My kitten keeps peeing in a specific place outside of his litter box
Note : There are a lot of questions about can and toilet issues but I didn't find any matching my personal issue (same spot every time, cat still uses the litter box). Here are some questions that I found that don't match my question :
Why does my cat pee on the rug outside the toilet? : This question is about a cat that doesn't pee on the toilets anymore, while my cat still goes to his litterbox. My cat also acts on a specific spot only
How do I stop my cat from peeing on rugs and linens? : This question is about a cat that had bad habits and has a hard time forgetting them, which is not the case with my cat
My cat is peeing around the litter box : This question is about a much older cat with possible kidney issues, which I don't think is the case for my kitten
How can I stop my cats from urinating in the pet carrier? : This question is about fear-related events
Since last month, my almost 4 months old kitten peed 4-5 times outside of his litter box in a specific spot on my bed. I adopted him when he was 2 months old, already weaned, and he has been very clean apart from those accidents on my bed. He still does pee and poo in his litter box. Every time it happened, we were on the bed and not sleeping (watching TV).
Every time it happened, I washed the sheets and made sure there was as little odor as possible, but he keeps peeing on the same specific spot of the bed. We (my girlfriend, him and me) sleep together on my bed but this doesn't seem to happen at night.
The vet said it may be some kind of revenge, but I didn't manage to identify any pattern of why he would pee on my bed.
He is otherwise completely healthy and we have a good relationship (we cuddle, we play together, ...)
Why does he keeps doing this, and what can I do to help him stop?
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If your cat is peeing in one specific place outside his or her litter box, try moving the litter box on top of that area, or try making that place somewhere he or she would not want to pee.
Same happened to my 4-month-old kitten. Now the pee goes down to the box spring. I'm locking him out of the bedroom so the litter box is literally the only place he goes to.
Couple of potential reasons from my pet:
He can still smell it on your bed. Did you try removing the smell totally with Fizzion or something like that? Sometimes even if you can't smell it anymore, he'll smell it and consider it as a litter box.
Try taking him to the vet to check on urinary infections. Drastic change of food, change in food pH, stress, and a lot of other reasons will lead to a cat peeing outside litter box because he is in pain and associates the pain with the litter. especially if he's peeing in front of you (while you are watching tv, he may try to tell you that he's not feeling well.)
He's too young to control it, and you just need to train him more. I even noticed some incontinence from my cat, and the vet wanted me to wait until he's older. Try blocking him from the bedroom for a while until he knows that the litter box is the only place to go to.
I am assuming this only occurs when you are not in the bed. If so...
Edit: The question was updated to expand that this only occurs when the people are in bed and awake. The answer below does not apply to the specific scenario. I will leave it here for others who it may apply to.
When you get up put a litter box on that spot on the bed. This should be a second litter box, not his normal litter box. He should start peeing in the litter box.
This has two positive impacts:
You won't need to change the bed
He should start associating peeing in that spot with the litter box
After some time (depends on how much he uses it) when you believe that he is associating the new second litter box with the place to pee, start moving its position on the bed towards a better place like a corner of the bedroom. You are slowly modifying the behavior much like training a cat to use a toilet
When the litter box is not on the bed, you have two choices.
Put it someplace he cannot see or get to.
Put it in the corner (or wherever) you want it to end up at the end of the training.
You should finish the training with a second litter box in the bedroom and no more wet beds. Alternately you can continue to move the litter box until it is in a different room.
I am also assuming there are no other cats in the house. If there are other cats, the basic rule is: there should be one litter box for each cat, plus one. Thus 2 cats should have 3 litter boxes.
Is the litterbox near your bedroom?
Is the kitten very affectionate (does it follow you around, does it hound you for attention, ...)?
It might be trying to stay close to you. I'm basing this on you mentioning it doesn't happen when you're asleep, or not in the bed. It seems to be connected to you more than the bed itself.
Try providing a (temporary) litterbox near the bed, and see if it opts for the litterbox then.
Do you have other pets, or do you, your girlfriend, or the kitten, encounter other animals regularly?
Peeing in someplace strongly associated with you or your scent(like a bed, clothes, a favorite chair) can sometimes be due to anxiety about other animals and a need to mark territory. If that's the case, you'll have to look into what is the source and if its something easily manageable like washing your hands after you pet the neighbors dogs, or whether you'd have to see about the various treatments/products to reduce anxiety in your kitten.
Try putting a plate with some food on it in the spot where the cat pees. Cats do not like to eliminate in areas they associate with food. When the food is gone, leave the plate there for a while to reinforce the association.
I realise that leaving a plate in your bed isn't exactly convenient, so perhaps it will work if you simply give your cat treats in this spot.
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