Pee outside littebox-- UGH

Paloma · Sep 28, 2007

I use cloth diapers for my infant and toddler. I had a pile of clean diapers on the floor to be put away. Suddenly, I noticed two of our cats pawing at the pile, as though they were trying to cover their waste.

There was cat pee on the diapers. I was shocked. Our older cat (he was watching the other two paw at the diapers) and the one who passed away in Feb. NEVER did this-- I have left piles of unfolded diapers around before. I was always a little worried it would happen with our new cats (one has been here 7 months, the other 5 months) but this is the 1st time. We have never, ever had anyone pee outside the box in our 10 yrs living with cats.

Questions . . .
(1) Will a cat cover up pee ONLY if he/she has been the one to pee, generally speaking? I am trying to figure out which cat peed.
(2) We changed litter recently. Could this be a result of that, or is it just that the (human) pee smell attracted the cat and confused him/her
(3) I won't be leaving the diapers around anymore, but will using bleach on them get the cat pee smell out?
(4) My toddler is in the process of potty learning. I KNOW she's going to have accidents. Does this mean I need to clean all of her accidents with a good neutralizer (vs. just a regular carpet cleaner), or do you think it was the pile of diapers that was confusing to the cats?
(5) DH said maybe the cat that peed was upset about something. Could that have brought this on? (We have had no changes that I am aware of.)
(6) If they mark their territory, do they still try to cover it up?

Thanks!!!

Nell · Sep 28, 2007

my guess:
It could be territorial, or it could be a result of the cat smelling urine and thinking that its an appropriate place to go because of it. It could also be that the just like to pee on clothes on the floor the way some cats like to. Cats do not just try to cover up their own waste. They will do the same for other waste.
You might want to keep another litterbox around with the old litter just to make sure they are using the box and then gradually mix in the new litter.
As far as getting the cat pee out of the diapers, I would suggest soaking them in a bucket of nature's miracle for a while and then hanging them up to air dry completely, and then wash them. Bleach is not an effective way of getting rid of the smell of cat pee and it'll weaken the cloth.
And for future accidents, I'd suggest just using some nature's miracle (or similar product) right away to clean it up. Its probably easier than getting cat pee out later on.

doodlebug · Sep 28, 2007

I believe that Nature's Miracle makes a laundry additive, not sure how good it is...

Paloma · Sep 28, 2007

Thanks to you both!

I hope it's not territorial. Someone else asked if I'd bleached my diapers-- I had. Normally, I do not for many reasons. According to this person, bleach smells like cat pee to cats, which is why some cats pee on clean clothes (that have been bleached).

Since cats cover up waste that might not be their own, I have no idea which of the 2 cats did it. My husband was in the middle of showing me something he had worked on-- a rare moment that deserved my undivided attention-- but I noticed TWO cats pawing at the diapers. DH was annoyed that I was distracted so while I was trying to explain my panic to him, I did not notice which cat pawed first.

I will definitely keep Nature's Miracle around from now on. Like I said, we never had pee problems in the past . . .I hope this is an isolated incident.

Pee outside littebox-- UGH

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