Expert: Kate Tilmouth - 9/29/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hello,
I adopted 2 cats (a 3.5 year old brown tabby F, and a 2.5 year old yellow
tabby M) and my girl, Bonnie is declawed. I have never owned a declawed cat
before and have noticed she has some litter box problems. Every now and
again (about 1-2 times a week) she will either urinate on my bed or on a cat
bed. I have used enzyme cleaners and washed these over and over again.
Every time it is in a different spot, so I do not believe it is because she can
still smell any urine left. She is ill (it is either Chlamydiosis or FHV, we are
trying Viralys this week) and her eyes are watery but other than that she is
happy and frisky. What is the reason for declawed cats to not use the litter
box, and is there a litter I can switch to? I started out with fresh step, and
have now gone to Cat Attract (which my boy loves). Then, after switching to
that about a week ago I catch her tonight about to urinate on my bed again. I
am sure that it is urination and not marking since there is an awful lot when
she does it. I said "no, no, no" to her and she jumped off the bed and went
right to the litter box (I have 3 litter boxes for the 2 cats... not covered and
always clean). When she got out of the litter box, I petted her and rewarded
her with treats. This is the first time I have caught her though. If there are any
tricks, I would love to know!

Thank you so much

ANSWER: Hi
often when cats urinate on a bed it is because the bed smells of you the owner and it makes the cat feel secure. this often happens when the cat is feeling a little insecure in the home, perhaps she is still getting used to her new surroundings.

You didn't mention if the cat has been recently declawed or not. If it is a new thing then she could be in some pain which is making her feel stressed and so urinating in a place where she feels secure.

if it is not  a new thing then perhaps the litter simply is to harsh for her paws, there are softer cat litters available which are made from paper etc.

The trouble with this situation is finding out if your cat is feeling stressed and if so what about so that you can try and help them.

Try spraying your bed with a strong lemon scent, cats don't like this smell and it may deter her from using the bed as an alternative litter tray.

I have several pages about this sort of problem and also a page about different cat litters i will put the links to these pages at the bottom.

best wishes Kate
http://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-urine.html
http://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-urinary-problems.htmlhttp://www.our-happy-cat.c


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you! She was declawed before I adopted her (I'm sure it was done when
she was a kitten - I personally would never think about doing that). As far as
spraying the bed with something lemon scented... is there something that you
recommend?

Answer
Hi
there are lemon room spays you can purchase or you could mix a small amount of lemon juice to some water and put in a spay bottle and spray lightly over your bed in the morning when you get up and around the carpet too, that is what i used to do when our cat had a similar problem.