Thread: Help my maine coon has started urinating on the bed!

Wow. I feel for you. We went through "inappropriate elimination" issues with one of our females when she was a kitten. It is hard to recall exactly, but I think it was around the same age. We thought for a while that we were going to have to get rid of her (return her to the breeder), which would have been particularly heartbreaking as we had gotten her after a two year old had died from a rare problem. It also coincided at least somewhat with taking in a retiree from the same breeder, so we were never sure what role that played. She started peeing on the rug in one spot in the living room, in a leather chair, and in sinks.

So what did we do? Obviously the first thing is to make certain she doesn't have a medical issue like a bladder infection. Try to think if anything has changed in your house or her routine or your routine. Any possible stressors. We increased the number and location of litter pans, and experimented with a number of litters (although such experimentation may have played a role in starting the problem). We got a pheromone spray to try to help if it were some stress (never saw that have *any* effect frankly). All spots that she had peed in were cleaned very, very thoroughly with products that have enzymes to kill urine smell. This is extremely critical, as once there is a urine smell in an area they tend to think it OK to go there. In living room where she was peeing, I heavily cleaned/treated the carpet, lay a sheet of plastic over the entire area so she couldn't get at the rug, and put a litter box smack dab on top of all this where she had gone. We got various sprays that were designed to repel cats and used them daily on the other areas where she had gone, plus got devices to block various of these areas. We did lots of reading about cat behaviors, and noticed that this cat really likes to dig/scratch on smooth surfaces--such as the leather chair and the sinks. Turns out this is not unusual, but for such cats if their litter is too coarse or too deep, etc., they will refuse to use it! So tried various litters--including the one with a scent that is "guaranteed to attract cats." Hmm. We praised her when she used her litter, and scolded her if we happened to catch her in the act doing something bad.

Little by little over a few weeks she stopped the rug and chair episodes. She will still sometimes do something in a bathroom sink, so we often keep upside down plastic bowls in the sinks (in a way this is really smart behavior--she watches us wash our hands and the water disappears down the drain--so why not the pee she thinks). We still have to be careful about things like litter. Wanted to switch to the unscented version of the Fresh Step that we use, but if the fraction of scented drops below a certain point, she will stop using that box. A clear warning.

There is lots of material online about this problem and steps you can try. I remember when we went through this that inappropriate elimination was cited as the number one reason that people get rid of cats. I know that one of the more drastic suggestions that we considered was to get a large crate and simply confine the cat in the crate all the time so that it has to use the litter in the crate. I would definitely put something on the bed to dissuade her from going there again--something she doesn't like the feel/sound of. Perhaps a sheet of plastic or a sheet of aluminum foil maybe (our cats hate the sound that makes). Of course make certain you have cleaned it as well as possible. You can use a black light to find urine spots on fabrics/carpets to see if there are places you do not know about in the house that she is going.

As for the factor of not being spayed, I don't know about females. Certainly it makes a huge difference with males, but I wouldn't think it would be a factor with females. We were trying to think back on timing with ours, but am not certain of her status during the trying times.

Good luck--hope you can get her through this!

Thanks for your help, any advice is great, I like the one about putting foil on the bed! sure she will be fine, hopefully just a temporary thing,

Lyn