Cats and mats

[EngTeach]

Why do cats like to pee on bath mats or little decorative rugs you place around the house? I gave up using rubber backed bath mats eons ago and use one that is terry cloth a slightly thicker than a towel. If I leave on the floor after a shower, they will pee on it. Very annoying. Any ideas how to stop it? (Other than removing it immediately from the floor. LOL)

[lindapinda]

Hi Eng..are they house cats?...Our's were very territorial wee Bxxgers that constantly needed to show they were in charge ;-)

[Buenchico]

My guess would be that a cat likes to ensure that everything around him has his own smell on it (in order to mark his territory). Most of your furniture and belongings will have picked up his scent when he rubs himself against it, so he's perfectly happy with that. Then he comes across a bath mat which smells of nothing except rubber (or towelling, or bath salts, or talcum powder, or whatever). That's not going to please him, so he uses the quickest possible method of remedying the problem.

At least your feline friends seem to be choosing relatively inexpensive items to mark their scent on. I once bought a Revox studio quality reel-to-reel tape recorder in a garage sale, which needed a bit of work, for £30 ($45). I had to hunt for a specialist repairer, who took nearly 6 months to source the right parts and bring it back to it's new state. He charged me £100 ($155). So, for £130 ($200) I had a studio quality tape deck which was worth well over £500/$800. The day after I got it back I discovered that it was ruined because it was full of cat pee!

Chris

[EngTeach]

This a new habit. I wonder if it because I moved a lot of furniture around, added new pieces and then I was away for 3 days. They were fed by my sister who also lives here, so they were not 'lonely'.

It is inexpensive. I can bleach it and it will be fine. Whenever my friend takes out her suitcase from the closet, her one cat poops in it! She had it out to organize the closet and she found a present. They certainly do like being in charge.

I have a new 5 x 7 area rug in my sitting room. I have caught them scratching and circling the way they do in the litter, so it won't be long before they make a deposit there....The joys of cat ownership....

[lindapinda]

Lol...we are their willing slaves :-)...Our lovely babies ruled us for 13 years..and we have now been adopted by a petulant miss that calls every food available shot...and cuddles...We are now resigned :-!!

[boxtops]

Can you get anit-cat spray over there EngTeach? I use Febreze fabric spray to mask the cat smell, that works in some areas. I am sure yours may have been spooked by your being away from home, one of mine never comes out when we have visitors and gets very agitated. It sounds like confirmation of territory to me. I would be inclined, if it goes on, to put a litter tray in the bathroom - better than poo on your good stuff. Mine will always use a tray if it's available, even if I put it out in the garden!

[EngTeach]

Thanks for the input. I think it is a spite thing. It is amazing how we wait on our pets hand and foot. I read something once that said if aliens observed us, they would think dogs were the masters on earth since we walk behind them and clean up their poop. LOL

[pastafreak]

When I was house training my new dog-I got one of those special odour destroying sprays....but it did not last long.. ;-(( Reading up told me that any biological washing powder / liquid will do the trick. Maybe you need to treat the spot with laundry detergent in concentrated form. Anything else-including bleach-will still leave the scent that only the cats will smell.