Cat started peeing in our toddler’s room. Please help.

Natuska

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Hi everyone,

We have a male cat who’s been living with us for 2.5 years. He recently started peeing in our toddler’s room. He peed in his cot twice, each time during the night or early in the morning as our son was sleeping with us. Our son is not using his cot anymore, so after the cat peed in it for the second time, we removed the cot and replaced it with another bed with new bedsheets. Our son loved his new bed and slept in it last night. He came to our room early in the morning and left the door in his room open. After a while our male cat also came to our bed as he always does in the mornings. When we got up, we realised that the cat peed on our son’s new bed before coming to our room.

We are very annoyed and we don’t know why he does this. He never ‘marks’ any new furniture. He loves our son. His litterbox was clean. He looks happy and healthy, and comes to me for a cuddle every morning and every night, and sits next to me for hours. He hasn’t had any recent changes in his life. So why did he start peeing?

This behaviour makes our life really hard. What could be the reason for it and how can we stop it?

Also, is there a way to completely remove the pee smell from that room? I’m afraid the cat now thinks it’s a toilet and will keep doing it because of the residual scent.

Please help, I don’t know what to do.
 

hexiesfriend

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9 times out of 10 it’s a medical issue so it would not be his fault. Urinary tract infections are the culprit usually. If you rule out medical issues cats will do this due to feeling insecure due to changes in the household or outside.
 

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Yes, get your cat to a vet.

Peeing in your son’s bed is a sign of territorial stress. The cat, for whatever reason, is peeing in your son’s bed as a way to say “I belong here, too!”

Is the room normally closed off to the cat? That could trigger the territory marking. If your cat loves your son and cannot go in your son’s room, your cat may feel the need to say “Hey! I belong in here with my little Buddy. Don’t shut me out!”

This is only one possibility. It’s up to you to do your detective work to figure out what’s going on. Keep in mind, it isn’t because your cat is mean, vindictive, jealous or anything like that. Something has triggered this natural response. Once you figure out what that is and fix it, the peeing will stop.

I suggest putting a kitty condo in your son’s room and see what happens. Maybe even try moving your son’s bed to another spot in his room.

To kill the smell, use an enzyme cleaner. One that’s supposed to work well is Nature’s something. Someone will be along with the name soon, I bet.
 

Alldara

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Is your male neutered?

Does he eat dry food?

You should truly take him to the vet. That is an early sign of FLUTD/urinary crystals. Feeding a 100% wet food diet is the best prevention for it. But if it's crystals, you should have your vet tell you what kind. (Nobel's was calcium and a change to food without cheese as an ingredient solved it!)

I also recommend Feliway or Relaxivet. Relaxing music with purring is on YouTube or YouTube Music.

You said you a have a toddler. The toddler beginning to move around can be stressful to a cat. Is your child also learning how to interact respectfully? Does your cat have enough space to move around out of reach? for your cat to feel secure at this time, you might need to add secondary litter, food and water areas or move the ones you have. Remember, your cats whole world is at home; what seems like a minor change to us seems more major to them.

Whenever there's been a little one in the house I try to make sure to keep water and food in a quieter area, out of reach of little hands.
 

Mamanyt1953

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IF his exam shows no health issues, I have to wonder if there are cats "visiting" outside your son's window, and your cat is scent-marking your son as "his." Not a bad thing, even if frustrating. THAT can be cured by placing silent compressed air cans that are motion activated outside of the windows. A few blasts of air to the face will send any cats hanging around elsewhere.
 
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Natuska

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Hi guys,

thanks so much for your responses. I remembered two things now:

1. My cats usually eat wet food only, but I recently got lots of dry food samples from local pet shop, and the issue started after my male cat started eating dry food.
2. There is in fact another male cat circling around our house. He started coming here maybe a week before the peeing issue started.

I will stop giving him dry food from now on. I will also take him to the vet. I’m wondering however, if he has urinary crystals, wouldn’t he look unwell? He seems to be happy as always, but of course it’s best to get him checked. What tests would show this?

In regards to the other cat, he’s not specifically near my son’s window, he’s walking on a vacant lot next to ours. Neighbour’s house got demolished, so the cat from another neighbour is enjoying the space. He’s not on our territory, he can’t climb over our fence, it’s too high. Is there anything I could do to make sure he doesn’t stress out my male cat without stressing out any of them?
 

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I would start w/ the food issue and a visit w/ your vet. If either of those 2 seem to resolve the issue, then there is no need to worry about this other cat (yet). :) If it persists, despite sticking to wet food and whatever your vet says about urinary crystals, two small thoughts occurred to me. 1 there are products out there I’m forgetting the name of that act as a deterrent to other cats—- scents that you could spray on the fence. 2 (and this might be a little out there, but maybe not) I’ve been trying to find ways of keeping bobcats away and apparently they don’t like bright, shiny, moving things like pinwheels or CDs tied to things. Admittedly that might look a little odd on your fence line, but maybe you can get creative. I’d be very interested to know how this turns out as I think it has something to do w/ your son.
 

Alldara

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Hi guys,

thanks so much for your responses. I remembered two things now:

1. My cats usually eat wet food only, but I recently got lots of dry food samples from local pet shop, and the issue started after my male cat started eating dry food.
2. There is in fact another male cat circling around our house. He started coming here maybe a week before the peeing issue started.

I will stop giving him dry food from now on. I will also take him to the vet. I’m wondering however, if he has urinary crystals, wouldn’t he look unwell? He seems to be happy as always, but of course it’s best to get him checked. What tests would show this?

In regards to the other cat, he’s not specifically near my son’s window, he’s walking on a vacant lot next to ours. Neighbour’s house got demolished, so the cat from another neighbour is enjoying the space. He’s not on our territory, he can’t climb over our fence, it’s too high. Is there anything I could do to make sure he doesn’t stress out my male cat without stressing out any of them?
Usually FLUTD is a stress response. There is often no infection or crystals. The stress causes the bladder to inflame, making urination painful. Then the cat associates peeing in his box as pain, and tries to go somewhere soft. Like your son's bed that might also smell a bit like human pee to a cat because a diapered child had been sleeping in it. You son isn't even sleeping in the cot anymore, so to the cat, it might seem like it's okay.

First time Nobel had crystals he was playing with me just 10 minutes before. If you cat has a blockage they will begin to look unwell and vomit and you have a matter of hours to take to the vet. However, not to worry you, this is often not the case for cats who have wet food. Nobel has never had a blockage.

You could see if you can borrow a live trap for the other cat and take him to a local rescue. Sometimes a local rescue will help with this. You could also check on a local Lost and Found Pets to see if someone can help with this, or your local Buy Nothing group someone might have a trap to borrow.
 

Mamanyt1953

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FIC (Feline Idiopathic Cystitis), like FLUTD, is often associated with stress. "Idiopathic" literally means "no known bacterial or viral reason, beats us." Let's see the vet first, get him back on pure wet food, and go from there.
 
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Natuska

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Update: We have an appointment with the vet later this week. In the meantime, I put him back on his regular wet food but it didn’t resolve the problem, as he did it again.

Tonight I decided to put our toddler to sleep in our room. I forgot to close the door to his room. After I put our son to sleep, I went out to the kitchen which is next to the living room. I was busy with the dishwasher when the male cat came to the terrace door and meowed, asking to come outside. The door was closed, and my husband, who I thought would let him out, was using earbuds and didn’t hear anything. When the cat realised nobody is letting him out, he disappeared and I heard him meowing from somewhere else. I called my husband to check on the cat, he went into our child’s room and found the pee on his bed. It all happened in less than 2-3 minutes.

The cat is also meowing a lot tonight, a lot more than usual. He’s now hanging out outside and meowing. Maybe he’s trying to pee on the grass and it hurts? I saw him in the litterbox today but he didn’t end up using it. Yesterday I saw him going to the litterbox and meowing. Let’s see what the vet says. Can they diagnose FIC or FLUTD and help him straight away?

The cat who comes close to our fence, is not homeless. It’s very groomed purebred cat from one of our neighbours, so I wouldn’t catch it. I haven’t seen it in the last few days, but maybe I just didn’t notice.
 

Alldara

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[QUOTE="

Maybe he’s trying to pee on the grass and it hurts? I saw him in the litterbox today but he didn’t end up using it. Yesterday I saw him going to the litterbox and meowing. Let’s see what the vet says. Can they diagnose FIC or FLUTD and help him straight away?
[/QUOTE]

I agree. This is an emergency vet visit. If a crystal has moved to a blockage, you cat could die in the matter of hours. Yes there's always a chance he could pass the stone on his own but I would never run that risk.

If a cat EVER squats to pee and does not pee, that needs addressed within the matter of hours. Meowing in pain in the litter with urination or poo needs addressed within 24 hours. I'm not be an over-concerned pet parent when I make this statement. I make the statement as someone who has experience both with FLUTD and with cat rescuing... enough to know what's a "now" issue, a "wait 'till morning" issue or a "monitor it" issue.

Yes. FLUTD gets diagnosed after a urinalysis.

Wet food does not solve FLUTD on its own. It aids in the prevention of flare ups. If you begin to learn the VERY early signs of stress in your cat, far before littering symptoms, you can water down the food and flush the bladder, or have your vet provide intravenous fluids. (For ex. Us leaving is stressful so the pet sitter always adds water. The water is added before the signs of stress) It goes alongside enrichment and other things to lower stress like Feliway. If it gets to the point of symptoms, like your cat has now, it means an urgent vet visit. Nobel's food change prevented crystals, but he still has the ability to have flare ups from stress. After 16 years together, I've gotten very good at preemptive care. You can too!

I would recommend you keep your cat inside if there's a cat out stressing him as well.
 
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Natuska

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Thanks everyone for your replies. I went to the vet today. He does not have any urinary tract infection or crystals, but they checked his kidneys and unfortunately discovered signs of early kidney disorder. I am very sad, as he is not even 4 years old. And confused as I have no idea about this disease. They said his SDMA kidney enzymes are elevated, but creatinine is normal. They suggested giving him either Royal Canin Veterinary Renal Adult Cat Food or Hills Prescription Diet Kd Kidney Care for a month and rechecking his blood and potentially doing an ultrasound of his kidneys. So annoying and sad! Is it a serious condition? I guess I have a lot to learn about it now. I hope he can live a long and happy life with it. If you have any information or resources or maybe food or medication recommendations, please let me know. I still hope his enzymes will be fine in one month. Plus I am still not sure what to do about the peeing problem, vet said it's caused by his kidneys issue. Should I try Feliway or catnip maybe?
 

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Is he neutered? Marking is often the sign of a tomcat, as is a lot of meowing to get out. If not get him neutered and that should help. There are many kidney supplements on Amazon that should help him, look at the reviews. Often, a cat's kidney levels are elevated from the stress of going to the vet, so they may get better. Nature's Miracle works VERY well, and you just soak the area with it. It took out the kennel urine smell in our basement after 3 uses, it was so bad it made your eyes water.
 

Furballsmom

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Hi -
There may be something in this article to help regarding stress;
Stress in Cats – The Ultimate Guide – TheCatSite Articles

I like to give my boy a little fresh catnip (it's easy to grow, likes lots of sunlight) on a regular basis for general purposes just because he likes it so much. The website Only Natural Pet has a calming product called Just Relax Calming spray with essential oil (catnip oil).

You might consider cat music. It can be very helpful in relaxing cats. There's spotify, Youtube, Alexa cat music, RelaxMyCat and MusicForCats.

There's also this one, be sure and scroll all the way down the page;
www.bachflower.com

Depending on where you live and have available, some other products to consider are ThunderWunders calming chews, Richard's Organic Pet Calm drops, Naturevet Hemp, HomeoPet Anxiety Relief, Head to Tail Calming, Relaxivet Quiet Moments Cat treats, GNC Calming formula, and there is Calm-o-mile, Natures Miracle calming spray, Vetri-Science's Composure is another item to look at, Pet Remedy - UK (it has valerian) is yet another, as is Essential Pet Pet-eze, Pet Organics No Stress, Pet Naturals also has one I believe, and there are others.

There is a product called a lickimat which could be helpful too, as cats can be calmed by the process of licking.
foodpuzzlesforcats.com

This post talks about some other products;
Calming Treats For A Very Picky Cat

Regarding the illness, this website and the support group that it has, is very informative;

Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease - What You Need to Know First
 
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Alldara

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Glad to hear they discovered the issue! A prescription food is the way to go for kidney disease as the cat food industry sets levels of things like phosphate (a nutrient that cats with kidney disease need lower of) very high.

Basically, you're looking at paying a high cost of food up front to prevent the ongoing peeing issues and frequent vet visits. He will likely need bloodwork every 6 months to 1 year to check on his levels, depending on what your vet recommends.

Cats with kidney disease need extra water, special food and some extra vet care...but it's very likely to live full and healthy lives. Many things can cause it like eating something he shouldn't have (toxic plants or something with a chemical spilled on it or a mouse that was poisoned), genetics, infection that has since cleared up etc.

Kitten Lady on YouTube/Instagram has a cat who was born with congenital kidney issues. You can see there how full and happy Ferguson's life is.
 

sunny578

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Thanks everyone for your replies. I went to the vet today. He does not have any urinary tract infection or crystals, but they checked his kidneys and unfortunately discovered signs of early kidney disorder. I am very sad, as he is not even 4 years old. And confused as I have no idea about this disease. They said his SDMA kidney enzymes are elevated, but creatinine is normal. They suggested giving him either Royal Canin Veterinary Renal Adult Cat Food or Hills Prescription Diet Kd Kidney Care for a month and rechecking his blood and potentially doing an ultrasound of his kidneys. So annoying and sad! Is it a serious condition? I guess I have a lot to learn about it now. I hope he can live a long and happy life with it. If you have any information or resources or maybe food or medication recommendations, please let me know. I still hope his enzymes will be fine in one month. Plus I am still not sure what to do about the peeing problem, vet said it's caused by his kidneys issue. Should I try Feliway or catnip maybe?
I don't know much about early kidney disease, but I'm wondering if the recheck might provide more info about his prognosis. With kidney issues, I would recommend switching entirely to a high water content food (IE not dry.)

For the urinating issue:: It's great that his accidents are isolated to your son's room! One reason he is urinating on your son's bed could be that he is trying to make your son/his room smell more like himself. Kid's rooms often smell different than the rest of the house--there's the milk, the diapers, the diaper cream, etc, etc. I missed how old your baby is? If he isn't mobile yet, or is old enough to be trusted to not mess with a litter box (doubtful haha) I would start by putting a new litter box in your son's room. If that's not possible, wondering how close the nearest box is?

I would also increase the cat factor in your son's room by adding a scratching post and/or some cardboard scratchers. Urinating is one way for a cat to spread their scent; scratching is another. I would bring some of your cats toys in there and make an extra effort to play with him in that room. Brush him on the floor, leave some of his hair there to make the room more cat/cat-smell friendly. Feed him some treats in there. Extra points if any of this brushing/playing/treating happens on your son's bed. Your goal here is two-fold--increase your cat's scent in this room, and create a new association with the bed. It's a fun place to eat/play/hang out with the family, not a place to urinate.

You might also make an extra effort to keep your cat out of your son's room when you aren't able to supervise him in there for a week or two, just to be on the safe side.

Good luck, and please keep us posted! If you post in the Cat Health section of this forum about his kidney enzymes, you might get some good info there.
 

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IF his exam shows no health issues, I have to wonder if there are cats "visiting" outside your son's window, and your cat is scent-marking your son as "his." Not a bad thing, even if frustrating. THAT can be cured by placing silent compressed air cans that are motion activated outside of the windows. A few blasts of air to the face will send any cats hanging around elsewhere.
I like the motion activated sprinkler. 😈
 
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