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Do out of spite?
No. Cat’s don’t pee on your belongings out of spite. Let’s address the revenge myth first. We won’t discuss whether cats are or aren’t vengeful creatures. That would require a separate article to prove that they are not.
The more important fact is that cats don’t find their urine disgusting like we do. Also, they have no idea that cat urine can be used as a tool of revenge.
Your cat doesn’t possess the reasoning powers required for spite or revenge. They would have to know that if they peed on your clothes, laundry basket, or bed, it will upset you. Further, they would have to connect their past action (the inappropriate urination) with your reaction to it in the future. Our cats aren’t vengeful villains, out to even a score with you. They are four legged fur babies. Simple and lovable.
clothes?
If it isn’t a revenge thing, then what is it? Let’s assume for the moment that your cat is healthy. As weird as it sounds, when your cat pees on your bed and dirty laundry could be described as them trying to add their scent to your stuff. This is called urine marking. Once your male cat reaches sexual maturity, they may start this common issue of urine marking to claim their territory. This can be triggered by the arrival of a new kitten or cat in your home due to territorial issues from your male. Just like when you lick the frosting on a cupcake. You are saying “I love this, this is mine”. Or maybe that’s just me.
Ironically, your cat peeing on your shoes may be their attempt to improve your relationship. Did it work? Did you love them more when you found your cat peed on your favorite pair of shoes? Probably not. Even if your cat had good intentions, they were misguided. So how can you stop it?
Why is your cat peeing on clothes and 3 ways to stop it
1. Check your for a medical condition
First, you want to make sure your cat is healthy. Frequent urination outside of the litter box is the most common cat behavior problem caused by medical issues. Often it is associated with painful urination, urine incontinence, diabetes, bladder stones, thyroid issues, chronic kidney diseases (kidney failure), or a urinary tract infection. One sign of diabetes is frequent urination.
IMPORTANT: Every cat who experiences litter box issues should be examined by a veterinarian. Please let your veterinarian know if the urinary issues appeared suddenly. Take note of any changes in your cats environment, eating, drinking, weight loss, and elimination. This will help your veterinarian diagnose any health issues and medical reasons for the unwanted behavior. They may take a urine sample and test their blood to check their blood sugar levels.
2. Look for reasons your is avoiding the
Cats are creatures of habit. Cats will avoid their litter box for a variety of reasons. Finding the best place for a litter box can be tricky. One of our cats won’t use their litter box is the litter tray doesn’t have clean litter, free of any smell of cat urine. You should check if there is something undesirable about your cats litter box. It can be something as simple as something new near their box they don’t like. Ours didn’t go near theirs as they were by the washer and dryer. When they were washing clothes, our cats stayed away from their litter boxes. We were so surprised. How about your cats and their litter box? What may seem like a simple thing to us, can be a big source of stress for your cats.
- Do you have multiple cats? If so, do you have more than one litter box? Our rule of thumb is, one litter box per cat, plus one more.
- Other common causes of avoidance are an untidy litter box. As mentioned above, our oldest cat is very fussy about hers. She wants it cleaned after every use.
- Is the location of the box not to your cat’s liking? Could it be too close to a dog bed for example? Or near appliances that make noise (like ours)? If it’s too far away from where they are eating, they may not be able to make it to their litter box in time.
- Could you have the wrong litter box type or kitty litter for your cat‘s liking? You can learn more about possible causes of cat litter box problems here.
3. Don’t punish your for on your clothes
When your cat pees on your clothes, it can be hard to control your frustrations. There’s nothing more unsettling as slipping on a wet shirt early in the morning, or worse, discover wet sheets as you drag yourself into the bed after a tiresome day. However . . .
When you find your cat peeing on your belongings and you punish them, it is likely to make the situation worse. Why?
As stated above, one of the primary reasons for this behavior problem is caused by stress. Physical or verbal punishment only adds more stress. We have found our four legged children respond much more quickly to positive reinforcement for desired behavior. Like praising them treats for going pee in their litter box.
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4. Recognize and limit your ‘s stress
So you now praise your when they in the . But if that doesn’t fix the problem, look for try strategies that reduce stress. Don’t praise or cuddle them when you find on your bed. Ignore what happened. Clean everything up and use cleaners that remove the smell. While helps, it doesn’t remove all traces of the mess. We find that products with enzymes that remove the smell and waste work best. The product we use in our clinic and at home is Nature’s Miracle. It has enzymes which remove the proteins in your (and dogs) and solid waste.
So you now praise your cat when they pee in the litter box and not on your clothes. But if that doesn’t fix the problem, look for strategies that reduce stress on your cat. Don’t praise or cuddle them when you find cat pee on your bed. Ignore what happened. Clean everything up and use cleaners that remove the smell. While baking soda helps, it doesn’t remove all traces of the mess. If your house smells light cat pee but you can’t find it, use a blacklight to find and get rid of cat urine. We find that products with enzymes that remove the smell and waste work best. The product we use in our clinic and at home is Nature’s Miracle. It is an enzyme cleaner which removes the proteins in your cat (and dogs) pee and solid waste. This will prevent your pet from eliminating on the same spot again while removing the smell.
Next, try to find out what stresses out your cat. Could it be your new kitten or puppy messing around too much? Could it be your new robot vacuum is terrorizing them? Is it separation anxiety? Or your neighbor’s new found love of the trumpet? When you find what changed in your cats environment that may be causing them stress, look for ways to relieve it. Check how your cat feels from day to day and at what moments they seem to show signs of stress.
How do you stop a cat from peeing on your clothes? 3 ways
You may love your cat, but in many cases this behavioral issue is because of your relationship. As hard as this may be to accept, please understand this is from your cats perspective, not yours. Try to improve your relationship with your cat as much as you can by playing, petting, or just talking to your cat more.
1. Limit negative interactions
This means if you get upset at something or yell at the TV your may take this personally. You weren’t directing that energy towards them, but they don’t know that. Perhaps you have been spending more time with your new kitten? Perhaps work has been more demanding lately? It’s the rare cat owner that comes to us with this problem that plays with their cat enough. Take a look at your relationship to see how your behavior may be affecting your cat.
2. Does your cat want more playtime?
Take a step back and think about how often and how long you play with your four legged fur baby. Create a journal in your phone of dates and times (start and stop). After a week, look at it. Whatever it is, does your cat seem to want more play time with you? Try to give them more attention and see what effect it has on the problem. Try spending play time before meals as this closely mimics their natural instincts to hunt for their meals. Schedule play dates on your phone to remind yourself to spend short, but more frequent play periods with your feline.
3. Look for things that cause your cat stress
Besides your relationship, other things can cause your cat to be stressed. Common stressors include changes in their environment and/or schedule, your absence, boredom, a tight living space, and their relationships with your other pets. Don’t forget this includes animals that can be seen through a window. Find out what’s going on and you are on your way to pee free clothes, shoes, and bedding.
As discussed, the most common reason cats pee on their owner’s beds, shoes, and clothes is because of their own relationship. One of the hardest ones to diagnose is separation anxiety. We had to use a video camera to solve issues with both our cats and dogs. As the leaders of the pack, your animals will react differently when you leave. Especially if you’ve been spending a lot more time at home and then leave. We found and recommend to our patients a pet cam like this Petcube Cam. It’s has features like motion detection and tracking so it follows your pet. You can also talk to them from the app on your phone. The sound detection feature helped us figure out when and why our little girl was meowing so loud that our neighbors started to complain. Turns out she had a real problem with the squirrels that were attacking our new bird feeder. Two problems solved ! Note that it only works with the 2.4GHz band of WiFi in your house and not the faster 5 GHz WiFi band. We had no problems communicating with it and it really helped us understand what our kitty was going through.
Summary
As discussed, your cat might be peeing on your clothes in order to improve their bond with you. This of course fails miserably as most cat owners don’t find the inappropriate urination a loving gesture. Playing detective is tough, but if you work on finding out what’s going on, maybe your cat won’t feel the need to pee on your clothes, shoes, and bed.
You have learned that cats don’t pee out of spite, 4 reasons why cats pee on your clothes and personal items, and 3 ways to stop your cat from peeing on your clothes. That will make your pet cat and you happy. And keeping your Pet happy is what we all want.
Note, if your has other behavior problems, you can check for solution to most common ones here.
