Why does my cat pee on my bed, shoes and other stuff

We have talked a lot about cat litter box problems before, but occasions when cats pee on their owner’s beds, shoes, clothes, and other personal belongings require special attention.

A cat peeing on your bed or shoes is usually associated with a conflict between the cat and you the cat owner. Your cat can also be under some other form of stress. While it may seem like the inappropriate urination is an act of revenge, It isn’t.

Do cats pee out of spite?

Let’s address the revenge myth first. We won’t discuss whether cats are or are not vengeful creatures, as it would require a separate article to prove that they are not.

The more important fact is that cats do not 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 does not possess the reasoning powers required for spite or revenge. They would have to know that if they pee on your 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.

In this article, you are going to learn why cats pee on your beds, shoes, clothes, and personal items. As a loving cat owner, you’ll also learn how to stop your cat from peeing on your things.

Why does my cat pee on my bed?

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 clothes could be described as them trying to add their scent to your stuff. This is called urine marking where a male cat is more likely to do this. 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 their pee in your favorite pair of shoes? Probably not. Even if your cat had good intentions, they were misguided. So how can you stop it?

How to stop a cat from peeing on your bed

1. Check your cat for medical problems.

First, you want to know your cat is healthy. Urinating outside of the litter box is the most common cat behavior problem caused by medical conditions. Often it is associated with painful urination, urine incontinence, or urinary tract infection.

IMPORTANT: Every cat who experiences litter box problems should be examined by a veterinarian. Please let your veterinarian know if the problem appeared suddenly. Take note of any changes in your cats environment.

2. Look for reasons your cat is avoiding the litter box.

You should also check your cat‘s litter box to see if there isn’t something undesirable about it.

• Do you have multiple cats? If so, do you have more than one litterbox?
• Other common causes of litter box avoidance are an untidy litter box. Our oldest female cat for example is very fussy about her litter box. 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?
• Could you have the wrong litter box type for your cat‘s liking? You can learn more about possible causes of cat litter box problems here.

3. Don’t punish your cat for peeing on your belongings

It sure can be hard to control your frustration as you step inside a wet slipper 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, much of the 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 and giving them treats for going pee in their litter box.

4. Recognize and limit your cat‘s stress

So you now praise your cat when they pee in the litter box. But if that doesn’t fix the problem, look for try strategies that reduce stress. 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. 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 cat (and dogs) pee and solid waste.

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? This is hard to diagnose without a video camera to see what is happening after you leave. 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 the bed?

You may love your cat, but in many cases the problem is because of your relationship. As hard as this may be to accept, please understand this is from their 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.

Limit negative interactions. This means if you get upset at something or yell at the TV your cat may take this personally. You weren’t directing that energy towards them, but they don’t know that. Perhaps you have been spending 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 step back and think about how often and how long you play with them. Create a log 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 time with you? Try to give them more attention and see what effect it has on the problem.

Besides your relationship, other things can cause a cat to be stressed. Common stressors include changes in the 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 shoes and bedding. You can learn more about causes and solutions to stress here .

However, the most common reason cats pee on their owner’s beds, shoes, and other stuff 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 Conico HD Pet Camera. 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 !

As stated above, they might be doing it 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 shoes and bed.  That will make you happy.  Of course, when you are happy, your pet is happy too.  Now that makes a happy home.

Note, if your cat has other behavior problems, you can check for solution to most common ones here .