Why Does My Cat Pee On My Bed When In Heat?

When a cat is on heat, she could pee in all the wrong places—including your bed.

As soon as she is no longer on heat, the cat will go back to peeing in the litter box as usual.

So why exactly does this happen?

In this article, we seek to unravel this mystery. The following are the main reasons for this behavior. 

1. Marking Of Territory

The first reason why your cat may pee on your bed when on heat is she is trying to mark her territory.

Using scents to mark territory is standard practice with almost all mammals in the animal kingdom.

 Apart from peeing on the bed, the cat might also pee on the furniture, couch, and other places in the house.

The scent that comes from the pee is the cat’s way of marking her territory and this is meant to let other females know to keep away.

So, if you have several females the situation will be worse as the cat on heat will want to really make a point.

2. Desire To Pee On Soft Surfaces

Sometimes, a cat on heat will want to pee on a soft surface and the bed will be just cozy enough.

This is more of a hormonal response and it has nothing to do with the cleanliness of the litter box.

Indeed the fact that the litter box is too clean could be the reason why they avoid it when on heat.

See, the cat wants the scent to remain after they pee but good litter usually absorbs the pee and the odor. 

So the cat will most likely jump on your bed and do her business there.

3. Attention Seeking

When your cat starts peeing on your bed and other locations in the house while on heat, there is a good chance she is seeking attention. 

Sadly, giving her all the attention in the world might not solve the issue because the only attention she is seeking is that of a mate.

If no mate is available, you just have to wait until she is no longer on heat for the peeing to stop.

Once the cat stops being on heat, she should resume her normal routine of peeing in the litter box.

If however, she continues peeing on the bed even when no longer on heat, take her to a vet immediately. It could be a urinary tract infection or some other health complication that’s causing her to deviate from the norm.

The vet will take a urine sample and test for any disease that might be causing the issue.

How to Prevent It

A. Keep Your Cat From The Windows

Resisting temptation is never a walk in the park. When a cat is on heat, all she craves is a mate.

If she sees male cats strolling by your house, she will want to mate even more and that will make her pee on your bed even more in a bid to attract a mate.

You can help alleviate the situation by blocking her views from windows and providing her with alternative pastime activities. For instance, an aquarium or a bird feeder can help distract her from the window.

Granted, it will not solve the problem completely but it will help reduce the frequency of peeing.

B. Give Her A Clean Litter Box

As we have already established, cats urinate on surfaces and objects as a way of claiming their territory.

Because the litter box is usually “marked territory,” the cats will typically look for a new place.

You can trick them by getting a new litter box. As soon as they discover the litter box has no scent of urine, they will want to urinate in it.

You may also want to always clean your litter box every week to avoid infections and other diseases.

You could also consider using self-cleaning litter boxes to minimize the scent and thereby encourage the kitty to keep peeing there.

Self-cleaning litter boxes typically use silica crystals which absorb the scent molecules from the urine. 

Some also come with an automated raking mechanism that gathers the used crystals and stores them away in a container on one end of the box.

C. Get her spayed

Getting your cat spayed is the easiest and surest way to deal with this issue once and for all.

A spayed cat won’t get on heat so you won’t have to worry about her peeing on your bed.

Besides, there are lots of health benefits including reducing the chances of your cat getting uterine and ovarian cancers.

It has been observed that the risk to get breast cancer increases with every heat cycle, so spaying the cat will cut the risk by more than 50%.

Closing Thoughts

Some people say that cats pee on your bed out of spite but that is untrue.

 If your cat is on heat, she is just peeing as a way of marking her territory and trying to attract a mate.

Luckily, this innate need will wade off as soon as she is no longer on heat.