Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Cat Pooping on Bed
DH and I went away for a week to visit my parents, and my sister came by once a day to look after the cats (this included cleaning out the litter boxes every other day). When we got home, we discovered that at least one of the cats had used our bed as a toilet more than once. Yuck. So we cleaned it, left it to dry, and slept on the couches.
Next day, poop on the bed again. Day after that, poop on the bed. Unfortunately we don't have a bedroom door, there is a small staircase that goes up through a big hole in the ceiling which makes the entrance really hard to block off. Whichever cat it is has proved very good at getting past the blocks we've tried. It is probably our male cat, who also has an unfortunate habit of peeing in laundry bins when we are not careful about putting them away immediately.
Tonight we are going to be able to actually sleep in the bed because we were able to scrub it this morning and it is dry now, which might help? I assume he is stressed out because we were gone and that is why he is doing this, but our mattress is not going to take much more of this. I'm going to buy a feliway diffuser tomorrow, any other ideas? I've been giving him lots of attention and he's been sleeping with me on my couch.
Re: Cat Pooping on Bed
Try cat attract litter. I haven't used it personally, but have heard good things from others on the board.
My parents have a cat who likes to pee on anything plastic/vinyl. Is your cat peeing on the actual mattress? Or on the blanket?
It was the blankets, but we took them all off to clean and dry the mattress and its been the mattress ever since.
2012 Reading Challenge
Hmmm...I was gonna say if it was just blankets, maybe it was the fabric or something - but if kitty is pooping on both I don't know what to tell 'ya!
Only thing I can think of is stress, like you mentioned. Or kitty is mad at you. Hopefully sleeping in the bed prevents more poops!
Has this happened before when you've gone away? I ask because pooping out of the box can be stress related.
That being said, one of ours poops out of the box if there isn't the right amount of litter in it.
We have had good luck with Cat Attract litter (though now we use Dr. Elsey's multi-cat) and Feliway plug ins and spray. They are available in pet stores, though they are much cheaper on Amazon. You could try putting a diffuser in your bedroom (you won't smell it) and use the spray on your bed daily. Be sure to clean the areas with a cleaner like Nature's Miracle. This is what we did when one of our cats was marking on our bed.
I just went back and reread your OP. I would buy the spray tomorrow, and order the diffuser. The diffusers can take a month or so to kick in, but the spray is more immediate. You'll have to replace the bottle about once a month. I buy 6 bottles at a time from Amazon and it works out to about $12 a bottle.
5 cats. 1 baby.
Thanks for the tips! I'll pick up some cat attract litter today. I didn't realize Feliway came in a spray, I ordered the diffuser online, I'll see if there is any spray at the pet store.
The cats have peed around the house before, but this is the first time in a very long time they've done anything on the bed. It has just happened once or twice before on the pillows. We've been keeping them confined to the other half of the house while the bed dries (unfortunately it was still damp last night). I hate to do that, since being apart from us might have caused the problem in the first place, but I want to get the spray and litter before letting them near the bedroom again.
2012 Reading Challenge