Has your Cat been misbehaving? Is it developing a hit-or-miss bathroom behavior? If the issue is persistent, it’s a cause for concern since Cats are clean animals.
When a Cat needs to go to the toilet, they use their litter box or go outside. But when they start soiling or peeing on the bed, there’s definitely an underlying issue that must be dealt with immediately.
To find an accurate solution, you need to know what’s triggering this unpleasant behavior. Since we understand how frustrating the matter is, we have curated a perfect plan to ensure your Cat doesn’t soil or pee on your bed.
Read on to find out the underlying issue and how to fix the problem.
Table of Contents
Why Your Cat Soiling or Peeing on The bed and Effective Solutions
If your Cat is peeing and pooping on your bed, it could be due to various reasons outlined below:
1. An Underlying Medical Condition
As Cat owners, when these accidents occur, we are quick to judge it’s a behavioral issue when most of the time it’s actually a medical condition. Various illnesses cause a hit or miss bathroom behavior. These are:
- Bladder Stones: If your Cat is suffering from Kidney stones, they’ll cry or mew whenever they defecate due to the pain they are experiencing. This might make your Cat associate the pain to the litter box, avoiding it out of fear.
- Chronic Kidney Disease, Hyperthyroidism, and Diabetes: Your Cat may fail to use the litter box since these diseases prompt them to drink and urinate regularly.
- Feline Idiopathic Cystitis(IDC): This disease causes inflammation of the bladder. The Cat may fail to use the litter box due to the urgency to urinate.
- Urinary Tract Infections: If your Cat produces small amounts of urine yet needs to pee often, it could be a sign of a UTI. These infections cause inflammation of the urinary tract, making it painful to pee.
- Arthritis: If your Cat is suffering from severe arthritis, the pain they experience will change their behavior due to their discomfort.
Learn more warning signs when your cat is begging for help in the video below.
Solution
Before ruling out whether it’s a medical or behavioral condition, it’s best to contact your Veterinarian. A simple urine and blood test will identify the problem. If there’s a medical issue, the Veterinarian will treat your Cat to eliminate the problem.
2. Stress or Anxiety
Although mental health issues are often overlooked, it might be a valid reason why your Cat is defecating on your bed. Your cat could be stressed due to various reasons:
- Moving to a new place
- You might have left town, leaving your Cat with someone new
- A new baby in the house
- A new houseguest
- A bully cat or dog
Cats are sensitive creatures, and they can sense the slightest change, which might cause stress or anxiety.
Solution
If your Cat is troubled and dealing with stress or anxiety, it’s best to consult your Veterinarian. After a diagnosis, your Veterinarian can prescribe medication to induce stress and anxiety. You can also visit a Cat behavior specialist.
Since you also have a role to play in ensuring your cat stays happy and healthy, you can do this to prevent stress or anxiety.
- If you plan to move to a new place, you can ensure your cat has everything it needs before moving. That will drastically reduce its stress levels.
- If other pets are causing stress or anxiety, you can introduce the pets carefully and gradually until your Cat feels safe around them.
- If you have recently adopted a new pet, your cat might be feeling unseen. Cats are competitive species. Therefore, it’s best to place all its resources somewhere accessible to avoid tension or conflict.
- If you have a new houseguest, let them know your Cat finds new people overwhelming, and instead of approaching your Cat immediately, they can wait until it feels safe around them.
- A change in routine can make your Cat’s stress levels plummet, especially if you leave town for a while or when you find a job that is too demanding. To keep your Cat at ease when you are not around, you can ensure your Cat has enough indoor or outdoor space to carry out exciting activities, preventing boredom.
3. Old Age
As a Cat gets older, it may cause bathroom accidents on your bed due to various reasons. For instance, the stiffening of joints makes it hard to use the Cat flap. Or, perhaps since your Cat is not as young as it used to be, it can be feeling insecure. Sometimes, bad weather could be the issue.
On the other hand, your cat could be suffering from age-related illnesses such as Diabetes or Kidney disease, making it harder to go outside or use the litter box since they have to defecate urgently or frequently. A condition like arthritis could also interfere with your Cat’s cognitive functions.
As a result of old age, your Cat may forget to do a few things, such as using the litter box.
Solution
It’s best to consult your veterinarian whenever your old Cat starts having potty problems. It might indicate an illness, or you can introduce a potty system that allows your Cat to use the litter box on time.
4. Litter Box Preferences
Before investing in a specific litter box, you’ll need to select the most appropriate one for your Cat. Each Cat has its own preferences. What works for a particular Cat may not work for another Cat. There are litter boxes made from Clay, recycled newspapers, or Corn Cobs.
Solution
To pick the best litter box for your Cat, first, you need to know which litter box your Cat’s mother used when your Cat was just a kitten. Choosing a different litter box could be the cause of all these problems. Also, you can try a few litter boxes until you find the most suitable box for your Cat.
5. Litter Box Aversions
Cats are very picky about what they like. Suppose your Cat doesn’t find the location of its litter box good enough. It might soil on your bed since it’s not comfortable with the area of placement.
It might take a while to find exactly where your cat feels safe to pee or poop, but it will save you from a lot of frustration once you do.
Furthermore, if the litter box is too small, your Cat might look for other places to soil. Most Cats love a large litter box.
On the other hand, your Cat could be avoiding your litter box since it’s not clean. Technically, Cats are clean freaks. That’s why it’s a cause for concern when they start soiling or peeing on the bed.
Lastly, the type of litter you use on the box could be triggering unpleasant behavior from your Cat.
Solution
If the litter box is too small, your Cat may soil the bed. It’s best to pick a litter box that is one and a half times your Cat’s length.
While selecting a location to place the litter box, choose a private and quiet space that’s easily accessible to your Cat to prevent toilet accidents.
A litter box needs to be cleaned daily. Numerous people might ignore this, but you need to scoop your Cat’s litter every day. Don’t let the waste build-up for days since this can make your Cat soil or pee on your bed.
Also, you need to choose Cat litter that is soft on your Cat’s paws and easy to scoop.
6. Urine Spraying
Cats are territorial animals. They might deposit small amounts of urine around an area to mark their territory; this could be on your bed.
Or, perhaps, your Cat may spray to advertise they are ready to mate.
Frequently, Cats spray when a new Cat is adopted to the family or when there are stray Cats outside; they just want to make their presence known.
Urine spraying differs from normal urination. Instead, a spraying Cat will stand, lift its tail and spray urine in various parts of your bed after quivering.
Solution
While some Cats spray urine to mark their territory, you can deal with this by ensuring your Cat has all the resources it needs if you plan to adopt another Cat.
You can also erase your Cat's frustrations by adding enjoyable activities to their daily routines. Lastly, it’s best to separate feuding Cats. Extinguishing the tension will reduce your Cat’s need to mark their territory.
Conclusion
Most of the time, when a cat soils a bed, pet owners assume they are doing it on purpose when that’s not the case. The only way to solve the problem is by identifying the underlying issue. It could be behavioral or medical.
If you can’t find a solution to the problem, it’s best to consult your veterinarian. They will identify and eliminate the problem, allowing your Cat to live a healthy and happy life.
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