Why does my cat keep peeing on bath mats and rugs?
Cats frequently abandon the litter box to pee or poop on bath mats and carpets instead. Because they will repeatedly soil any new mat they find, owners are often forced to completely remove these items from their homes to stop the behavior.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Removing bath mats entirely or only using hand towels insteadDid this help you?
- 2Removing all floor mats and rugs from the house permanently.Did this help you?
- 3Only putting down bath mats right before a shower and picking them up immediately after.Did this help you?
- 4Providing a dedicated bin with towels for the cat to pee on, and washing them on a sanitize cycle.Did this help you?
- 5Trying a litter box with puppy pads instead of traditional litter.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I can no longer have bath mats because she will find them and poop on them.”source ↗
“My cat pees on any mat or carpet near the litter box, I stopped putting on there and no more pee”source ↗
“I have had my cat for close to 3 years. But she keeps urinating on every single mat i buy.”source ↗
“She would not pee in the litter box anymore, but she was okay pooping in it. She preferred peeing on the bathroom rug.”source ↗
“One of my past cats liked to pee on plastic.”source ↗
“One of my cats is mortally offended by any carpet and makes it known.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 6Why does my cat track litter onto the bed?
- 48Cat keeps peeing on my bed
- 4How to deal with severe cat matting without getting a full shave?
- 4Why does my kitten play and roll in the litter box?
- 2Why does my cat constantly lick and suck on his blanket?
- 10How to get cat pee smell out of plush toys without ruining them