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Old November 28th, 2004, 03:44 AM
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Meghan_K Meghan_K is offline
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Naughty kitten is peeing on my bed-HELP!!!

My 2 month old male kitten, Meeko, has peed on my bed, twice~ Once last night and once the night before. The worst part is, I just love white, and had to wash two completely different white duvet's-and she peed in two different spots on the bed. I love her dearly, but my husband would indefinately ban her from our room if he found out. (Yes, I admit, I am childishly hiding her little indiscretion from him for her sake-she loves to sleep with us and is usually a well behaved bed mate.)
I held her nose to both spots on the bed, long enough for her to catch her scent and know it was her pee, and said, "NO!" in a very firm voice. I am worried that might not be the answer. I am currently training her to stay off counters and such with a squirt bottle, which seems to be working (sort of). She just does it when I'm not around. How can I get her to stop peeing on my bed and jumping on the counters when I'm not around to catch her in the act and discourage her from doing it? (This is my first post, I just joined, so hi everyone...)

Help! Naughty kitten peeing when he should be sleeping!
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Old November 28th, 2004, 09:56 AM
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Meghan,first of all welcome to the Forum I LOVE your avatar!
Your kitten is just a tiny baby,but I think your first step would be eliminating a medical problem...since you are sleeping and cannot catch him in the act,dipping his nose in the spot is not going to help.
If he is using the litter-box regularly otherwise,I think your only option is to close your bed-room door.Maybe someone else could give you better advice...
Usually in grown cats if this happens,it's a stress problem or possible bladder-problems,it happened with one of my cats,when he did not like over-night visitors.
I am assuming he's not neutered yet...
I too have hidden some problems from my husband,you are not alone
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Old November 28th, 2004, 10:08 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chico2
I too have hidden some problems from my husband,you are not alone


I never thought I'd hide things from my husband, but honestly, when my poodle makes a mistake inside (happens mostly when it rains or when there was construction going on outside our building door), I do my best to hide it too -- especially when he peed on the couch. I know he wouldn't be upset at this point as the two of them recently realized they love each other (took awhile), but it's something I prefer to deal with on my own for some reason!!! Glad to hear I'm not the only one with secrets!
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Old November 28th, 2004, 10:44 AM
Lucky Rescue Lucky Rescue is offline
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I held her nose to both spots on the bed, long enough for her to catch her scent and know it was her pee, and said, "NO!" in a very firm voice
Do not ever do this. Kittens are not puppies, not that anyone should do this to a puppy either. If cats or kittens don't use the litterbox, there is a reason for it.

By doing this, you are just confusing and stressing this kitten, as it has no idea why you are doing this. Is it a male or female? You say male, then call it "she".....??

This baby is 8 weeks old. How many litterboxes do you have, and how far are they from your bed?

A little kitten can't hold it, and if she needs to go and the litterbox is not close by, then she goes where she is. Either keep her in one part of the house for now, or add more litterboxes so one is always nearby. You can eliminate the extra boxes when the kitten is a little older.

Do not do anything punitive or harsh to this kitten or you will create more problems. You see that by using a squirt bottle, all that is happening is that the kitten doesn't jump on the counter when you are around.

To keep her off the counters, do not leave food out and get some double sided sticky tape to put on the counter for now. If the counter itself is made unpleasant this way, the kitten will stop jumping up.
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Old November 28th, 2004, 11:42 AM
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Originally Posted by LuckyRescue
To keep her off the counters, do not leave food out and get some double sided sticky tape to put on the counter for now. If the counter itself is made unpleasant this way, the kitten will stop jumping up.

Yep, that works. My sister Dannie had to do that with Morgan and Mr. Spooks, when she first got them as kitties. Those two loved the bookshelf with all the plants on it. But as soon as she put tape up there, they didn't want anything to do with it. They are the cutest kitties too. Morgan is a calico, light colors, and Mr. Spooks is black with white tips on the end of his fur. I couldn't believe that they are brother and sister, they look so different. I envy her for having such pretty babies.
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Old November 28th, 2004, 12:21 PM
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Ooops,I guess Meeko is a little girl
When my Vinnie was little,I kept him in a room by himself unil he was a bit less defense-less,with his litter-box and food/water at night,mostly because of my other cats,but also because I turned over on him in bed once and thought I had killed him :sad:
Like Lucky says,she is so young and with a litterbox nowhere near,if she has to go she has to go,it's unfortunate it was on a white Duvet.
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Old November 28th, 2004, 02:29 PM
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tenderfoot tenderfoot is offline
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I noticed that you mentioned a duvet - is it feather down? Cats, and dogs for that matter, are notorious for peeing on feather down comforters. I have to get rid of mine because of one bad cat. He never peed on anything else that he wasn't supposed to - just that. When I took it in to the cleaners - they said it was very common - I figure they are the experts in that realm.
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Old November 28th, 2004, 02:35 PM
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I was watching an episode of Ellen one day, and her cat did the same thing, someone told her it was the contents of her duvet, probably feather down.

I know when you rub a puppys nose in pee, it only tells him to not pee in that particular spot, it also frightens and confuses him, however, I have never heard anyone ever doing this to a kitten before, I don't think it would be effective. I know you were probably frustrated, and had to try something....but I doubt it would work.
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Old November 28th, 2004, 03:09 PM
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Try putting Meeko in a small room, of his/ her own, for a while, until she knows that the litter box is the potty spot. Slowly give the kitty the run of the house, room by room. It is what we did with our dog, He still doesn't have the privilege of the bedrooms or kitchen, but he has the rest of the house. After he is a full year, and we KNOW he is fully house broken, he will get those other rooms.

Another thing to do, is when you see Meeko not using the litter box, pick her up immediatly and put her in her box to finish up. It worked with the one litter we had when I was a kid.

But most of all, you have to be patient. It is just like potty training a child. They don't get it at first, but after a while, they understand what the right thing to do is.
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Old November 28th, 2004, 03:42 PM
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I think this question has mostly been answered. Just wanted to say it is very bad to rub a kitten's nose in her pee. She has no idea why you are doing that, she just knows she is being hurt and she has no idea why.

I've been fortunate - my kitten has excellent litter box habits (and she sleeps with me too) but she also a big Siamese Yowl is she needs to go, lol
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Old November 28th, 2004, 05:37 PM
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Thank's for the tip about the feather duvet,I never thought or have heard of that,we did get rid of ours it was tooo hot,now we have a light synthetic one much more comfortable.The same for those expensive down-pillows,I kept getting feathers everywhere and they are now in the garbage....sorry for going off the thread!!
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Old November 30th, 2004, 12:01 AM
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Meghan_K Meghan_K is offline
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Thanks for all the good advice

Hey-what a warm welcome-thanks a lot everyone! You all had some great thoughts on the subject and I most definately appreciate the input.
Anyways, just to answer a few questions. Meeko is a "He" and not a "she". I sometimes slip and call him her, because when we got Meeko we thought he was a girl and have only recently discovered our mistake. No matter-we love him just the same. Also-just a clarification-I did not rub her nose in the pee, I just held her nose to the spot-just above the spot, not actually in in, for a few seconds until I was sure she had caught the scent. I would never mistreat a cat in that way. In any case, that didn't work-it was just the urge to try to do something, anything, to discourage the behaviour, and shock I think. (And panic, I didn't want my husband to know )
And an update for you-I took your advice and bought another litterbox and put it on the other end of the house. I always keep the one she had clean, but you're right-cats do tend to like to be able to pee in at least two different areas. I have also put stickytape on the table ( bobby traps are great-they work when you're gone) And-this morning he peed right in front of my husband and now the secrets out . Oh well. I'll just snuggle with Meeko on the couch from now on. (He wasn't that mad-just grossed out, we own two feather duvet's and this one was his...) We also have made an appointment with the vet for Thurday afternoon, so I'll keep you updated.
Meeko has him wrapped around his little clawed toe, of course. My husband is at this moment dragging carpet and two by four's in from the shed to make him a "kitty gym". He's a carpenter, so I can't wait to see the finished product. So-thanks for all your help everyone!


Update: Meeko's appointment came and went, and he's in tip top shape and as healthy as ever. The vet did mention that he knew of a dog that would pee on feather duvet's all the time too, a strange coincidence?

Last edited by Meghan_K; December 1st, 2004 at 09:02 PM. Reason: Meeko's vet appointment
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