Random peeing on bathmats

[greenvillegal]

I know there are thousands of threads on cats peeing, but I don't have time to search through and read them all to see if I can find a similar problem.

Lady likes to pee on our bathmats occasionally.  She's spayed, healthy, playful, loving, and doesn't show any symptoms of being sick.  I think she peed on one, then could still smell her pee after we washed it so she thought she could pee there.  One of our litter boxes is in our bathroom, so I'm not sure if she just mistook where she could pee.  

Is it possible that my husband could have "dripped" on the bathmat during a middle of the night bathroom break, and then Lady smelled that and peed in the same place?  

Also, any suggestions for how to get the pee smell out of the bathmats so Lady doesn't pee on them anymore?  

Any ideas why she does this?  It's totally random.

 

[Ms. Freya]

It could be a few things, but my first thought is if you didn't wash the mats with an enzyme cleaner the first time, it's very likely she can still smell pee on them. The smell of cat pee is more noticeable in damp or humid weather (both normal conditions in a bathroom) and she'll keep going back to a place she's gone before. I would try getting an enzyme cleaner (you can find them in the pet store) and try cleaning with that first to see if it helps. If it's one of those foam-like mats, honestly, you may have to toss it and get a new one because they're really hard to get clean.

It may also be that she likes the feel. Some cats (I have one) will always pee on plastic bags if they're left on the ground.

Good luck!
 

 

[greenvillegal]

Yes, it is one of those foam bath mats.  I tried to explain to my husband that just because WE couldn't smell the pee anymore doesn't mean it was gone.  I told him that cats' sense of smell is like 10x ours.  He doesn't want to throw the mats out because they were expensive but I think we overpaid for them anyway.  Thanks!!  

 

[jennyr]

One of my cats always pees on any rubber or plastic- backed mats I have put down. Now I use textile only mats and the problem has gone. Some cats realy do have na affinity to plastic or rubber - I believe that it may be to do with the smell of the oils used in manufacture.

 

[rubberboots]

Ya, ours peed on our entry way throw rug which was rubber backed. I think cats smell the rubber and I think that's what does it.
 

 

[white cat lover]

I have some cats who will pee on rubber backed rugs/bath mats. That includes large/area rugs or even bathroom rugs.

That said - anything left on my bathroom floor gets peed on: clothes, towels, washcloths, rugs, etc. *Anything*, specifically left on the bathroom floor. :dk:

I just decided my cats are weird like that & I shouldn't leave things down on the floor. I pretty much gave up trying to explain the rug thing.