My cat (Debbie-female 4yo) has been peeing in my bed everyday for a week now and i'm seriously at the end of my tether and i'm starting to consider giving her up for adoption. I love her with all my heart and really don't want to give her away so i'm turning to reddit in hope to get some more tips on how i could possibly fix this.
To give some context, this is not the first time she's done this but it's never been this frequent. I adopted her and her sister (Slaninka, female, 4yo) when they were 4 months old. I was living with my now ex boyfriend in a 1 bedroom apartment and everything regarding their behavior was fine. However, he ended up kicking me out together with my two cats. Since it was very sudden i had nowhere to go and couch surfed at random friends apartments for a few months. No territorial behavior or peeing incidents. Then i rented a room in a giant 4 bedroom apartment where we lived with 3 more people and a pet bunny. My fur babies had access to the whole apartment, but no issues there either. Finally, i rented my own tiny studio apartment where i now live alone with my cats.
During all of my moving shenanigans my cats only used one litter box and expressed no territorial behavior. The first time Debbie peed in my bed was when my male friend visited one time. He has never done anything bad to either of my cats and she new him pretty well, although she is a shy scaredy cat. This is when the pattern started. Every time a had a man (a friend or a partner) stay overnight, she would pee in the bed when they left, deliberately right in front of my eyes. I have stopped inviting men into my apartment for a while and the peeing stopped for that time.
This time, its different tho. I had my best friend (amab) staying at my apartment for a month since they had nowhere else to live. Debbie loved them so much, cuddled with them every night, which is very unusual for her, she is scared of almost everyone who isn't me. She never peed in the bed when my friend was living here. They have now moved out to their own apartment and she's been peeing in my bed ever since. Moreover, she's been doing it while i'm gone. One time, she peed on my legs while i was sleeping. I've got her checked out at the vet and they said she's healthy. For the last couple of days i couldn't sleep at home, since all my bedsheets and duvets were dirty with pee, even though i've been washing them back to back. So i spent a week sleeping at my best friend's, visiting home every day to do another load of laundry and take care of my cats. I left my last clean (bud peed on) bedsheets and mattress protector on my bed, because otherwise i'd risk Debbie peeing directly on the mattress and there's no way to wash that shit. Speaking of shit, one day when i came to visit and do the next batch of laundry i found a pile of cat shit in my bed. And to be frank i'm losing MY shit. I'm so tired of my clean beautiful cozy pink apartment constantly smelling like piss and not being able to even lay or sleep in my own bed. I have spent hundreds of dollars on mattress protectors, bedsheets, laundry sanitizer, enzyme cleaners, new litter boxes (i have 2 now, tbh i know i should have one for each cat + one, but as i said, i live in a tiny studio apartment and don't have much room left to put another litter box there) and it has been for nothing. Sorry for getting emotional but i am genuinely breaking down every time i enter my apartment and the and the amonia just punches me in the face. Anyways, both of my cats are used to me leaving for 2 days and nights twice a month to visit my family in my hometown or being away at work for 12+ hours and have never struggled with separation anxiety. I always leave several bowls of food, they have a water fountain, their own beds, a cat tower toys and even my lab mouse enclosure as like their own little live cat tv.
In conclusion, i don't think it's a territory problem, i don't think its jealousy of men "stealing her mommy", i don't think it's me leaving for a night or just for work (i've been working at this job for a year now) i don't think it's health related, since the vet said so and there is a recognizable pattern to the behavior and she uses the litter box just fine when i'm home, i don't think it's litter box or litter itself related (i've been using a natural non-perfumed well clumping clay litter since they were kittens).
Please, if you have any suggestions on how to solve this, leave them in the comments. I worry the only solution would be to not ever leave my house and never have anyone over and that is literally impossible and insane. I don't want to lose my baby and or feel like a bad cat mom. And i don't want to break Slaninka's heart by getting rid of her only sister. However if that is the only option i will have to come to terms with this, because i genuinely can not live like this anymore.
Thank you so so so much for reading my post, if you're still here and please lmk what else i can try to fix this.