Bed Wetting problems

[cats galore]

We have 7-cats after adding 5-outside kittens and their mother to a house that had a single female approx. 10-months old.  The 5-kittens approx. 6-months old seem to have adapted well to the inside environment.  We even tried to add the male father.  He was/is an outside cat we were feeding and showed up one day with a severe abscess on the side of his face, possibly from a fight.  After taking him to the Vet and $170 later wanted him to stay inside while on meds and to heal up.  He received all his shots and was neutered in the process.  However, he started peeing outside the available litter box and had to go outside.  This is a shame since he is such a friendly and loving cat, but the Vet advised that this may be the only alternative.

Our current problem is the mother of the kittens.  She had this thing about peeing in our bed which occurred 3-times.  Otherwise, she uses the litter box when kept out of the bedroom.  After taking her to the Vet on a half price deal they offered for spaying.  I thought we should give it a try again and let her in the bedroom.  The kittens love to be on the bed of course.  When we to bed the other night I noticed the mother was on the bed while we were trying to fall asleep.  After she jumped off, we checked the bed and sure-enough, she had peed on the bed with us in it.  This is so exasperating, since you have to get out of bed when that happens and deal with the wet bed.

I really thought that having her fixed would solve the problem, but it didn’t.  I even allowed time for her to heal.  I wonder if we are doomed to have the bedroom door shut from now on.  We like having the other cats there, but that means bringing in a litter box to the bedroom if we do allow others in there – not the most pleasant thing to do.  The mother (age unknown) is a nice cat and seems to have adapted to the inside life, but still has some wild traits (doesn’t allow you to pick her up).

Does anyone have any comments or suggestions?

 

[katluver4life]

Hello. Sorry your having this issue. What was used to clean the bed? You need a good enzyme cleaner to thoroughly clean her urine smell out of it. Even if you can't smell it, she will, if not cleaned well, and continue to go there.

A box in the room may help. How many litter boxes do you have for all 7 of them? I had to add a box to my bedroom when I added a foster family to my house. I had no issue with odor, there was none. Just keep it clean.

There may be more useful tips for you here in this thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/9563/inappropriate-peeing-problems-answered

 

[thevegancuddler]

I agree with the litter box in the bedroom. It's really not a nuisance if it's kept clean. If you have seven cats in the house, you should have AT LEAST four litter boxes. The rule is usually one for each cat plus one, but I know sometimes it's hard to figure out where to put that many. Still, any less than four is not enough, and I'd also imagine if you only had one, it'd get nasty very quickly with so many cats!

The enzyme cleaner is also very important. My Noelle had some inappropriate elimination issues, and she continually peed where she had gone before. It's a pain to correct, but the enzyme cleaner/spray should help.

When you took Mom to the vet, did you mention the inappropriate elimination problem? It's possible she has a urinary issue going on. I would think this might have been a problem with the male, too? Especially if they had been using the box before, and suddenly stopped.

 

[tammyp]

Hi CatsGalore,

I'm not sure if there is more understanding to be applied to your case with a feral? mom rescue, as to WHY she is doing this.  I would of course make sure she is healthy, and then you'd need to go down the normal tips in that link Katluver4life posted.

We had a bed pee-er.  I hope it will remain 'had'!  We figured that he did this due to stress, even if it was stuff we wouldn't think of as being overly stressful.  The types of things that would trigger it were; dogs barking outside, us packing to go away, hubby and me arguing, hubby getting cancer.  The reasons I think it has stopped (fingers crossed) are...even though we cleaned with an enzyme cleaner, we finally got rid of the sheets and got new ones, plus got a new mattress.  We noticed he liked to pee on a particular brand of pillow (I kept buying new ones), so we don't have those anymore, and we also religiously put the pillows in the cupboard when we get up.  And we fully make the bed the minute we get up.  AND lay out his blankets (yes, he has blankets that he knows are his!) completely covering our bed as part of making the bed.  We also often have Feliway running.  And are meticulous with litter box cleanliness and preference - he has a choice of closed or open as I thought he might have suddenly decided he didnt like his closed box.  To put the icing on the cake, I'm thinking that getting him his own kitten (he loves her - its been 3 months now) was a good move so he wont be completely attached to us and therefore his stress can be mitigated if we were going away/getting sick.

Now a lot of our story won't apply to you.  But I guess the moral of the story is to do everything of the physical remedies you can (get rid of smell they can still smell etc), and TRY to figure out the root cause so you can mitigate that.

One final tip - if your mattress is so far pee-free, buy yourself some mattress and pillow protectors.  New sheets are much less costly than a new mattress!  And the new variety feel just like sheets - no plasticky smell or crackle.  They are nice and soft.

 

[cats galore]

Thank you “Katluver4life,“ “Thevegancuddler,” and “Tammyp”  for taking the time to respond to my/our cat behavior problem I posted yesterday.  A suggestion was made to review the “Inappropriate Peeing Problems Answered” link advised by “Katluver4life.“  I have to admit that I did find this link yesterday after I posted my problem and I read it carefully.  I found some very helpful tips.  I think this is going to be my new action plan:

• I mentioned the problems to the Vet the mother cat, Mona, was having prior to bringing her to the clinic.  However, since when I DID finally take her to get fixed and get her shots, this was on a day they offered half price spaying.  So, I am sure any health issues were not checked by the Vet’s, as they had many cats to deal with that day.  When I take her back for her 1-month booster shot, I will have them specifically check for urinary health issues.
• I’m afraid that having several litter boxes is out of the question.  We are in a single-wide trailer so are space-limited.  I have the largest available covered litter box and an auxiliary smaller box in another room.  I clean the boxes probably 4-times a day.  For several reasons, my feeling is that this is not the issue at this time.  Maybe it will become a problem when the kittens get full sized.  I don’t think that Mona is relieving herself anywhere else in the house except the bed if she gets the chance to get on it.  If she does get on the bed, it seems to happen very quickly.
• Per the behavioral link:  We are going to try the “bleach free” approach on the bed spread & sheets and soak both in “citrus smelling juices” to see if this stops the problem.  We will be careful to make sure everything is in place before we give it a test.  Hopefully the citrus smell wont drive me from the bed.
• I will investigate the purchase and use enzyme cleaners and the Feliway spray that was recommended.

So the above will be our approach to address the problem.  If it doesn’t work, we will have to figure out and go to a Plan-B.  I appreciate everyone's input and will report back on the issue after we take the next preventative step.

 

[thevegancuddler]

Be advised that if the citrus DOES work, NONE of the cats will want anything to do with the bed. It's not just that they won't pee on it; they won't want to lay on it, either.

 

[cats galore]

Thanks everyone for all the input on this subject.  I think came up with a final plan for this problem I want to review here (unless someone advises otherwise).  I want to purchase and have the bed sheets and bedspread washed in Biokleen.  Has anyone out there had any experience with this product??  It has grapefruit seed and citrus extracts, no chlorine bleaches, and enzyme cleaners all of which should help.  Once the bed is made when washed with this product I plan on spraying it with Feliway Comfort Zone stress reducing pheromone spray.

 

[paws4life]

I'd also suggest getting two bed protectors (1 for when the dirty one is in the wash) they really are amazing. We use one that's water proof doesn't make a noise, feels like a mn expensive sheet we often sleep on it and the stop from wrinkles sheets and grip. Normally deluxe is waterproof.

 

[catspaw66]

I just looked up the Biokleen website, and would say that is what you need. You were talking about the Premium Plus Laundry Powder, correct?  I see it is on sale at soap.com.