It is a nightmare to see that your sheets are soaked in your cat’s pee. Even after buying fancy cat litter boxes, some feline pets seem to come over to the beds and pee. Honestly, many owners had raised this complaint before. But we would say that it is still a sign of some health or psychological problem that a cat is facing. And he/she wants to show you that they are in trouble. We are not taking the sides of the cats. By analyzing various studies and the interviews given by the vets, we have compiled certain information that will help you understand this better. In this article, we will intensely discuss the biological and psychological problems due to which the cats pee on the bed.
Popular Opinion by Vets
If a cat is urinating your bed, then most of the time, it involves a medical problem. It may include the bladder stones, infection in intestine, and severe inflammation on the kidney or similar things that can be ruled out. The nephrologist from the ACCESS specialty Animal Hospital confirms that other possible time, apart from the health issues, is most likely the anxiety. When they have rooted in depression or stress, they lose the hormone balance in the body. It is commonly referred to as idiopathic cystitis in the medical term. When such a situation occurs, the inflammation occurs in the bladder due to unknown causes making them pee.
Therefore, cats wanted to keep you informed about what it is going through. Thus, you can continuously see that when cats are trying to reach you over the bed, they eventually pee unknowingly. It may annoy you, but you may have to pay some serious attention in detail. The following reasons elaborated will help you understand this better.
Top Reasons why cats urinate on the bed
Litter Box is not Your Cat’s Type
Imagine from the human perspective. All of us have a bathroom that has a door, and that can be shut. Some of you might have decorated the tiles and walls with the stickers of popular choice. There is privacy involved. Similarly, the cats that you have recently adopted or brought home are looking for absolute privacy during peeing. Even though it does not have to be pleasant, they are just looking for some decent place.
Litter box seems to be a noisy place or a busy area to be defined. Usually, the litter box is placed near the closet area at the back of the house. When there are too many sounds from the washing machine, grinders, mixers, it does not help them to ease out. The behavior training specialists confirm that this is the most significant psychological trouble that the cat undergoes. Thus, a cat box becomes no more an ideal place or does not seem to be convenient for the cats anymore.
Therefore, try placing the litter box in the basement or allocate a space in your backyard for the cat to have some privacy. Most doctors confirm that when they get practiced in such places, they don’t incline to come to the bedrooms anymore. From the various complaints analyzed, the vets also say that there is a resting place for every pet where they would like their own things to be done.
Multi-cat Household is in trouble
The cats get annoyed by the interruption of anyone while they are using their private place. Whether its human or fellow pets, they don’t seem to handle the situation so well. It can be seen, especially when you have multiple cats at the same home. You can see that this is starting from the time you offer them food in different bowls. The cats get all jealous and do not allow anyone to take their place.
Even when there are multiple pets at home, it is necessary to give each one of them a private space. Just a closet area that is equally spaced out may work the best. You can see that they respect the privacy of each other and don’t disturb their owners on this anymore.
It is necessary that as pet parents, you may have to help them get practiced in these situations. Also, as kittens, they may not have a problem using the same litter box, but once they have grown up firmly, they don’t want to share. Therefore, the cats make a habit of reach out to your bed to reclaim their belongings. In other words, they are trying to grab their space, especially with the things that involve their privacy.
Stress and Anxiety
Peeing outside the box occurs, especially when the cats feel highly stressed or anxious about something or someone. If your cat had caught the habit of peeing on the bed only in recent times or suddenly out of nowhere, then this means that they are afraid or feared of something. For instance, when you have guests at home, most commonly, cats tend to develop this problem of walking or being around you. They don’t want to be felt alone, and it gets them deep inside, causing more anxiety.
We can observe this in two phases. One, the cat is peeing on the bed because it feels strange to urinate before someone new to the home. Secondly, they are feeling intimidated by new people at home, as you know that they are not a very social animal. Hence, there is a probability that they can’t do things that they were once doing freely. It does not limit to using the litter box. You can see that the cats slowly stop grooming when your guests are around.
Also, when you have taken cats to some new places which they are not familiar with, they get all freaked out. Especially the camps and darker rooms give them a hard time. During this time, it is in the owner’s hand to make them feel safe. Maybe you can have a litter box at home, which can be moved after they sleep off. It is also like a trick when they feel like reaching out on the bed, if they see litter box at your room, then they would automatically use them.
The comparison table below will help you further to understand to choose to offer the solution for this problem
Cat’s behavior of Peeing in bed |
Reasons |
What can you do? |
| Short Term | New home/Place,
Arrival of Guests Not used living in dark places Did not like being touched by any stranger Did not like the litter box |
You may help your cats socialize in the new place or with the people. While you are at a new location, keep the litter box that is only a shorter distance from your site. Help the cats play with the guests. Instruct the guest not to touch the cats and pick them immediately. You can also keep the litter box with their favorite toys or characters on them, so they feel comforted. |
| Long Term | When there are fellow cats
Intimidated by other pets Mark their territory with the owner Adopted from the home |
If cats have struggled because of the fellow cats or pets, you may have to invest more time in helping them mingle. It is not just about the litter box. It is about everything about what they gel with. Feed them in the same bowl and treat them if they had to eat without fighting.
When cats are adopted from the shelters, they have big trouble being socialized in the home. You need to give them warmth and help practice them to use the litter box. |
The above table comprises an overview of the problems faced by the cats in the short and long terms. The short-term problems do not take much time to align. But long-term problems need an uninterrupted time of yours with the cats.
The above reasons are some of the most important reasons why your cats always choose your bed over the litter box.
But the following table will offer a different perception of this problem of you and your cat.
Cat’s Health Problem |
Symptoms |
| Feline Urologic Syndrome (FUS) | When you see that your cats don’t have control over urination and have developed to pee on your bed, please check if other behavior changes accompany them. The cats also cry out while they pee, and you can see that their eating patterns have changed. Most cats also try to inform their pet parents by licking the genital area. Other than the nights, you can check if the cat is dealing with similar problems during day time. |
| Feline Lower Urinary Tract Diseases (FLUTD) | It is one of the severe problems to diagnose. Although the cats seem to want to hide the places after urination. When the disease is in the advanced stages, there is a mix-up of blood while they urinate. Most often, the cats have entirely lost their appetite during this time. They always wanted to be outside slightly inside the home. The reason behind it is that it suffocates them, and they would require more air circulation. |
| Stones and Crystals accumulation | It is one of the common problems in the cat. Due to lack of water content in the body or if they had practiced consuming only dry foods, then automatically indigested food turns into crystals and stones. There are many ways to remove them naturally at home. Pawhealer cat bladder remedy solution helps in flushing the stones and crystals out of the cat at home.
If you think you are not able to handle this alone, then you must take to the doctors. Because they become nausea, and the pain may occur at any point of the day. |
| Injury or tumor | When they slip while playing, there is a chance that they have got badly hit in their private parts. It would have caused them severe pain. During this time, the cats might not want to play again, or they are annoyed when you pick them from the back area. They are unable to walk, especially when they had developed a tumor in the area. |
| Spinal cord damage | The cats that are old or the adult cats when they gain obesity, there is a chance that their spinal cord becomes very rigid, and slowly they are damaging. During this time, cats not only urinate on your bed but on all over the places. You can see that they have difficulty in lifting themselves. In such cases, you may have to take to doctors as soon as possible. |
This table would have helped you understand various biological troubles that your cats are undergoing, which may not be visible to you most of the time, but once you see that the cats have these symptoms, apart from just peeing on the bed, then you can look for the detail.
How can you help cats?
If your cat is experiencing any of the problems mentioned earlier in this article, it is in the hands of the owners to get them treated. There is no point in complaining about their urinating behavior or be annoyed about it. They always have a channel to communicate with you. Therefore, you hold maximum responsibility to help them. If you have trouble in finding the right solution, always reach out to the professionals. There are vets and cat behavior specialists who can contribute to improving the situation much more than you can.
Conclusion
All the reasons are just the compiled version of the various common records and complaints raised by the pet owners. But we are sure there are more reasons to it. Don’t get annoyed at the first phase. You need to kindly observe them and always be positive to them.
If you think any practice or routine of teaching them to use a litter box is not working, then choose to go to vets. We are affirmative that as you spend more time with them, you can find the reasons yourself. However, always dedicate some time to your pet cats, which is the most important than all.
