Why does my cat hate my bathmat? HELP!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 27, 2003 11:52 pm

For absolutely no reason that I can fathom, my cat takes great pleasure in taking a dump on the bath mat in the bathroom. You know, the nice shaggy fluffy thing you like to step on after getting out of the shower? He keeps ruining them by dumping on them. His litter box is always kept clean, he's fed regularly, he has PLENTY of playtime. I can't find a pattern to this carpet abuse, but it has to stop. Our linoleum bathroom floor is slick as ice without the bath mat. Is there anything I can do to keep my cat from ruining bath mats?

Post by **Traci** » Wed May 28, 2003 1:51 am

The first and most important thing to do is rule out a potential health issue, please make an appointment with your vet for a complete exam. You never know when a health condition might be surfacing, many behavioral changes are indicative of a health problem.

Once your vet deems kitty perfectly healthy, then investigate further. It could be that kitty is associating the bathmat as a means of getting your attention to another matter, like a cause of stress, a recent change in his environment, something that is upsetting him.

Some cats are attracted to bathroom 'fixtures', reason not clearly known, but the bathroom can be the favorite room for a cat. Water is essentially enticing and interesting to them, so that could be one reason.

Lastly, make sure his litterbox is in an accessible area, and not where he has to travel far to get to it.

Again, please make a vet appointment right away, best to play it safe.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed May 28, 2003 9:13 am

Hm. Well, he's attacked the bathmat since the day we brought him home (we adopted him at six months) so I'm fairly sure it's not a health problem, but I'll have him checked out anyway just to be safe. He's my baby. The litter box is in the bathroom, a few feet away from the bath mat. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. He infallibly will dump on the bath mat if he's been left alone for more than a few hours (though we've never left him alone for an entire 24 hour day) so I know he doesn't like being left alone, but there are other times he'll do it without rhyme or reason. Like last night. I had just finished cleaning out his litter box and went to bed, and my boyfriend got up to go to the bathroom and informed me that the cat messed on the carpet and he was too tired to clean it up. Sigh. I can just imagine when we have kids...

But, yeah... my kitty's a hyperactive little guy. He's usually a ton of fun, just... not if you're a bath mat.

slvrwhispr · Post by **slvrwhispr** » Wed May 28, 2003 9:15 am

One other thing, I'm pretty sure this forum and my computer are fighting. No matter how many times I log in, it doesn't leave me logged in when I post. Although I think I fixed the problem. Thanks for your help.

jason · Post by **jason** » Wed May 28, 2003 9:37 am

slvrwhispr wrote:No matter how many times I log in, it doesn't leave me logged in when I post.

if it persists, post a topic in the support forum and i will work on a solution.

slvrwhispr · Post by **slvrwhispr** » Wed May 28, 2003 9:39 am

I'm good, jason, thanks. My browser wasn't recognizing cookies, for whatever reason.

jason · Post by **jason** » Wed May 28, 2003 11:45 am

slvrwhispr wrote:My browser wasn't recognizing cookies

ok. just make sure to set it to either chocolate chip or peanut butter

DragonLady · Post by **DragonLady** » Wed May 28, 2003 5:51 pm

It may sound weird, but some kitties prefer two boxes. One for liquids and the other one for solids. Maybe another litterbox is in order?

slvrwhispr · Post by **slvrwhispr** » Thu May 29, 2003 2:39 pm

Lol... I took Cody to the same vet where we had him neutered, and he apparently remembered the place because he tried scaling me claws and all while carrying him in. Vet says everything's fine, he's just spoiled, and the bath mat abuse is just his way of saying he doesn't like being ignored. Bugger.

MA · Post by MA » Thu May 29, 2003 3:34 pm

I would give him a second litter box. If your bathroom is to small then try moving the box in degrees to another room where the cat can have privacy. If you observe a cat in the wild, you will see they never deficate and urinate in the same place. They do one, then move off and do another. Pehaps, this is what this cat is doing. You can find out by just introducing another box for him.