So irt is 3:30 am in my house…and I am awake.

Why?

Because Coco has just peed in the bed….on my husbands pillow….next to my head. She is now caged, which for a free range girl who had access to the whole bedroom is quite the insult. I did the whole turning my back on her after I caged her. Very bun-dramatic.

The smell is what woke me. She carefully did not pee on ME…but right next to me. So how did a fully trained, never peed on the bed except the one time when she scent marked before she was spayed bun go from not peeing to peeing sometimes once a day on my bed?

The clues/details:

There has been no change in her diet – except that she is pellet free. This solved her poopy butt

She only pees on my husbands side of the bed. Never mine. He is an insomniac, so he usually leaves the bed in the middle of the night.

She started peeing AFTER the cat was shaved. (I know how ridiculous this sounds) The cat gets really matted in the winter, so she has to be shaved in January. When the cat is shaved, she gets more active, as she has to move more to keep her body heat regulated. We keep her in a sweater, which helps, but she still gets more fiesty. When she is cold, she will chase Coco. She never ( or maybe once) chased Coco before the shave.  She now chases her once a day, at least. She never really tries to “catch” her, per se…just a chase game. Coco doesn’t thump or otherwise indicate she is annoyed after these chase sessions, so I am not sure she is scared. She HAS thumped at the cat before if she was startled….or the cat was acting “stalky”…but not with these chase sessions.

I wondered, at first, if she was scared and that was why she was peeing – but the cat is no where in sight at 3:30 a.m. and she totally just peed next to my head.

Finally, about a month ago, I took away the top part to her cage. She was always free roam, but I had the top of her cage set in an “L” formation so she could hop in and out. She was still using a water bottle at that point, So the bottle hung on the inside of the edge of that cage. I switched her to a crock about a month ago and figured I could get rid of the top.

The cat Loves Coco’s crock. For whatever reason, Coco’s water is more delicious than the cats, and she will move mountains to get to it. Again, Coco doesn’t seem aggressive or upset when the cat drinks from her crock – and they will often touch noses before and after.

So, as it stands, I have her actually caged. She is being mighty quiet in there – which is strange in and of itself.

What am I not connecting? Should I keep the cage and re-cage her every time she makes a pee attempt? Will she connect the caging to the peeing? Was the removal of the top of the cage a security thing? Are she and the cat engaging in some bizarre power struggle?

HELP!!!!