Babycat urinating on laundry

[texsuze]

We adopted two orange tabby brothers (our "babycats"!) back in January and they've come along nicely integrating into our household (with two elderly cats). They're now about 8 months old-- big boys

A few weeks ago I saw Oliver in the dirty clothes basket which sits on top of the dryer. Lo and behold, he did a tee-tee on the clothes pile! A few times after that episode, I noticed evidence of more urinating on the dirty clothes. DH usually has stinky workout clothes in the basket (I do lots of laundry for just two people ), and, I guess being a guy, has some strong pheromone action going on....

I've relocated the laundry basket to the porch for now, just to remove temptation. Very inconvenient! So far, no evidence of Oliver urinating at other locations. We want to give ample time to see if he abandons this behavior before bringing it back inside. I'm thinking Oliver was marking his territory, since he's very snuggly with me, less so with DH, although still very friendly.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Any suggestions for pre-empting future tee-tee episodes (like maybe a hamper with a lid)? Never had this going on in all my decades of kitties in the house.

[Tanga]

Yeah. Raised Siamese for 35 years and have 7 now. It sounds more like a territorial thing. Like they're maturing and he's establishing some kind of ownership. It could be the boys are having a pee out over something and it might be a change in dominance over who "owns" your husband. I think the lid is the way to go.

I have had a few issues when I leave clothes out with peeing on them, and and hubby has it all of the time, either because he leaves his clothes everywhere, or the cats are all over him all of the time marking him and trying to see who gets him. (I know 100% I am head cat in the house.)

[Josette]

I had the same problem years ago with a female cat. If DH left dirty clothes on the bathroom floor - she marked them. It helped to better house train DH to put dirty items into the clothes hamper.

[texsuze]

Thanks for the feedback! Interesting, Tanga, that you mention Siamese. My brother was the first to notice that these orange tabby boys have a more aquiline facial structure, plus wide-base ears, which led him to think Siamese-x. They are starting to talk more, too Laundry is now in a little kids' hamper with lid, same location as old hamper. We'll see what transpires....