Why is My Cat Peeing on My Couch? These Are 7 Things to Check Before Getting Angry

This might be a very annoying thing for some of us. We buy our cats litter boxes so they can go to the bathroom in peace and expect our feline friends to cuddle on the sofa together with us. But what happens when we find urine on the bed or on the sofa? We get angry because our feline friends are naughty and don’t have any kind of sympathy for our things? We punish them?

Well, there are some things we shall know before we punish them and scream to the sky why is my cat peeing on my couch?!

Why is my cat peeing on my couch – Most common reasons

1. Your cat is peeing on the bed or on the sofa because she’s sick

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Cats usually choose very carefully the places that they call bathroom. They don’t usually pee or poop where there is no ground to cover it. So, if your cat begins peeing on the sofa, then there can be a serious medical reason, like urinary tract infections, diabetes, arthritis or other painful conditions. So, take a look at your cat’s behaviour before judging her for naughty behaviour and take her to the vet!

2. The bed and sofa is on a higher ground than the litter box

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Cats don’t want to be ambushed when they are in their private moments. For them, survival is a priority and sometimes, your cat pees on the bed or sofa because it is a higher place where she feels safe and also because she doesn’t like the place where her litter box is. She might feel threatened there. So, try changing the place of her litter box and see if it made her stop peeing in unwanted places.

3. Check the litter box so that there are no problems with it!

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Sometimes, it’s your own fault. Cats sometimes need choices. If one litter box doesn’t feel right, you’ve got to have a backup one. You’ve got to have more than one litter box. If you have 3 cats, you’ve got to have 4 litter boxes to make sure your feline friends are happy with their bathrooms. You’ve got to place the litter boxes in places where the cats will feel safe. Avoid closets, cabinets or small, crowded rooms!

4. Your cat might pee on your sofa because of relationship issues

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Disputes with the other animals in the house can cause cats to pee on higher places. Fights over territory and different kinds of squabbles will get cats nervous and rethinking their place in the household. In these type of situations, you need to add more higher places, like cat trees, shelves or any other type of object that the cats can climb on.

5. Anxiety and feelings of separation

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Although they sometimes feel like they don’t give a damn about you, cats are actually very social and when their favourite person is away for a long period of time, they might feel alone, anxious and they might pee on the couch that’s got that human’s scent in it.

6. Do you clean the litter box enough?

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While you might think that cats are fine with peeing and pooping in the litter box forever, that’s not true. It’s not like our human bathroom where after every time you can flush and say bye bye to the urine. Someone needs to clean their litter box, and they obviously can’t do it.

So make sure you clean it every day from the poop left overs, and we also advice once a week to take out the sand and really wash the box with soap and warm water.

7. Maybe it’s just urine marking?

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Did you know that cats also mark certain areas like dogs do? If you see your cat marking his territory, and you know to recognise this by the amount of urine that he leaves. When marking an area the cat will leave very little urine compared to when he really needs to go. If you recognise this there are a few possible reasons for this:

• First thing is very common in male cats that are not neutered or female cats that are not spayed.
• Another reason could be if you have more than ten cats in the same house. If that’s the situation it may very well be that the cats is marking his territory to establish his dominance.

 A few solutions to the problem of a cat peeing on the couch or bed

Here are a few things you can do to help your cat peeing and pooping in the litter box again. 

You can try and play with the cat around the litter box.

You want to make the litter box area a fun place, stress free and that the cat will feel happy and comfortable going there. So you can try playing with your cat around the litter box and make sure he feels fun and relaxed. But don’t reward the cat when he goes in the box, cats do not like to be disturbed when they go, and also going in the box should be their default and not doing it for a treat.

Do not place the water and food bowls too close to the litter box, cats do not like to eat where they poop.

Don’t rush to punish your feline friend because she peed on your bed or couch. Most of the times, this sends a signal that there is something wrong with her and you first have to see what it is and not rush to conclusions. We hope this article helped you figured out why is my cat peeing on my couch or bed and that your relationship will improve from now on.