Cat is urinating on my bed.

Hi Dr Marie,

You may not remember me - I'm from Australia, my partner and I email you around 6 months ago to get some advice on integrating my new kitten (Boji - male) into the family. At the time, our slightly older kitten (Cookie - female) did not like the new addition - but I am pleased to say that your advice was fantastic and they are now the best of friends!

I now have another problem. Our older kitten, who is almost 1 year old, has always been a difficult cat. She has always had a little trouble with urinating where she isn't supposed to, and has quite an attitude and can be feisty. We love her all the same - but her urinating where she shouldn't is causing some problems.

On the whole, she's pretty good - using the litter tray and burying it as she goes. We moved house around 4 months ago (which doesn't seem to have bothered the cats) and decided that we would allow the cats to roam the house during the day and night - including the bedrooms. She was fine for the first few weeks, however we came home from work one day and she had urinated on the bed. We cleaned it up and assumed an accident, and allowed them into the bedroom again the next night. She slept on the end of the bed the whole night, and did not urinate on the covers until my partner and I were awake and talking.

After this occurred, I began to think that it was behavioural - given that she waited until we were awake the second time and urinated on the spot were Boji sleeps on the bed the first time. I am not sure. Otherwise, she has urinated on three separate bags laying around the house (two shopping bags and one laptop bag). We keep the litter clean, they have 3 trays between them - I'm not sure what is causing the problems.

Due to Cookie's urinating on the beds, we are now unable to allow the cats to go into the bedrooms without supervision. This is causing some distress to Boji, as he is an incredibly affectionate cat and relies on my company. During the night we are struggling to get sleep as he continuously cries and scratches at the door - to the point where the door bangs. We would love to have them in the bedroom during the night, but can hardly let Boji in without Cookie; it isn't fair.

I really hope that you have some suggestions for us - we are struggling to figure it out.

Thanks and speak with you soon,

Lauren :)

Hi again Dr. Marie,

Thank you so much for your assistance, and sorry for my late response - haven't been around a computer all weekend!

I had thought earlier on to have her checked by the vet, and the only reason I had not done so was because of how infrequently she was urinating where she wasn't supposed to. I suppose I felt that if she wasn't constantly doing it, and it was only every couple of months, it couldn't possibly be medical. Even if she is urinating where she isn't supposed to so sporatically, could it still be a medical problem?

We already have a Feliway diffuser in the house, not in our bedroom but in the family room where they spend the majority of their time. This helps out with her aggressiveness (when she is aggressive - which really isn't that often!) and it calms her when we're not home.

We will try putting the litter box in the bedroom and hope that she doesn't go! Only the other day did we leave our bedroom door open by accident whilst we weren't home and they roamed in and out of there all day; no accidents at all! Strange!

Thanks again and speak to you soon,

Lauren