Recently someone was expressing her concern over the fact that their 16 year old cat was urinating where she slept. This is an abnormal situation that I suspect indicates either illness or dementia.

In some cases older animals will lose control of their bladder or bowels. It helps to put them on a feeding and toileting schedule. However I’d suggest taking the animal in for a veterinary check-up and consult with the veterinary before taking any further steps.

This week I’ve been talking about pet potty training issues specifically focusing on cats.

Cat urine marking behavior is usually not a litter box avoidance issue and usually is connected to sexual behavior and territorial marking behavior.

How do you tell the difference? Cat urinating is usually done on a horizontal surface. Common places are on towels, bath mats, or rugs.

However, cat urine marking or spraying is done on a vertical surface, such as walls, doors, windows, and the sides of furniture. I’ve seen cases where the cats have marked heat generating sources (even appliances) because it helps disperse the odor.

Phew!

Cat urine marking occurs when a cat backs up to a vertical surface, usually the animal with making pushing movements with the hind legs, and the tail will quiver before delivering a shot of urine. This action leaves a pheromone message for any other cats in the vicinity.

The pheromone label marks territory or signals breeding readiness to other cats. Urine marking occurs most commonly in intact male cats followed by neutered males.

However, intact females and even spayed females may mark in the right circumstances.

Territorial marking usually occurs on perimeter areas and sometimes on the personal belongings of a specific human.

To address the situation usually requires the help of an animal behaviorist after you rule out veterinary medical issues. (Are you getting sick of me repeating this?–It IS important!)

Once that is done, one of my first recommendations is to spay and neuter all the felines in the household. I could get into the reasons why this is a good idea but that is for another post.

If you have a multiple cat household you’ll need to make sure you have ample boxes (one per cat plus one), litter that they all like to use, and dispersed locations.

Also make sure your cats are getting lots of active playtime and that you have tiered perches and resting areas throughout the house.

If marking occurs on the drapes or around windows, you probably have an outside intruder disturbing the peace. You can frost windows or put up barriers to help reduce visual agitation.

I’ve already mentioned Feliway Spray and recommend it in marking cases as it creates a calming affect–but you also want to reduce the temptation to remark.

To locate marked areas, close the window coverings and use something like theUrine-Off Black Light. This will highlight the areas so you can clean them.

You might try Urine Off Stain & Odor Remover for Cats & Kittensor a similar product. Check with a local pet professional for their recommendations.

There is more to do and good behavior modification programs take about eight weeks to fully implement (in worse case scenarios) but it you don’t see quick results get the help of a good animal behaviorist.

Sometimes cat urinating will begin to take place outside of the litter box on bedding, laundry, or in shoes.

In some cases this type of behavior is not from a veterinary medical issue–which you should first rule out–but because of stress.

Stressed animals may react to changes in the environment and change their toileting habits in response. These changes can include:

• new people (roommate, boyfriend/girlfriend)
• moving to a new location
• outside cats near territory
• conflict with other pets
• introduction of new household objects
• litter box issues (location, cleanliness, or inadequate number)
• negative association with litter box (ambushed or startled in box)

An animal behaviorist can help you to track down the underlying issue(s) and assist you with addressing the problem.

Usually a pet behavior modification program is about eight weeks long but can be shorter or longer depending on the complexity of the problem, how long it has been ongoing, and your compliance with the program.

(We have a litter box avoidance booklet available for sale in our shop or check our referral page for experts in your area.)

I’ve found success by using Feliway diffuser of use. It is an imitation cat pheromone that can be used in conjunction with an animal behaviorist’s recommendations.

There is also a Feliway Spray that is perfect for traveling and other situations where you need an extra stress reduction or a temporary boost.

Usually you need to trouble shoot and make temporary (and sometimes permanent) adaptations to eliminate the issue.

If you have multiple cats, sometimes the solution is as simple as making sure that you have one box per cat plus one. In other cases the issues may need barriers, temporary confinement or approximation back to the box.

After a 6.7 magnitude earthquake one of my client’s cats stopped using the box. She must have been using the box during the quake and so avoided it. The trauma caused a negative association with the litter box!

The solution was fairly simple, we moved the box to where she was toileting and gradually moved it in small increments until we got back to the original location.

Cat urinating and toileting issues are different from cat urine marking which I’ll talk about later.

Have you experienced this cat behavior problem of a cat urinating on your bed or laundry? If so, how did you solve it?