If a cat peed on the sofa, the owner has two problems - how to stop the animal from pooping anywhere and how to get rid of the corrosive smell of cat urine. More often, pieces of furniture are marked by cats during periods of active festivities or by small kittens that are not litter box trained. If an adult pet changes its habits, provocateurs can be stress, illness, or the tough temperament of the mustachioed one. Experienced breeders advise how to stop a kitten from shitting on the sofa and what to do to get rid of the consequences.
Reasons why a cat may pee on the sofa
The reason for the foul odor of cat urine is the presence of urea in it, which tends to crystallize under the influence of uric acid. Getting rid of urine crystals is quite difficult with regular water, especially if time has passed. After discovering a puddle, it is advisable to immediately clean the sofa at home, rather than wait for the urine to soak into the upholstery or for it to dry out.
Every pet owner should know that there are reasons why he pees on the furniture, and the owner then cleans the sofa or chair.
The reasons why an animal does not use its toilet, but pees on the furniture, are the following:
- Rare cleaning of the tray. Cats are clean animals, and a dirty toilet forces them to pee in clean places. It is necessary to wash the tray approximately once a week, or more often. For washing, use unscented products, preferably regular soap.
- Inconvenience of the tray. For example, the kitten has grown and the tray for it has become small or the toilet has high sides.
- Territory marker. Animals that are not castrated usually mark their possessions.
- Moving. Changing the place of residence can cause stress in the pet, which forces him to pee anywhere.
- Change of owner. Also a stressful situation for the animal.
- Conflicts. If there are other animals in the house, cats often try to cover up the smell of others with their own.
- Bad Education. An animal at one and a half months of age must be trained to use a tray, which requires patience and perseverance.
- Jealousy. The appearance of a new person in the house can cause negative feelings in your pet, and he will start peeing on the furniture out of spite.
A folk sign about why a cat shits on the bed
In general, there can be many reasons for this and everything is not as bad as it might seem at first glance. Firstly, this may be due to the fact that the cat simply likes to do its business in the owner’s bed; cats are not particularly willing to be trained and, as a rule, take a long time to get used to the litter box.
If the pet was adopted quite recently, then bad behavior can be attributed to the fact that it is simply unusual for it to be in an unfamiliar environment; you need to give the animal time.
It is necessary to remember that a young animal needs education, it is necessary to show what is “bad” and what is “good”, otherwise there is a risk of constantly coming across unpleasant gifts from the pet, in the form of torn furniture, overturned things, etc.
Image by Yulia Zyablova from Pixabay
How to stop a cat from peeing on the sofa?
If you don’t like cleaning the sofa after cat marks or don’t have time to clean the sofa at home, then the cat needs to be weaned from peeing on the furniture.
Expert opinion
Sofia Kovalevskaya
Experienced housewife.
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Under no circumstances should you use physical methods on your pet!
There is no need to intimidate the animal, chase it with a slipper, broom or other object; most often, it will also shit on the furniture, but this will be done in a more sophisticated way so that the owner does not notice the puddle for as long as possible. This state of affairs complicates cleaning the sofa, since urine has time to be absorbed into the upholstery material and crystallize.
How to behave in this situation
It’s very difficult to contain your emotions when there are stains on the bed and a terrible smell in the room. Even more anger arises when the situation is repeated repeatedly. However, you need to show restraint, analyze the situation, choose the right model of behavior and methods of influencing your pet.
You can show your indignation to a cat by raising your voice. Animals are very emotional, sensitive, when they notice such behavior of the owner towards themselves, they will not want a repetition, and will no longer crap on the bed. It is very important not to just yell at the cat, but to do it while cleaning the room so that the animal understands why it is being scolded.
It is absolutely not allowed to hit or poke the feces with its muzzle, since this is a huge stress for a cat, especially if we are talking about a small kitten. Such actions can traumatize the pet’s psyche, and other problems will arise. If the pet is sick or is in the stage of sexual activity, neither scolding nor beating, in general, will help, drastic action is needed.
What can you spray on the sofa?
If you decide to clean your sofa of cat urine in order to get rid of the nasty smell forever, then after drying it, you need to spray it with one of the following products:
- vinegar or potassium permanganate (weak solution);
- hydrogen peroxide;
- weak iodine solution;
- alcohol;
- water with lemon.
After cleaning the sofa on which the pet is peeing, citrus peels, pieces of onion or garlic placed in the corners are also used. Representatives of the cat family do not like the smell of essential oils (mint, rosemary, lavender), perfumes, construction chemicals, and detergents that have a strong odor.
Attention! Products with strong odors should be used very carefully, as they often cause irritation and inflammation of the nasal canals in animals.
If you managed to clean the sofa well at home, then to prevent your pet from using it as a toilet, you can use special veterinary products.
Getting rid of stains and odor
How to remove odor and stains? They are eliminated using special products that are sold in pet stores or folk remedies. In this case, you will have to treat every area in the room. The process is quite labor intensive. To avoid a situation where a cat shits on the bed, it is necessary to wean the animal from a bad habit.
Folk remedies
It is difficult to remove stains and unpleasant odors from the bed. This is especially true for marks. Folk remedies used to get rid of odor:
- The aroma of citrus fruits repels cats, and the acid helps neutralize odors. To do this, squeeze lemon juice, dilute with a glass of boiled water, wipe the surfaces;
- Dilute vinegar removes stains and odors well;
- Baking soda with hydrogen peroxide 3% (suitable for hard surfaces only);
- Alcohol or vodka – thoroughly wipe the stained area with a sponge soaked in vodka or alcohol;
- Potassium permanganate - will eliminate odor, but is only suitable for dark-colored fabrics, not delicate ones.
Under no circumstances should you use bleach to eliminate odors. The product will worsen the situation and may act as a sleeping pill on cats.
Lemon juice
Vinegar
Baking soda and hydrogen peroxide
Alcohol
Potassium permangantsovka
Radical methods
Radical methods are started when there is nothing else left. If the owner does not intend to breed cats, the best option would be castration for cats or sterilization for cats. The procedure should help, and the cat will stop marking the territory. It is important that the animal be neutered before it has contact with the cat. Otherwise, this radical method may not help. Males are usually neutered before the age of 1 year. After the procedure, it will take several more months before the animal stops marking. During this time, the body undergoes a restructuring.
In what cases should a cat be taken to the veterinarian?
If your pet starts peeing everywhere except the toilet, then you need to pay attention to its health. You should contact a veterinarian if, in addition to marking, the animal becomes lethargic or loses its appetite. Also, to prevent cleaning the sofa from becoming a habitual task, the animal must be neutered at a veterinary clinic.
In order for the animal to stop going to the toilet on upholstered furniture, you need to follow simple recommendations. If such a problem occurs, then you need to thoroughly clean the sofa or chairs, and then use one of the means to discourage your pet from leaving puddles in places intended for the owners to rest.
Why can a cat shit on the bed?
The reasons for such bad behavior of a pet can be a variety of both external and internal factors.
Inability to use the tray
Once in the house, the kitten is left to its own devices due to the busyness of the owners. No one is involved in his upbringing, and litter training remains unattended. Then the baby chooses a latrine on his own. Why not use a bed in this capacity? It's soft, warm, and you can bury a pile or puddle under layers of fabric.
If the animal is not accustomed to the litter box, it may use it for other purposes and relieve itself in any place it likes.
In my opinion, inability to use a litter box is the most common reason for a damaged bed if an animal is taken from the street. Both street and domestic cats came into my house. The latter, even very small ones, found a tray and understood what it was for, but kids from the street sometimes left puddles on sofas and beds. They really had to be systematically taught to use the litter box.
Video: how to train a kitten to use a litter tray
Hormone surge
When the time comes for an animal to mate, the cat simply tries to mark its territory. The owner may regard this behavior as inappropriate. And for a pet it is quite understandable. He may not understand why the owner is dissatisfied.
When you do not plan to get offspring from your pet, the solution may be to sterilize the cat or, accordingly, castrate the cat. After the operation, the animal’s urge to mark everything around disappears and the problem, as a rule, resolves itself.
Stressful state
It happens that a cat begins to use the bed as a toilet as a result of a tense psycho-emotional state. It may be associated with a move, with a rude attitude towards her, with trauma. In addition, if the owners have children, then stress can provoke increased attention on their part.
Unsanitary conditions in the tray
Cats and cats are clean by nature. They treat their tray with special reverence. It is important for your pet that the toilet does not emit a strong odor of feces and urine. This is due to genetically determined characteristics. Cats living in the wild try to bury their feces as conscientiously as possible so that a potential victim cannot discover the cat’s habitat. Therefore, the tray should be kept clean.
It happens that the cat does not want to visit the litter box and shits anywhere, since the litter was abruptly replaced with an unusual one. The new litter may smell different or have a different consistency. The animal may react to such an innovation and not accept it. A pet can show its dissatisfaction in one way available to it - by taking a shit where it is not supposed to.
Among my pets there were those who would never go into the litter box if they had already done their job there. One cat stood out in particular. In the morning he went to the litter box in a small way and then he needed to go in a big way. But since the place was occupied, he did it next to the tray, on the tiles. When I realized the reason for this, I simply began to watch the moment he went to the toilet, quickly washed the tray and provided him with a clean toilet for big things (we didn’t know litter in those days, perhaps they would have made caring for the pet easier). But if I didn’t have time to do this or I was simply not at home at that moment, the cat stubbornly continued to go to the toilet next to me. There was simply no point in arguing with him.
Old age of the animal
The advanced age of a pet is accompanied by a host of diseases. An animal that ages over the years may lose acquired skills, may simply forget that there is a tray, and begin to shit in the place where it most often lives. If this place is the owner’s bed, then the cat will defecate on it.
An old animal shits on the bed simply because it does not have the strength to get to the tray or it could not control its reflex
Just like in humans, old age in cats is accompanied by a variety of diseases. Some really become small kittens in mental development. I guess I was lucky in this regard. All my mustachioed old men with all their strength reached their tray.
Disease
Often the cause of an animal defecating on the bed is a banal disease. A cat may suffer from dysfunctions of the genitourinary system and intestinal diseases. For example, urolithiasis, causing severe pain, does not allow the pet to get to its toilet, and the nuisance in the form of urine remains on the bed.
Jealousy
Cats are very sensitive, so the appearance of a new pet in the house can provoke jealousy towards the owner. This condition of the animal may well result in damaged pillows or bedding. A cat may experience jealousy not only of another pet, but also of a new family member, including a child who suddenly appears in the house, who not only takes away all the attention of the owners, but also makes a lot of noise.
To prevent the animal from feeling deprived, you need to pay more attention to it: pick it up and stroke it more often, play with it. It doesn't take a lot of time, you just need to do it more often.
Human factor
There are very capricious and pretentious pets. They simply do not want to visit their litter box due to its movement. It happens that the owner closes the door to the toilet, and the cat cannot visit his litter box. The result of human forgetfulness can be seen in the bed. There is no one to blame for this but himself.
At first, after the pet arrived in the house, we placed slippers under the toilet door so as not to close it completely due to forgetfulness. True, not all cats will silently walk in circles around a closed door. It seems to me that most of them meow to remind their owner of his forgetfulness. The main thing is that the person himself is at home at this time.
Video: the cat began to shit on the bed - what to do
How not to clean up cat urine from the sofa
- Do not treat stains with bleach. Not only do cats mark the spot again, but the substance can also ruin the fabric. Then you will definitely have to buy a new sofa.
- Do not use fragrances. They bring a temporary effect and do not eliminate the pollution itself. The smell will definitely appear after some time.
Hormonal changes
During this period, the animal begins to behave inappropriately. During the mating season, cats mark their territory, urinating not only on the sofa, but also on other pieces of furniture. Hormonal imbalance and past pathologies also lead to the fact that the cat began to shit on the bed.
The owner should think not only about himself, but also about his pet. Due to the hormonal surge, the animal feels uncomfortable. Therefore, it is necessary to alleviate the cat’s condition in accessible ways.
How to stop a cat from shitting on the bed during hormonal changes
During the mating season, the animal will lure its partner in every possible way, including spreading its scent. If the owner does not intend to breed cats, then the right decision would be to sterilize the pet. The sooner this is done, the better, because adult cats sometimes retain the habit of marking.
You can use sedatives intended for the mating season. The animal will feel better and stop shitting on the bed. Additionally, you can purchase a spray that will wean you off the tags. It should be sprayed on the place where the pet gets into the habit of defecating.
If the problem is a hormonal imbalance, and the health condition cannot be improved, you can prohibit the cat from sleeping on the bed. Due to past illnesses and old age, the animal simply does not have time to go to the tray. You can make or purchase a comfortable cat bed. Most likely, it will have to be washed constantly due to the puddles that appear, but the owner’s bed will be in perfect order.
Prevention of bad behavior
To avoid unpleasant surprises, you need to follow some rules:
- constant access to the tray;
- timely replacement of litter, cat litter hygiene;
- use of disinfectants during cleaning;
- be careful with innovations, cats are conservative, so they often do not accept new smells;
- the tray is changed periodically, but you should buy a similar model so as not to scare away the cat;
- pay more attention to your pet if he is stressed;
- if necessary, give herbal-based sedatives;
- To prevent urolithiasis, you need to provide your cat with proper nutrition and periodically conduct special tests to help identify pathology in the early stages;
- sterilize indoor pets if you do not plan to get offspring from them;
- It is recommended that cats wear diapers during estrus, then you can avoid unpleasant surprises in your bed;
- use repellent odors to prevent the animal from entering the bedroom;
- give the cat its own corner, place a house, a sleeping place so that it does not run to sleep on the owner’s bed.
If you have health problems, you should immediately take your pet to a veterinarian. Cursing and beating animals does not solve the problem.
Video: How to stop a cat from shitting Advice
Methods
Consider the following ways to stop a kitten from peeing on the bed:
- Remove the mattress cover and put it in the wash. You need to collect the liquid from the mattress itself as quickly as possible with a dry towel or napkins. Next, blot the surface of the mattress with them. Do not press or rub the stain to avoid pushing the liquid deeper.
- Eliminate pungent urine odor with vinegar. It will neutralize uric acid and eliminate its odor. Vinegar must be diluted with water in a ratio of 1:3 and sprayed onto the mattress from a spray bottle. If you don’t have a sprayer, apply the solution with a sponge, but immediately lay napkins over the treated stain so that they absorb excess moisture.
- Absorb any remaining moisture with regular baking soda. Sprinkle baking soda over the stain for 10-15 minutes and it will absorb any remaining vinegar solution and urine.
- Use hydrogen peroxide to remove stains from the surface of the mattress. Buy 100 ml of peroxide at the pharmacy and dilute it in 200 ml of water and shake well. Then, using a spray bottle or a sponge with napkins, apply the composition to the stain directly on top of the baking soda scattered over it. As a result of the chemical reaction between soda and peroxide, a thick and persistent foam should form. Leave it to act for 2 hours. The abundant oxygen released during the reaction effectively bleaches the stain.
- After 2 hours, blot the area where the stain was with dry wipes and vacuum thoroughly to remove the soda from the mattress. After such cleaning, you need to leave the mattress in a well-ventilated room for at least 10 hours to completely dry and remove the odors of soda and vinegar.
- Forbid your pet to sleep on the bed, evict him, it is better to close the door to the room.
- If there are several animals and it is not clear which of them is peeing, then this is determined using food coloring, which is harmless. Take bowls and put different dyes in them. You need to remember which cat ate what, then scan the wet area with a fluorescent lamp.
Use special products that neutralize odors. If the kitten does not smell its excrement, it will stop trying to make a puddle on the bed. Most likely he will try to find a tray or other secluded place.
Scare away the kitten with the help of the drug “Feliway”, buy it in pet stores and veterinary clinics. You need to spray the bed with this product. Out of a sense of self-preservation, the pet will not encroach on “foreign” territory. The smell is imperceptible to people.
What you definitely shouldn't do
There is definitely no need to mask the problem odor. Instead of trying to change the lingering stench, treat the area thoroughly. Do not use the following products unless the furniture is thoroughly cleaned:
- Aroma oils;
- Coffee;
- Tea;
- Deodorants and air fresheners;
- Perfume.
Reviews
Dear readers, was this article helpful? Have you ever encountered a situation where a cat shits on the bed and what actions did you take? Leave feedback in the comments! Your opinion is important to us, and it will be useful to other users who do not know what to do in a similar situation!
Veronica
“My grandmother had cats, periodically they shit on the bed, in the corners of the bedroom. She combed them and ruffled them, but it made no sense. The only option was not to let him into the house or at least the bedroom. They adopted a cat, not a purebred, but a thoroughbred. Once he took a shit in the bedroom, they scolded him, but they didn’t. This never happened again. If he wants to go to the toilet, he asks to go outside. Hence the conclusion that everything depends not only on the actions of the owner, but also on the cat. Some people get it right away, others, for the life of me, it doesn’t help. It’s easier to get rid of it and get someone else.”
Anna
“Cats lived with us all the time. They never shit on the bed, it happened several times in the corners of the rooms, but it was our own fault, we forgot to let them out into the street. We adopted one kitten, it’s a nightmare! He only went to the toilet in our bedroom, and always on the bed. I tried different sprays, essential oils, vinegar, to no avail. When my patience ran out, I tore it off with a comb, threw it out in the cold, and it didn’t happen again. Here's stress for the animal and a loyal attitude. Everyone needs their own approach.”
Why does the cat smell occur?
If a cat has marked the cushion of upholstered furniture, it is important to urgently remove the liquid. The appearance of the stench is due to the gradual decomposition of urine under the influence of oxygen, putrefactive bacteria, and the pheromone felinin , a substance secreted by cats in order to mark the territory.
At first, the smell of fresh discharge is not noticeable. But after a few minutes (as soon as the urea passes the sediment stage), the resulting crystals are saturated with the aromas of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia.
It is impossible to get rid of these evaporating substances until these crystals are completely destroyed, the evaporation of urine, mercaptans (odorous alcohols) evaporates, and the microbial flora is deactivated.
To eliminate cat urine odors from the sofa, you need to immediately use chemicals or home remedies that prevent the proliferation of putrefactive bacteria and the crystallization of urea.
Old animals
Long-lived cats often walk in the wrong places due to urinary incontinence. They are not always able to run to the toilet, which is why puddles appear in the places where the animal sleeps. Some owners decide not to let their pet on the bed so that they don’t have to constantly clean up puddles. As already mentioned, you can place a bed separately, which will have to be washed. It is useless to scold and punish an old cat, since he is not to blame for his behavior.
Owners must understand in detail why their pet shits on their bed. After this, you can, based on recommendations, correct bad behavior. It is worth remembering that it is often not the pet’s fault that it defecates on the owner’s bed. It is quite possible that he feels bad or does not understand that this should not be done. A good owner will definitely be patient and help the animal get rid of a negative habit.
