frightened in the closed litter box and is now afraid to go in. In all of these cases, only one thing helps: You need a new litter box. By the way: It can also be helpful if you offer your kitty two different litter boxes in different places in the apartment. So she has more choices.
The place is not appropriate. A litter box should be in a quiet, sheltered spot so your kitty won’t be disturbed while she’s doing her business. Also, it should never be placed in the same room as the food and water bowl. Also make sure that the toilet is easily accessible and that your cat can still get in easily when it gets older and is no longer so agile.
Something around or at the litter box has changed. Have you switched to a new kitty litter or used a different cleaning agent to wash it out? Or set up a new closet next to the litter box? Some cats react very sensitively to such changes and then no longer want to use the toilet. So it is best to make sure that nothing changes in the area around the litter box and do not use any strongly scented cleaning agents for cleaning.
Provide a clean litter box
Cats are very clean animals and therefore want to do their business in a clean place. So it’s possible that your kitty’s litter box isn’t clean enough and she’d rather look for your carpet than a clean peeing spot.
You can do this:
- 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 may be that your cat just doesn’t like the litter in her litter box and prefers to pee elsewhere. In that case, you can try different materials, from pellets to shavings to scented litter.
Give your kitty security
Cats are creatures of habit and therefore very susceptible to stress. So it may be that your cat wants to show you that she is scared or not happy by peeing on the carpet.
You can do this:
- Give your kitty a lot of love and attention.
- Spoil her with lots of treats and cuddles.
- You can also use special fragrance atomizers with pheromones. These are the cat’s own odor messengers, which increase its well-being and sense of security.
- In particularly stressful times (moving, new family member, renovation, etc.) you can also give your cat Bach flowers, which are herbal tranquilizers. Talk to your vet first though.
- Always introduce socialization to new cats, dogs, other pets, or new family members slowly.
There are many situations and reasons that can make your cat feel insecure and cause stress.
Changed daily routine. Are you suddenly away from home at other times due to work? Or do you feed your cat at other times? That can be enough to make her pee on the carpet in protest when you’re not around.
Changed 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. Have you had a baby or has a dog or a second cat moved in with you? Then it may be that your cat has developed jealousy of the competitor or is very insecure as a result.
Conflicts with other cats. Do you have multiple cats? Then your kitty may be in constant competition for resources such as scratching posts, toys, or food. Or she’s being bullied by another cat. Here you should watch your kitties closely and provide enough resources and interrupt bullying.
Protect your carpets
If you’re still investigating the cause or waiting for your kitty to relax and go back to her litter box, you should definitely protect your carpets.
You can do this:
- Pack away all the carpets in the apartment.
- Thoroughly clean the carpets.
As an emergency measure, get all the carpets in your home out of harm’s way so your cat isn’t even tempted to continue peeing on them.
A thorough cleaning is of course necessary beforehand. Because cat urine smells very penetrating and cats also pee in the same place over and over again if you can still smell the urine.
You can use various cleaning agents or home remedies for cleaning:
First of all, it is important that you really find all the urine stains. Small stains in particular often smell rather weak, so that we humans can no longer perceive the smell, but your cat can smell it very well.
You can use a black light lamp to find all the spots.
Then wash all affected carpets as hot as possible.
Use vinegar or an enzyme cleaner to wash. This removes the smell of urine.
