Cat who likes to pee on dirty laundry

First cat threads from me and I have 2 to start in one day…ugh. Cat #2 has decided that he likes to pee on dirty laundry (and clean if he can sneak in the room it is in–it is a “no cats allowed room”). He only does it on piles of our clothes. His box is clean. This is a newer issue (I’ve had him since he was 6 mos old and he was born in 2002).

It doesn’t happen constantly, just now and then–like months apart, so I don’t think it is a physical issue.

Nothing has changed in our household to upset him–no new pets, or rearranging, or anything.

WTH?

my cats have a thing about plastic bags – I have no solution for you – I just make sure to remove purchases from bags and put bags away quickly or suffer through cleaning up a mess

That’s funny, he is neurotic about plastic too. But he just licks it. He is such a looney toon, but the biggest lover ever.

I just don’t know if I can deal with this if he starts peeing all the time. If it becomes a regular thing, I will certainly have the vet check him. sigh

do we have the same cat? Seriously-I have one who LOVES to pee on anything soft, that is left in piles. Dirty laundry, clean laundry, the duffle bag full of clothes my husband had packed for camping the other weekend and didn’t realize it was peed on until we got out there…

Anyway, so far no solution other than keeping the temptation away from him. I think in my case it started because he had bladder issues as a kitten, so there is probably some kind of comfort factor behind seeking out the clothes versus the litter box. He does use the litter box now though, its just that if faced with a choice between the two he would choose the clothes everytime.

Inappropriate peeing is often a sign of urinary troubles–infection, crystals, stones, etc–and my first stop is the vet when something weird pops up.

If behavioral, the only thing to do is to remove the object they like to pee on :sigh:

Oh boy do I feel your pain. I had one who did this. He lived to be 18 and never got over it. He spent a good bit of time outside and was in perfect health but he liked to pee on laundry, plastic bags and for some reason the dining room rug. Sometimes he would go months in between incidents and then at times he would just go on everything. You never could tell what would set him off. Tried Feliway and many other things but he never got over it.

It was difficult to manage but we did. Kept buying progressively cheaper rugs until we ended up with no rug at all. Invest in a black light which will help you find any spots you might miss. Use Nature’s Miracle another enzyme cleaner. We also had luck with XO odor neutralizer and cleaner.

Good luck.

I’m terrified to bring a black light into the basement (it is the only part of the house with carpet and is where the cats like to hang out).

I’ve noticed as they have gotten to be seniors they puke a lot more too. Hairball control food used to help, but not as much anymore. This is the stuff I wish I had known before I got cats.

sudden change in peeing is likely a UI. Like ‘mom, look, i got an owie’

Also, the box, how old is it? our clean and their clean don’t mesh some times. Or the cleaner is too strong…

Puking more can also be a sign of kidney disease–something else that can cause inappropriate peeing. Might be worth running a kidney panel on each? It’s also really nice to have that baseline if something develops later.

I have a cat with chronic renal failure and she pees on clothes, towels, plastic bags, and one particular rug. Its gotten worse as her condition has progressed. She gets sub-q fluids everyday and seems normal except for the peeing. I’ve resigned myself to this issue and deal with her knowing that her time with us will soon be over.

You should definitely have a vet check out your cat. It could be a urinary tract/kidney issue.

In addition to the kidney issues above…

…some cats just hate messes. I have one cat, 15 now, who has peed on things since he was a youngster, basically. He is very very good about using his litter box until we let the house get a little cluttered. Piles of clothes to go to Goodwill, empty boxes from Christmas left in a pile near the tree, duffle bags stacked near the door from a vacation, etc. Something just offends him about them.

I thought he was just quirky until we got our newest addition (three years ago) who does the same thing. She’s in a separate part of the house, has never met the quirky old man, so it’s not a learned behavior. She too will take offense to any messes. She’s even quirkier than the old man, because when “her person” leaves for any extended period of time, she takes out her anger by peeing on some of her person’s stuff. :lol:

Between the both of them, it’s great incentive to keep the house clean! :lol:

I guess both my boys will be getting kidney panels! One because I need to make sure he can do pain meds and the other because he’s a pee-in!

I’ll let you know how it goes.

What is it about plastic bags and rugs? Several of these posts mention peeing on plastic bags and rugs, and mine do too! Leave the bathmat down, and it’s going to get peed on. A plastic bag on the floor, it has to get peed on. They also love to pee in fresh litter, or freshly scooped litter. As soon as I’m done, one of them is in the litterbox peeing. I’m beginning to think they’re all little pissers :lol: Wouldn’t trade them for the world though :slight_smile:

Frequent vomiting: assess the food -even if it’s the same brand & “model”: companies are often finessing the food to improve it ie improve profits whether it’s done by reducing production costs or angling for more market share …

If kitties are on dry food, try to move them to a wet food; if you can’t/won’t switch to wet food, try an alternate kibble (most cats prefer a s.l.o.w transition to any new food, though I must admit, this has never been my experience with my personal cats).

To break the nasty laundry habit, try removing the residual cat fragrance - use the special enzyme based cat products (such as Urine Off) for all your laundry for a few cycles (use the cold soak option on your machine), thoroughly treat the laundry baskets as well, then switch to a new differently scented laundry detergent, eg, lavender, rosemary, peppermint etc tend to not be attractive to cats, avoid using any ammonia cleaners as the residual notes (we don’t detect) may have a come hither effect on some cats :uhoh:

If you can pull up old carpets in areas cats may’ve marked previously, that may really help (your cats may also be marking areas where previous pets have been) - unfortunately steam cleaning (even with the special pet shampoos), may have an adverse effect as the residue may be in the underlay rather than the upper carpet layer.

Swing by the vets office and get a pee container and get a sample. Take it in and let them analyze for crystals. More often than not, they will pee on SOFT surfaces when they have a UTI or crystals. It can get quite serious very fast if in fact this is what it is. Not expensive to treat, but imperative you get a handle on it (if it is fact not behavioral).

Cats are not “natural” drinkers. They don’t usually have a strong innate drive to drink from water bowls. So, most of their fluid intake comes from their food. If you only feed dry, and not wet, then they are likely not getting enough fluids, which is one of the top contributors to UTI’s and crystal formation (ask me know I know).

With three kitties in our home, we feed a high quality soft food (Waruva), in addition to a dry. This has saved us money in the long run, since all kitties get lots of fluids on a daily basis.

Keep watch for accessive licking of the genital area, straining (peeing, but only small amounts), and the pee looking thicker, or “orangey”. If you see any of these symptoms, get to the vet.

Good Luck.

I have two cats out of four that pee on clothes left on the floor. One cat will even pee in our laundry basket. The best way to prevent it is to make sure all your clothes are picked up.

I also second that you should have the cat looked at by a vet first.

[QUOTE=crewgirl34;5797628]
They also love to pee in fresh litter, or freshly scooped litter. As soon as I’m done, one of them is in the litterbox peeing. [/QUOTE]

And why would we think cats are any different than horses?!? At least they don’t poop in their water bowls. Or do they? :eek:

I think you have my cat. Loves to lick plastic bags (seems like its always in the middle of the night when he does it, too) and pees on dirty laundry.

He used to have UTIs that are treated with diet, and he has frequent checkups done to be sure he doesn’t have any other issues. He does not have any other troubles besides the peeing. I think what has started as pain has turned to habit.

I just try to keep it up and away - motivation to clean, I guess!

Yeah, test their urine, but I have seen this before, and it’s not health related, particularly since it’s so intermittent.

You can’t have piles. Of anything. In your house. At all.

Fun, right? Not.

I have seen this behavior before. Basically, they think piles are fair game.

Be glad is just dirty laundry. I have one (or more?) that will also pee on clean clothes.