I'm at wit's end with my cat. She's about a year and a half old, spayed, we've had her about six months. She had a UTI about two months ago, a persistent one that took two full courses of Clavamox to get rid of. But the vet pronounced her healthy about three weeks ago.
The problem is, during the UTI she had begun peeing on both kitchen rugs and the bathroom rug...and then on our bed. We have gotten rid of the rugs - she'd peed so many times on them they were pretty much unsalvageable - and switched to Cat Attract litter, which she seems to like, and used a ton of Nature's Miracle on the bed - on the blanket, on the sheets, on the mattress. We thought that would take care of it.
Nope! She's still peeing on the bed. We had wrapped our bed in plastic - a few cheap shower curtain liners duct-taped together to make a big enough sheet - during the UTI, and for a bit afterwards. We tried taking the plastic off a week ago. She peed on it the same day. So we put the plastic back on as we re-cleaned everything. Took the plastic off again, she did it again. It can't be that there's any smell left, we SOAKED things in Nature's Miracle and washed all the bedding with Nature's Miracle as well as regular detergent and bleach.
We tried spraying the bed, especially the area toward the top of the bed that she favors, with lemon oil, because we had read that cats dislike citrus and will avoid it. She obviously didn't like it, but she just moved further down the bed and tried to pee - I was watching like a hawk so I shooed her off before she could, whereupon she went straight to her litterbox and used it instead. So I don't think she's averse to the litterbox, she just prefers the bed. We've also tried putting a small dish of her food up on the bed because most animals won't go where they eat...she just moved a little ways away from the dish before trying to go again.
She won't even try it if someone is on the bed - I spent a couple days with my laptop working from the bed to see what she would do, and she won't try to pee on the bed if I'm there, she just curls up to sleep or goes somewhere else.
We tried making up the bed with a different comforter, one she's never peed on before, this morning. And just a bit ago, I turned my back to take care of something in the kitchen for *literally* less than two minutes...and turned back to see her scratching at the comforter to "bury" her pee spot.
I have no idea what to do. It can't be a smell thing with as much cleaner as we've used. The vet pronounced her healthy after the second Clavamox-ing, so it's not a UTI. I scoop her box at least once, sometimes twice a day, and make sure there's plenty of litter (she likes a pretty deep bed of it). She's an only cat, and there have been no particular changes in our life that could be stressing her. The UTI seems to be pretty clearly the precipitating event, but now that the UTI is gone, and the spot is cleaned, why is she still trying to go on our bed???
I just don't know what to do. We live in a studio apartment, so it's not like we can just shut her out of the bedroom and be done with it. Am I really doomed to an ugly plastic-wrapped bed for the next twenty years or until we move into a place with rooms that have doors? We don't have a lot of money - we can't afford to replace the mattress. I just can't think of what else to do. Maybe try putting lots of food dishes on the bed so there's no spot that's sufficiently "away" from the food for her to pee? I don't want to get rid of her but I don't know that I can handle this if it's always going to be a problem...
The problem is, during the UTI she had begun peeing on both kitchen rugs and the bathroom rug...and then on our bed. We have gotten rid of the rugs - she'd peed so many times on them they were pretty much unsalvageable - and switched to Cat Attract litter, which she seems to like, and used a ton of Nature's Miracle on the bed - on the blanket, on the sheets, on the mattress. We thought that would take care of it.
Nope! She's still peeing on the bed. We had wrapped our bed in plastic - a few cheap shower curtain liners duct-taped together to make a big enough sheet - during the UTI, and for a bit afterwards. We tried taking the plastic off a week ago. She peed on it the same day. So we put the plastic back on as we re-cleaned everything. Took the plastic off again, she did it again. It can't be that there's any smell left, we SOAKED things in Nature's Miracle and washed all the bedding with Nature's Miracle as well as regular detergent and bleach.
We tried spraying the bed, especially the area toward the top of the bed that she favors, with lemon oil, because we had read that cats dislike citrus and will avoid it. She obviously didn't like it, but she just moved further down the bed and tried to pee - I was watching like a hawk so I shooed her off before she could, whereupon she went straight to her litterbox and used it instead. So I don't think she's averse to the litterbox, she just prefers the bed. We've also tried putting a small dish of her food up on the bed because most animals won't go where they eat...she just moved a little ways away from the dish before trying to go again.
She won't even try it if someone is on the bed - I spent a couple days with my laptop working from the bed to see what she would do, and she won't try to pee on the bed if I'm there, she just curls up to sleep or goes somewhere else.
We tried making up the bed with a different comforter, one she's never peed on before, this morning. And just a bit ago, I turned my back to take care of something in the kitchen for *literally* less than two minutes...and turned back to see her scratching at the comforter to "bury" her pee spot.
I have no idea what to do. It can't be a smell thing with as much cleaner as we've used. The vet pronounced her healthy after the second Clavamox-ing, so it's not a UTI. I scoop her box at least once, sometimes twice a day, and make sure there's plenty of litter (she likes a pretty deep bed of it). She's an only cat, and there have been no particular changes in our life that could be stressing her. The UTI seems to be pretty clearly the precipitating event, but now that the UTI is gone, and the spot is cleaned, why is she still trying to go on our bed???
I just don't know what to do. We live in a studio apartment, so it's not like we can just shut her out of the bedroom and be done with it. Am I really doomed to an ugly plastic-wrapped bed for the next twenty years or until we move into a place with rooms that have doors? We don't have a lot of money - we can't afford to replace the mattress. I just can't think of what else to do. Maybe try putting lots of food dishes on the bed so there's no spot that's sufficiently "away" from the food for her to pee? I don't want to get rid of her but I don't know that I can handle this if it's always going to be a problem...