Any advice cats fouling on our beds

[jessrory1]

Please any advice would be great. We have two cats both 6 years old and are brother and sister. Tilly the sister has every now and again popped on my husbands jeans or jumpers in the past but never been frequent. We've moved home 4 times since having them and they've always handles the moves well and did the usual kept them in a few weeks. Well recently we moved again. Been moved in a month and a half and this past 2 weeks tilly has started pooing on our bed. First it was ours then our daughters. Now she's done it in the bathroom on the landing and again on our bed! We don't understand we have a cat flap and even put a litter tray down again for her. There's no blood in her poo and shes fine in herself. Why is she doing this?! We have had to throw all our bedding twice now. We are resorting to having to keep them shut in the kitchen when we are not here and at nightime. It's impossible to keep our eye on her all the time. Any ideas would be great fully received!

[Mrs Kane]

Hey Jess,
It sounds to me that your cat is very stressed out. Cats are very hygiene creatures and normally these signs of pooping everywhere either signal that they feel they are the dominant person of the household or that they are extremely scared and don't know where to go.
I believe she is using the same spots because it smells like her urine. Cat urine is very high in ammonia so it's extremely difficult to clean out completely. Even though you might not be able to smell it, your cat still could. Cat's are hardwired to detect cat urine, since they use it to send messages for things like territory borders and when they're in heat.
Stressed cats typically avoid litter boxes. There are many reasons why that is, and I'm not well versed enough in cat behaviour to say why, but for whatever reason, cats tend to go outside the litter box when they're under stress.

Does the brother bullly Tilly in any way? It's possible that she needs her own litter box. Or does your husband treat Tilly roughly or scold her? A frightened cat will do many things.

On the short haul I recommend boiling all fabric Tilly has pooed on. She may have wee'd on them too so better safe than sorry. Bleach the mattresses too to remove all odor.
Bring the litter box to an available area. Not somewhere that is shut off at certain times.
Give all treats near the litter box to create a positive association. Also play with her near the litter box so she feels safe using it.
Give her the option of a second litter box near where she relaxes.
If she's content of pooing of your sheets then use an old one (that has been slept in) and place it around her litter tray. The smells will relax her and help her go potty in the right place.


EDIT: I was remiss, please don't use Bleach. Instead use what was recommended below. Our cat doesn't have a good sense of smell and it completely slipped my mind.

[Ruth]

It does sound as if your poor cat is very stressed out indeed. They can't tell us that there is a problem so they show us by living inappropriate "gifts".
You do need to thoroughly clean all the tainted areas but DO NOT use bleach. Bleach is ammonia and to a cat it smells like a big unneutered Tom cat is peeing in your house and they will just mark over it. Use a strong solution of biological washing powder made up in a spray bottle to clean anything that can't be washed. The bio action breaks down the enzymes in the urine and poo and eradicates the smell.
Once that's done it's a case of finding out what the problem may be.
You said you had put a tray down for her but it may be in a place she doesn't feel "safe" to go. They are at their most vulnerable when doing their business.
As much of a pain that it is try having a few trays around the house. Don't lock her in the kitchen but close all the doors to bedrooms living room etc as she won't feel she is being punished or locked away.
Try some spray feliway on the areas she is messing on, that can sometimes help.
There could be another cat in the area who has scared her whilst she has been doing her business, hence going indoors.
Make sure the trays are placed where she can easily see them but still give her a bit of privacy. Never place a tray by a window or glass door, she'll just feel exposed and vulnerable.
It may also be worth trying different litters in the different trays to see if there is one she prefers.
As Mrs Kane says, cats are fastidiously clean animals and this is a stress sign.
As much as it may seem to be a pain having to do this its much easier than stripping beds etc.
Good luck, hope some of this advice helps.

[Ruth B]

I have to agree with the others it does sound like a stress issue.

Firstly I would advise getting her checked by a vet, stress can cause physical illness, particularly cystitis which would mean she has started to associate the litter tray or garden with pain hence she is trying to find somewhere else to go. Once a medical cause has been ruled out then move onto the psychological ones. I would also suggest having your other cat checked over as well just in case there is anything wrong with him that she is picking up, cats are very sensitive to smell and illness can make a cat smell wrong.

As (the other) Ruth says, do not use bleach to clean areas that she has used. I don't know if the washing powder is a good idea, I haven't come across it before, alternatively I would suggest getting some of the specific urine removal sprays or solutions and using those.

Two suggestions to help with the beds, first get a waterproof mattress protector, bedding can be washed, but if it reaches the mattress you have far more of a problem cleaning it. We got a hypo allergenic mattress protector from Asda a number of years ago as I am asthmatic and thought it might help, it also happened to be waterproof but that wasn't why we got it. Eighteen months ago we had to have one of our cat put to sleep due to old age. We came back from the vets early evening, but it wasn't until we went to bed we realised that he had become incontinent during the day and hadn't bothered to move from where he was, the bedspread, duvet, and sheets were soaked through, the top of the mattress protector was soaked but the underside was dry as was the mattress. Next weekend we bought a spare and vowed never to be without one again.
Until you get to the bottom of the problem I would also suggest that you cover the top of the bed with a large plastic sheet or even bin bags taped together as this will hopefully prevent anything reaching the bedding.

That has dealt with damage limitation, onto possible causes.

The first thing that stood out to me is that you keep them in for a few weeks after a move before you let them out, you moved about 6 weeks ago and the problem started 2 weeks ago, so by my calculation, that means the problem started not long after she was let out. It could be possible there is another cat in the area that had a go at her and made her nervous of going out to do her business, or even something like noisy neighbours or fireworks could have upset her.

You say you have a cat flap, is it an exclusive entry one, or could another cat becoming into the house and invading what is only just becoming their new den area and making her feel she has to mark the territory to let the invader know it is hers. It might be worth going back a stage and keeping them in again for a few weeks to see if the problem stops, if it does it is fairly indicative that the problem stems from something outside.

Finally to litter trays. The normal formula when you have problems (or generally for indoor only cats) is one per cat plus one, all separated and in different rooms, although in some modern houses this isn't practical, I can only manage three at most in my house. The idea is that there is no way a cat can stop another from getting to at least one tray when they need to, which is a common form of passive aggression. The same goes for food and water, but they shouldn't be placed together or near a litter tray (I start to think we all need to be living in mansions to try and fit everything in). Finally a change of litter might help, if you normally use a pellet style of litter she might be more willing to use a fine grained one as she wouldn't associate the texture with pain or problem. A Fullers Earth or antibacterial one is also far better at hiding any smell.

There is nothing worse than a cat not being clean and not using the litter trays. I once introduced a new cat which started having a dominance struggle with the resident cats. I got to the stage of dreading getting in from work not knowing what I would find and have to clean up. In the end I returned the new cat to the charity she came from and mine settled down to being as good as gold again. I heard afterwards that the other cat had been rehomed as an only cat and hadn't caused any problems to the new owners as well. As yours have been together so long I doubt that the other is the problem, so my instinct is the cause is something outside.

I really hope you can get it sorted and sorry for the long post.