Ragdoll Cat Forums

Hello..

I got my new raggie on July 2...so I've had him for about a week and a half. He has been going in the litter box with no problems, until 2 days ago when I put my new down comforter on my bed. He jumped up some time later and was running around then all of a sudden I saw him peeing on it.... I called the breeder and she said maybe its because it is new and he liked the feeling of it...so I went out and bought the neutralizer and stain remover and sprayed the entire area. I did it a couple of times to be sure... so he has been fine ever since and has not gone elsewhere...until this morning, he was on the bed for hours and then all of a sudden, went again...this time in a completely different area than before. He is now not allowed in the bedroom, but I don't want to shut him out forever.... does anyone know what is going on or how I can help him not to do this again? I don't know when it will be right again to allow him in. I've never had this problem with any other cats that I've had and they were all rescues. Help?

Sorry you are having problems. I have read on the forum before about exactly the same problem, they seem to like the down. I don;t really have any suggestions apart from the obvious, keeping him out of the room or not using the down comforter. Sorry I couldn't be of more help, this must be stressful for you!

Oh dear, pee on the bed is no fun! I have to agree with Louise, there does seem to be something about those down comforters that raggies love. I can only suggest removing the comforter if you want him in the room. Sorry

Give up on the comforter until he is older, when you can try again. (Avoid both down and high loft bedding - and you have both.) Once soiled it is virtually impossible to clean. Cleaning stains needs either bleach or an enzymatic cleaner like Nature's Miracle.

I have been using nature's miracle.. it smells fresh after i use it although i'm sure i cannot get everything.. but we just spent a lottt of money on this comforter and really cant afford to shove it in the corner and get a new one.. it is very stressful for me because i want him to be able to come in my room with me but i just cant have him peeing on my bed again... i had a down comforter with my previous cats and they never bothered with it. when he gets older will he still have this problem?

I agree that the down duvet could be a large part of the problem, our Gracie did the same thing with us. Make sure that if you use the natures miracle you also do the sheets and mattress underneath the spots as some residual, even if it can't be seen or felt could still be there.
Gracie stopped when we switched back to the flatter comforter, hope you get some resolution, it would be aweful if you couldn't have snuggies on the bed, much good luck.

Be sure to observe the instructions on slow drying. The enzymes only work while wet. However, it is most likely the comforter itself and not overmarking old stains. As you observed, two areas have been targeted already. Like plastic, newsprint and rubber, these are known attractants. Fortunately, it tends to be a stage in kittenhood. However, if it is stained, then that can be a cause for later problems.

Oh my....boy do I have the same problem! I will tell you the story of what happened with me, long but I think it will be useful to you.

When it started getting cold, we brought out the down comforter.

One night I noticed Pyjamas dashed out into the bedroom in front of me, jumped on the bed, scratched around and took a dump!( only way to describe that massive poo, sorry! LOL). I was so shocked!

I washed the comforter as recommended...put it back on the bed thinking it was a freak accident. But a few nights later during the nite I awoke to a horrifying stench to find he had done it again ><!

Washed the comforter. again. and those things STINK when they are washed...the smell of wet feathers...blegh.

So we put him in the bathroom at nite because he couldn't be trusted and we had nothing to replace the comforter with.

One day while playing in the cat tunnel with Ruby, he scratched around inside and had a massive poo inside of it. Oh my goodness...what a nightmare! Luckily it was plastic so easy to clean and neutralize, but still a pain. Then I wasn't sure if I could trust him around the tunnel to play in

One morning after letting him out of the bathroom, I found that he pooed on the bathmat. LOL. Washed that bathmat, put a new clean one down....eventually he pooed on that one as well but this time managed to pull the corners of it up to cover his business. LOL

At this point he's still in the bathroom at nite but we have been trying to teach him that the only place he can poo and pee is his litter box. We knew the cleanliness of the box wasn't an issue because he scratched the bed the very day I did a full clean and bleaching of all three trays.

In the bathroom, what I did was I began to move his food/water dishes onto the bath mat. cats will not eliminate that close to their food. so that stopped him. After about a week of this, I took his food bowl off and sprinkled a bit of kibble on the bathmat. I found that he would eat all the kibble off the mat (LOL such a fat boy...) but still not poo on it. after a week or so of that, I left the bathmat as is. It's been at least a month now since and he hasn't pooed on the bathmat at all since then. I think that he is actually learning.

Each time he uses the box, we praise him first and foremost before cleaning any poopy paws/butt. so he associates using the box with something good. Treats would also be helpful but he doesn't like treats all that much.

I have now begun leaving the bedroom door open during the day and testing him. Sometimes when I observe him I do catch him scratching the comforter as if he';s going to poo on it. When this happens, just pick him up calmly and put him in a litter box. After several times of taking him to his box, when he would scratch I began to squirt him with a water bottle. So he associates scratching the bed with a bad consequence.

After several times of that, now I just say, "no" when he scratches. Because he is learning what "no" means due to disciplining him in other areas of the house, he will usually stop, jump down, and go to his box.

Now we leave the bedroom door open at nite as well to test him further. So far we have had no accidents. When he has diarrhea I do shut it if I can't keep an eye on him because I don't want him to regress because of a bad tummy. So you can shut the door when you feel it may be necessary. In the beginning, when you feel safe enough to keep the door open for any amount of time, you'll need to keep an eye on him because he will learn ONLY when you change his behaviour. So he will only really learn if you catch him about to do it and take him to his box, this is the prime moment to teach him.

Another thing you can try is what I did with the food bowls on the bathmat. Maybe get a different crappy comforter cover to use during the day, put his biscuit bowl on the bed and see what he does. He may decide that he doesn't want to poo there when his food is there. then during the day you can sprinkle some kibble on the comforter and see what happens. Maybe he'll get the message.

We are at the point now where we are ready to let him sleep with us again (but haven't yet due to other reasons, namely Ruby), so I feel like this is a big accomplishment and am very proud of our patience with him. I know it is frustrating beyond, but there is hope. Raggies are very smart and you CAN teach them what are desirable behaviours and which aren't.

I wish you the best of luck. Think up a plan that will be appropriate for you, and stick to it and be patient! I have faith that both of our sweeties will learn to stop.

Hi, we've been having some pee and poo problems, too.
We brought our little guy (who's quicky becoming NOT so little!) home 3 1/2 wks ago. He is really settling in nicely, not meowing as much and even getting along with our dogs. Shadow is great, except for litter box problems. I've never had this problem before, and have been, well, stumped, on what I need to do to fix it.
Shadow goes to the litter box on his own and has only had 2 accidents on beds (one night, he was playing on our bed, and then crawled under the covers and, literally, peed on my husband!) Sorry, but it was quite funny!
Thought it was all done with, but when we took a trip for several hours on the weekend, when we came back, he peed on our 11 yr old's bed (he did not take that well!)

Those are the only peeing incidents outside of his litter box.
The real problem is him either peeing, or getting what looks like diarrhea on his rear paws. this only seems to happen late at night, around 1:30am.

The kitty litter just sticks onto his paws and he becomes this big smelly mess. I feel so badly for him.
My husband is getting pretty tired of being woken up in the middle of the night to the endless scratching (we have Shadow in our bedroom)

Could he be getting into some food he shouldn't be?
Is my litter box not full enough? Should I be using a different kind of litter?

He's such a sweet little guy (as I write this he's stretched out in front of me, resting his head on my arm).

If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
Thanks, Ann

Thanks so much to everyone for all of their suggestions. We have a big apartment so we leave him out of the bedroom at night and we made a big playhouse for him so he hasn't been meowing at our door as much anymore because he has all of his toys and house in a spare bedroom (along with the litter box). He goes in the box perfectly and no where else EXCEPT our bed with the down comforter...I put him on it once and he was sniffing around, I immediately took him to the litter box. I am going to try more to put him up there and then when he sniffs or scratches, I will squirt him (which I felt horrible doing..but it has worked with keeping him off the coffee table and I've only had to do it twice!) and then bring him to the box. I really hope this works because I really want him to be able to sleep with us at night. We are getting a new ragdoll in month or so and I am just afraid it will begin all over again... and especially because I'm not sure if Frankie's scent will still be on the blanket. Ohhh the joys of kitten motherhood! HAHAHA