- Joined
- Sep 20, 2020
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I know this is an age old problem but I haven't seen any posts with these specific circumstances so I thought I might give it a go.
My husband and I adopted two kittens from a farm about two months ago (they were about 12 weeks old then). When we first brought them home, we kept them confined to our bedroom/bathroom area to minimize troublemaking while we made sure the rest of the apartment was ready. There was only one litter box during this two ish week time and it was right beside our carpet- like bathmat.
We noticed our girl, Mo, peeing on the bathmat one day and it smelled like she had done it a time or two before. We removed the mat, she seemed to be peeing in the box, problem solved. Then we noticed a T shirt we had lost behind a dresser that she had been peeing on. We removed that, and then she started peeing on our blankets on the bed. If there was no blanket (just a fitted sheet), she would sniff around the bed, then look where the T shirt used to be, then go to the litter box and pee.
By this time they had multiple boxes and the full run of the house. So we moved all the boxes outside our bedroom and shut them both out, then removed all bunched-up fabric from the rest of the house. No blankets on the couch, no accessible laundry baskets, etc. If there is no fabric available, she always pees in the litter box. She isn't marking either, she just squats and empties her entire bladder. She doesn't pee on furniture, or her bed, or even the carpeted stairs. Only blankets and blanket like fabric.
It seems to be entirely a preference thing, and it's driving me insane. If I miss a reusable grocery bag near the door, pee. If a jacket gets knocked off of the coat rack, pee. If I fall asleep on the couch under a blanket, pee. It's about to be real cold in this northeastern state, am I just not going to be allowed to watch a movie under a blanket? She is honestly perfect aside from this, but I am at my wit's end. How can I teach her that peeing on blankets etc is unacceptable?
I have definitely left out some details in the interest of keeping this shorter, so I am happy to answer questions.
My husband and I adopted two kittens from a farm about two months ago (they were about 12 weeks old then). When we first brought them home, we kept them confined to our bedroom/bathroom area to minimize troublemaking while we made sure the rest of the apartment was ready. There was only one litter box during this two ish week time and it was right beside our carpet- like bathmat.
We noticed our girl, Mo, peeing on the bathmat one day and it smelled like she had done it a time or two before. We removed the mat, she seemed to be peeing in the box, problem solved. Then we noticed a T shirt we had lost behind a dresser that she had been peeing on. We removed that, and then she started peeing on our blankets on the bed. If there was no blanket (just a fitted sheet), she would sniff around the bed, then look where the T shirt used to be, then go to the litter box and pee.
By this time they had multiple boxes and the full run of the house. So we moved all the boxes outside our bedroom and shut them both out, then removed all bunched-up fabric from the rest of the house. No blankets on the couch, no accessible laundry baskets, etc. If there is no fabric available, she always pees in the litter box. She isn't marking either, she just squats and empties her entire bladder. She doesn't pee on furniture, or her bed, or even the carpeted stairs. Only blankets and blanket like fabric.
It seems to be entirely a preference thing, and it's driving me insane. If I miss a reusable grocery bag near the door, pee. If a jacket gets knocked off of the coat rack, pee. If I fall asleep on the couch under a blanket, pee. It's about to be real cold in this northeastern state, am I just not going to be allowed to watch a movie under a blanket? She is honestly perfect aside from this, but I am at my wit's end. How can I teach her that peeing on blankets etc is unacceptable?
I have definitely left out some details in the interest of keeping this shorter, so I am happy to answer questions.