Hi all,

I was directed to this forum to see if anyone could suggest any help...

I've had my cat Molly for about 1 year 4 months, I had her from a kitten. Since the first day I brought her home she always went straight to her litter tray to go to the toilet, never ever went anywhere else. This continued for a whole year so she was very well behaved toilet-wise. About 4 months ago I moved house and this is when Molly began peeing on the new rug in the living room. She also poohed on the rug once or twice as well, but it would be intermittent and occasionally that she would pee, as she sometimes went in the tray.
I researched online and put it down to stress of moving, and also the rug being new so it might have been a strange smell to her.
We thoroughly washed the rug and put it away. Molly then continued to use her tray and didn't pee anywhere else around the house. 2 weeks later we put the rug back down and she hasn't pee'd on it for about 3 months - until recently. The past few days I have noticed she has started doing it again. There are no new objects or smells around that I think could be stressing her out. Her poo has been slightly runny for about a week whereas it was always well formed before (sorry for the description!). I'm wondering if she could be ill? Although she seems perfectly fine in herself, always gets fuss and strokes and always enjoys playing with her toys, scratching post etc.

She has also poohed on the rug again, once. But all other times she has done it in the tray with no problems. I use wood pellet litter which is what she has always had since a kitten, and her tray is always kept clean. It seems to be during the night that she will pee on the rug while we are in bed. During the day if we are in the house she will always go to the toilet in her tray.

The thing that seems obvious to do is to get rid of the rug, but we really don't want to do this as the whole of the flooring downstairs is laminate so the rug is quite needed

It seems strange to me why Molly only pee's on the rug as I've read about others who have cats that do a similar thing but their cats pee all over the house. Perhaps it is because she can still smell the pee on the rug from when she started doing it, so she thinks its ok to pee there? But why has she started doing it again now, after using her tray normally for 3 months?

I've been advised about the Feliway diffuser but I'm not sure about using it - anyone had experience in a similar experience? Molly constantly rubs her mouth/face on all the furniture and skirting boards around the house, which to me suggests she is comfortable in her environment and is not stressed?

I think I'll give the Feliway diffuser a try for now, but if anyone else has any other help or suggestions I would be extremely grateful!

Many thanks in advance

Initial thoughts would indeed be get rid of rug
But I know some can be VERY expensive if large! So, could you get it professionally cleaned, don't know if this would help but it might?

In this position, I would not allow my cat in this room until, rug cleaned and even then, would allow access only while with her. Can you confine her to another room at night when you are in bed? And while out?

It's unlikely this is a physical problem, if just piddling on one mat, but something to keep in mind?

Hope someone else has more thoughts, many members are really good with cat advice

Good luck x

__________________
Fairy smiling, smokes cheroot ...
Simply doesn't give a hoot.

It could well have been stress that made her do it on the rug in the first place but unless you used a cleaner with enzymes in or bio-logical washing powder that smell will still be there so it could just be that you need to clean your rug again, I like the simple solution cleaner and it has good reviews online or as above bio-logical washing powder. Feliway and or Zyklene are very good for stressed cats if she continues to pee on rug after cleaning, but it took my cat a good few months to settle after we moved.

I am a fan of feliway (both diffuser and spray), so it's worth a try. It's interesting that she only uses the rug as a loo at night time. Apart from changing the carpet-cleaning fluid as suggested above, I wonder if a plug-in night light and/or relocation of the litter-tray might help?

p.s. I'd also get her checked out with the vet to rule out any health issues x

Thanks for the replies, all very helpful.

I have cleaned the rug with washing powder again, which is what we did the first time. I've removed the rug for now, and hope she goes back to peeing in the litter tray rather than finding another spot around the house.

Our downstairs kitchen/diner and living room is all one open space as there is no door dividing it, just an archway type wall, so theres nowhere to shut her in one room downstairs, which is where her food, water & litter tray is kept.
Would it not be cruel to confine her to a room upstairs? I wouldnt like to shut her in one of the bedrooms as she could start peeing on the carpet and our house is rented so that wouldn't be good. And locking her in the bathroom at night sounds even crueller

I'm feeling worried about taking her to the vets as when she went for her annual jab etc a few months ago she really hated the trip and wasn't herself afterwards for about a week, I'm really worried this could stress her out more if she is already stressed, and could result in her peeing in more places? But I'm sure she is fine health wise.

All of this worry over a cat peeing on a rug, but it is even stressing me out a bit!!

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I thought she had runny poo(?)