Anonymous wrote:Been there, done that. It could be a health problem (cats will pee outside the box because they're hurting and upset about it). It could be nervousness (you left for a time and it freaked the cat out).
There are calming sprays on the market that could work. There are also cat anxiety meds (no, really). The problem is, once they pee on a carpet, they will keep coming back to that spot. If another animal peed or pooped there, it can be a way of repeatedly marking over the territory.
In our case, we had throw rugs. I bought a new one and the cat peed in the same spot on that one, too. So now we don't have a throw rug there and the behavior stopped.
Take your cat to the vet. There is no easy answer.
I would also try putting a puppy pad or something similar over the spot -after cleaning it- for awhile. We had a dog with some health problems (she was also a bit of a jerk sometimes) and was peeing in one spot. Putting the pad over it for awhile after cleaning it really worked for us.