My 4 yr old female (spayed) is a stray I adopted 2.5 years ago. Early on when I got her I noticed that she'd peed on the long shaggy chenille bath mat in my ensuite. I attributed it to her thinking the long shag was like something she could dig into. Did take her to Vet though, no UTI. Washed that mat in bleach, she never did it again.
Over time I've learned the hard way that she's one of those cats who will find a pile of folded laundry and "dig into it" and pee. But ONLY folded clothes on my main level, she's NEVER done this upstairs in my bedroom where I often have baskets of folded clothing, even sometimes piles of folded clothes left sitting on my bed that I'm needing to put away.
Okay so I learned that I couldn't leave my folded clothes in laundry baskets on living room floor. Bet then she'd pee on even just a RAG on the floor. Then a couple of months ago I was working on a craft project and had a bunch of fake flowers on the floor and then I hear her making that "digging/burying noise" and I'll be danged, she'd "dug" into the pile of fake flowers and peed.
Then she started on my very expensive large shag area rug in my living room. I think the reason this started (even though I've had it the entire time she's been with me, 4 yrs) is that on one occasion when she'd peed on a pile of folded laundry it must have gone through and onto the area rug, unbeknownst to me then it all went to heck in a handbasket. I suspect she'd peed in this same spot maybe a few times that I wasn't even aware of (it's a mixed color taupe and grey shag rug so can't tell when wet) until I saw her do it once. Immediately got out the Nature's Miracle and completel saturated the area....had always heard such great things about it.
Then one day I saw her pee in a cat bed that she had often curled up in!
Then last week I caught her peeing on another large cat bed that always sits on the floor in front of my fireplace!
Then, my other cat (2 yrs old) started peeing on cat pillows and the shag rug. OMG! I suspect younger cat was doing it either ?to mark territory or could it just be because she smelled Cat #1's urine scent there and figured it was a good place to pee too?
5 days ago I decided, sadly, to get rid of my large area rug, to the garbage dump it had to go. I then locked up cats, sprayed down the living room hardwood floors with a diluted solution of vinegar and water, let it sit 20 minutes........................rinsed/wiped off................then sprayed wood floors with Nature's Miracle and let sit x 20 minutes........then mopped w/ Bona. I've been watching these 2 like hawks but nobody's peed on the hardwood floors but I suspect most cats wouldn't just pee on a hard flat surface if there wasn't something to "dig into" first?
Well last night Cat #1 peed on the towel I use to wrap around my very senior kitty with kidney disease who I syringe feed once a day just to get all of her daily supplements into her with. I generally feed Old Cat on floor then quickly whisk her across the room to where I sit to give her daily subQ fluids. Well Cat #1, I found out later that night, had peed on that towel (I had put it away in about 2 minutes after Old Cat's fluid session but apparently not fast enough).
Then this morning............she peed on the folded up towel I use to sit under the big plate I feed my cats on (it raises up the dish so less bending of the neck for my old girl).......she's never done this!! This folded up towel sits on a small mat that sits on hardwood floor. I washed towel and small mat (though mat didn't seem to have any pee on it at all but thought I'd wash just to be safe......)
Final straw tonight............the mat had long since dried in the dryer and I took it out and put it onto the floor where the food dish is..(or sits on)......walked across the house to do something, back in 20 seconds and I see Cat #1 making that "digging/burying" motion with the mat....and her FOOD DISH WITH SOME CANNED FOOD ON IT was sitting on the mat. I was shocked! I thought that cats don't go to the bathroom where they eat. Where she peed on the mat was like 2 inches away from food dish. Back in the wash the mat goes........put some nature's miracle in wash and letting it all soak..........
I'm going to get her into the Vet tomorrow for another urinalysis but I find it hard to believe this is a UTI if she only ever does this on my main level, never upstairs on mats or clothes.
I did change cat litter about 2-3 months ago......from the regular scented clumping clay litter (various brands, whatever on sale)......to the Arm & Hammer Recycled Corn Cob litter...............I don't think she's objected to it? Whenever I go downstairs in basement where litterboxes are, to do something in my rec room etc, she follows me. If I go to scoop the boxes, she's not shy about climbing into one and peeing. I have 6 litterboxes in the basement (2 w/ hoods, 4 without)...and 1 box up in my spare/cat room.
OH.......I can't even leave empty plastic grocery bags on the floor for crying out loud! I one day saw her peeing into one of them on the floor, can you believe it?
Would appreciate any thoughts/advice. Thank you. This is really stressing me out.
Over time I've learned the hard way that she's one of those cats who will find a pile of folded laundry and "dig into it" and pee. But ONLY folded clothes on my main level, she's NEVER done this upstairs in my bedroom where I often have baskets of folded clothing, even sometimes piles of folded clothes left sitting on my bed that I'm needing to put away.
Okay so I learned that I couldn't leave my folded clothes in laundry baskets on living room floor. Bet then she'd pee on even just a RAG on the floor. Then a couple of months ago I was working on a craft project and had a bunch of fake flowers on the floor and then I hear her making that "digging/burying noise" and I'll be danged, she'd "dug" into the pile of fake flowers and peed.
Then she started on my very expensive large shag area rug in my living room. I think the reason this started (even though I've had it the entire time she's been with me, 4 yrs) is that on one occasion when she'd peed on a pile of folded laundry it must have gone through and onto the area rug, unbeknownst to me then it all went to heck in a handbasket. I suspect she'd peed in this same spot maybe a few times that I wasn't even aware of (it's a mixed color taupe and grey shag rug so can't tell when wet) until I saw her do it once. Immediately got out the Nature's Miracle and completel saturated the area....had always heard such great things about it.
Then one day I saw her pee in a cat bed that she had often curled up in!
Then last week I caught her peeing on another large cat bed that always sits on the floor in front of my fireplace!
Then, my other cat (2 yrs old) started peeing on cat pillows and the shag rug. OMG! I suspect younger cat was doing it either ?to mark territory or could it just be because she smelled Cat #1's urine scent there and figured it was a good place to pee too?
5 days ago I decided, sadly, to get rid of my large area rug, to the garbage dump it had to go. I then locked up cats, sprayed down the living room hardwood floors with a diluted solution of vinegar and water, let it sit 20 minutes........................rinsed/wiped off................then sprayed wood floors with Nature's Miracle and let sit x 20 minutes........then mopped w/ Bona. I've been watching these 2 like hawks but nobody's peed on the hardwood floors but I suspect most cats wouldn't just pee on a hard flat surface if there wasn't something to "dig into" first?
Well last night Cat #1 peed on the towel I use to wrap around my very senior kitty with kidney disease who I syringe feed once a day just to get all of her daily supplements into her with. I generally feed Old Cat on floor then quickly whisk her across the room to where I sit to give her daily subQ fluids. Well Cat #1, I found out later that night, had peed on that towel (I had put it away in about 2 minutes after Old Cat's fluid session but apparently not fast enough).
Then this morning............she peed on the folded up towel I use to sit under the big plate I feed my cats on (it raises up the dish so less bending of the neck for my old girl).......she's never done this!! This folded up towel sits on a small mat that sits on hardwood floor. I washed towel and small mat (though mat didn't seem to have any pee on it at all but thought I'd wash just to be safe......)
Final straw tonight............the mat had long since dried in the dryer and I took it out and put it onto the floor where the food dish is..(or sits on)......walked across the house to do something, back in 20 seconds and I see Cat #1 making that "digging/burying" motion with the mat....and her FOOD DISH WITH SOME CANNED FOOD ON IT was sitting on the mat. I was shocked! I thought that cats don't go to the bathroom where they eat. Where she peed on the mat was like 2 inches away from food dish. Back in the wash the mat goes........put some nature's miracle in wash and letting it all soak..........
I'm going to get her into the Vet tomorrow for another urinalysis but I find it hard to believe this is a UTI if she only ever does this on my main level, never upstairs on mats or clothes.
I did change cat litter about 2-3 months ago......from the regular scented clumping clay litter (various brands, whatever on sale)......to the Arm & Hammer Recycled Corn Cob litter...............I don't think she's objected to it? Whenever I go downstairs in basement where litterboxes are, to do something in my rec room etc, she follows me. If I go to scoop the boxes, she's not shy about climbing into one and peeing. I have 6 litterboxes in the basement (2 w/ hoods, 4 without)...and 1 box up in my spare/cat room.
OH.......I can't even leave empty plastic grocery bags on the floor for crying out loud! I one day saw her peeing into one of them on the floor, can you believe it?
Would appreciate any thoughts/advice. Thank you. This is really stressing me out.