My cat pees in my room or in front of bedroom door

by Bobbie
(Ohio)

I moved out of my mother's house and into an apartment in November, and the first few months I had NO problems with my cat.

Recently, my grandma was in the hospital and I spent most of the week there and then she passed away, and he suddenly started peeing in the corner of my room when I leave the door open.

If I try shutting him out of the room, he'll pee in front of my door, and I'll wake up to him scratching at the door (that's how I know he's peed there).

I don't know what to do, his litter box is clean, and it's the same litter he's used for the past four years. He's been fixed, and this is the only room he's been peeing in.

My Thoughts: I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. You're dealing with a lot and it's hard to say if your additional time away from your cat is part of the problem, or even if he's just disturbed because he knows something is not quite right, or if it's something else.

No amount of retraining will work if the problem is medical in nature, so that is always where we look first. Once it's clear that it's not a medical problem, you can retrain.

Once a cat has soiled an area, the cat will be drawn back to the area as long as the smell remains. If you don't thoroughly clean the area and remove the smell, you'll be fighting nature. Nature always wins.

Use a good cleaner/odor eliminator, such as AtmosKlear, an enzymatic cleaner, or Fizzion to thoroughly clean the area and remove the smell.

I suggest you read over my information on this page paying special attention to preference for texture and location with respect to litter box problems.

Try placing a squeaky clean litter box with fresh litter in the area where he seems to want to go. If he uses it without fail, then you can use the "inch-by-inch" method to move the box back to where you want it.

If that doesn't work, then in addition to cleaning the area, you can see if you can deter him from going there by using one of the following...

1) Double sided tape.
2) Aluminum foil.
3) An upside down rug since many cats will avoid the rough texture that the rug backing has.
4) Citrus smells, especially lemon can work to keep cats away from areas as well.

In all cases, use the "never punish, always praise" rule so that he gets positive reinforcement when he uses the box, but his behavior is ignored when he doesn't.

In extreme cases when all other ideas are exhausted, controlled confinement is sometimes the best solution. Confine him to one room with food, water, and a clean litter box and totally retrain him. Then slowly work him back into his regular routine.

Check the housesoiling guides here, and this article on litter box training that explains the use of isolation retraining.

I hope this helps!
-Kurt