Why is she using my bed as her litter box?

[Anonymous]

Elderly cat has used our bed as a litter boy twice in past week. Pee and poop. Actually litter box is always clean. Is it dementia? Physical incontinence? I have to find out fast before DH wants to get rid of her.

[Anonymous]

If she is elderly, can she still physically climb into the box? Is the box on a floor of the house that is not where she spends most of her time? Have you changed litter brand? Scoop scrupulously twice a day and have one more litter box than you have cats (2 boxes if you have 1 cat). Put the 2 boxes in different parts of the house (not right next to each other).

[Anonymous]

Also, you may want to have her checked out by a vet. There are sometimes physical reasons they don’t make it to their litter box.

[Anonymous]

She can climb into the box. She’s still very spry. The bed itself is very high. That she can get up there to relieve herself, but not in the box...

We live in a small apartment. The box is in the bathroom. There’s not a place for another box to go, but it is cleaned constantly as in multiple times a day. She is the only cat.

I will call the vet tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

I’m the same person who gave all the other advice. We have two middle aged cats who a few months back started a thing where they would occasionally poop by the front door. I finally figured out that at least one of them was a little constipated. So, she would do a little bit of poop in each box and then that box was considered unusable by both cats. I think (fingers crossed) we have finally gotten beyond this problem by adding a box (which we were able to do), moving the boxes around the house, and cleaning the boxes fanatically. Interestingly, we still have one box in the original location from before the inappropriate pooping started and that is the one they are least likely to use. I understand, though, that moving around is not feasible for you.

I never did take the cats to the vet because things seem to have resolved (no accidents for many weeks). I did read that constipation as well as other issues can cause inappropriate pooping, that the pooping is often NOT a behavioral issue as we humans tend to see it.

Even if your kitty can climb on the bed, is there something about climbing into the litter box that is hard?

There are a lot of good articles on line about feline inappropriate elimination. They might give you some ideas.

Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

Close your bedroom door.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Close your bedroom door.

+1. Beat me to it.

[Anonymous]

My cat used the bed to communicate with me that something was wrong. Once it was that she had an infection, and the bed sheets were pink but the litter box didn't show that. Once it was that she had some tummy troubles that the vet gave medicine for. HTH.

[Anonymous]

My cat does this when she is mad at me about something like I went away for the weekend.

[Anonymous]

+1 the cat may be trying to tell you that something is physically wrong. Also, uti and/or kidney trouble are common in older cats.

[Anonymous]

Something is wrong with her. Definitely take her to the vet.

To prevent it from happening again, restrict her physical access, obviously thoroughly clean the bedding. If any of the urine soaked through the bedding onto the mattress I recommend Nature's Miracle. Cats can smell where they have urinated before even if you've cleaned - Nature's Miracle will take the smell out permanently.

I'd also place her in the box a couple of times a day. She may be sort of disoriented too.