Welcome Marilyn, and thank you Anne for introducing another much needed expert to help us with our problems.
Last September I took over my mother's 8 year old cat as my mother could no longer look after her and deal with my father's health problems. This cat, Cinders, was always a problem cat who peed indiscriminately around the house and who over the years has been the subject of many health and behaviour checks. She has always been an only indoor cat.
When I took her on I tried to retrain her, following another vet check. She was (and is still) confined to my bedroom with litter trays (cleaned every day), cat bed etc and seems quite happy there. I work and read in my room at times so she is not alone all day. She has a cushion on the windowsill, toys and my company at night when she sleeps on my pillow. My other cats are not happy at being shut out, but I had hoped that one day integration would be possible, and have introduced them one at a time to Cinders, with middling results. We had got so that she was Ok with all but one, Ellie, and sometimes I would let chosen cats sleep in the room with no ill results. For several months we had no litter box problems, and I had even taken to carrying Cinders downstairs sometimes in the evening, where she settled beside me on the sofa quite happily. SHe would always escape to 'her' room when she had had enough.
However, in the last few weeks, all has changed. For no apparent reason Cinders has started peeing on my bed, even on the pillow where she sleeps. I have twice has to change my sheets and pillow in the middle of the night, and now have a plastic mattress cover on the bed to protect it. Once again, the vet can find no problem but has put her on antibiotics just in case. I have banished all cats from the room in case they are upsetting her. I am at my wits' end and do not know what else to try. She does use her litter box as well, but it seems as if she is making a statement by peeing either on my pillow or right in the middle of the bed. But what is she trying to tell me?
Last September I took over my mother's 8 year old cat as my mother could no longer look after her and deal with my father's health problems. This cat, Cinders, was always a problem cat who peed indiscriminately around the house and who over the years has been the subject of many health and behaviour checks. She has always been an only indoor cat.
When I took her on I tried to retrain her, following another vet check. She was (and is still) confined to my bedroom with litter trays (cleaned every day), cat bed etc and seems quite happy there. I work and read in my room at times so she is not alone all day. She has a cushion on the windowsill, toys and my company at night when she sleeps on my pillow. My other cats are not happy at being shut out, but I had hoped that one day integration would be possible, and have introduced them one at a time to Cinders, with middling results. We had got so that she was Ok with all but one, Ellie, and sometimes I would let chosen cats sleep in the room with no ill results. For several months we had no litter box problems, and I had even taken to carrying Cinders downstairs sometimes in the evening, where she settled beside me on the sofa quite happily. SHe would always escape to 'her' room when she had had enough.
However, in the last few weeks, all has changed. For no apparent reason Cinders has started peeing on my bed, even on the pillow where she sleeps. I have twice has to change my sheets and pillow in the middle of the night, and now have a plastic mattress cover on the bed to protect it. Once again, the vet can find no problem but has put her on antibiotics just in case. I have banished all cats from the room in case they are upsetting her. I am at my wits' end and do not know what else to try. She does use her litter box as well, but it seems as if she is making a statement by peeing either on my pillow or right in the middle of the bed. But what is she trying to tell me?