Suddenly, your cute cat starts to pee on the bathroom rug, and you may have worried how to stop it. Well, it turns out that few adjustments in your home can really stop this inappropriate behavior. However, you may need to pay attention for a reason for this habit. If it is a medical condition, these approaches may not work.
Why is my cat peeing on the bath mat?
Cats can pee (on bed, find out why) on bathroom rugs due to many reasons. Since cats are territorial animals, they always try to show that this house belongs to him. The way he/she communicates it is by urinating all essential places. Yes, your bathroom rug can seem like an important place for your cat.
New household is another factor that can trigger this habit. If the cat is still not adapted to the new environment, it will probably start to pee on most comfortable place, like your household rugs.
Sometimes, it’s all about the scent of the rug. The bathroom rugs were tending to manufacture using a rubber non-slip layer. This rubber layer could diffuse a smell that will attract your cat (read our article about reducing litter smell using activated charcoal from here). If he/she thinks it is lovely, then next step is to urinate over it to say, “this is mine”.
Medical conditions play some kind of role in this habit. Urinary tract infection, partial blockage of the urinary tract, kidney problems or metabolic diseases such as diabetes can cause this nasty behavior.
How to stop cat from peeing on bath rug?
You can try out following three approaches to stop the unappropriated urinary habit of your cat.
However, before applying all these fixers, it is better to rule out any medical reasons behind this behavior. So, if possible, take your cat/kitty to a vet for a health check.
Blocking access to the bathroom rug
Blocking or discouraging to getting into the bathroom mat for a while can stop this habit in most cases. If your carpet is in the inside of the bathroom, then try to close the door all the time.
There are few harmless deterrent sprays which will burst air or sonic at your cat to scare him. You can connect this kind of device near the rug. After few days or weeks, your cat will learn not to step on to the bathroom mat. Then you can remove the device. Further, this is an excellent approach to teach good manners for a new or stubborn cat.
Synthetic feline pheromone is another approach. It is used to calm your cat and discourage peeing on unnecessary places.
Make it not worth it to pee
If you cannot directly block the rug, then there are few other ways to discourage your cat.
You can buy a double side tape from any store. Place a few small tape sticks in several places of your mat. When your cat tries to walk through or pee on it, these tapes will give him kind of bad experiences. Eventually, your pet will understand that the hassle is not worth peeing on it.
One more thing, cats typically do not like strong scents. Spraying strong floral type liquid scents can help to avoid cat coming closer to the bathroom rug. Doing this daily for few days may do the trick too.
There is another scenario that can happen. Let’s assume that your bathroom rug is near a glass door or window that will show outside of the house. Most of the time, there can be other cats surrounding over there.
If so, now your cat can pee on the mat to communicate those cats that this is my territory.
To stop this, you can just close the door or window using a curtain. That will simply do the trick.
Change the litter box position
Maybe it is about your litter box placement in the house. Otherwise, your cat does not have the proper training to use the litter box. Either way, there are few steps that can take to address this.
Place your litter box on the spot where you cat peeing (yes, on the mat). This way, your cat can adopt to the litter box in the place where he/she loves to pee. After several days, slowly move the litter box from bathroom mat.
When purchasing a litter, give attention to buy a soft textured one (paper, corn or wood type). Most cats love to use soft surfaces for peeing. The soft litter can simulate a comfortable and attractive surface for peeing.
Give much attention to cleaning the litter box and bathroom rugs if they were used by your pet. Usually, cats are continuing to pee on same place due to the urine smell.
To prevent this motivational factor, you need to clean your rugs properly. That means, without any kind of scent on it.
For washable fabric type rugs, you can use your washing machine with the usual detergent. Adding vinegar helps the process.
For non-washable rugs, use a separate cleaning sponge with cold water. Then air dries it. You can use the vacuum too. However, if it is expensive, you better need to follow manufacturer instructions to clean it.
It is not enough even your mat is cleaned. There can be some remaining odor. Cats are susceptible to smell, and they will know it. So use pet odor neutralizer to remove any incoming scent.
If you do not process a commercial odor neutralizer, then baking soda can be used. It is one of great and cheap solution for this matter.
Final Thought
Cat peeing on your bathroom rugs is a very unpleasant experience. Sometimes, it can bring extra works to your daily routine which is troublesome. Anyhow, as we have mentioned in our article, you can make few adjustments in your home to prevent this bad habit from your cat.