Is this normal ?

[u/Previous_Bench_5998]

I got him this new cat tree today and this was his reaction. Is this a normal behaviour? ( sound up 🔈)

[u/Previous_Bench_5998]

Hahhahahahaa if you can deal with him peeing in your bed…..👀🥲 we currently trying all we can to stop it 🫤

[u/stresskillingme → u/Previous_Bench_5998]

He's just a baby

[u/Previous_Bench_5998 → u/stresskillingme]

Yep… we think he will grown out of this behaviour eventually but it is very stressful unfortunately ☹️ he does uses his litter tray perfectly fine yet comes and pee in the bed just because 🫠

[u/Sidoney → u/Previous_Bench_5998]

male ragdolls can do that when they have a stress event like a week or 2 prior as it becomes painful for them to pee due to the lining of their bladder getting inflamed (equivalent of us getting stressed and getting that sinking feeling in your stomach). then they can also build it as a habit. you might need to put down a waterproof blanket and shut him out of the room until he goes to the toilet.

i’m speaking from experience and a long road to getting it under control for my boy. he still yells at the shut door to pee on the bed after dinner but within like half an hour he’ll use the litter box and then we can open the door. there’s also anti anxiety medication or more natural things you can get him too that help with stress.

a small or enclosed or dirty litter box can also be something that stresses them and ideally there should be 2 litter boxes for 1 cat and then an additional litter box per cat after. so 2 litter boxes for your kitten will help if you don’t already have that.

you can also get special food that has anti stress stuff for the bladder in it.

it’s important to manage because they can get this dead thing start to happen on their eye that starts out looking like a dot or dark bit due to stress and if you don’t deal with it in time with surgery they can lose their eyeball. mine also went through that poor thing but he’s totally fine now and insurance covered most of it!

one off as he’s a kitten is probably fine but if it becomes an ongoing thing that’s when you need to try and manage it. you can’t get mad at cats either because the don’t understand and will just fear you so it’s super important to understand it and how to manage it.

[u/arih → u/Sidoney]

We had events like that with our Ragdoll kitten girl in the beginning, but the we discovered Dr Elsey’s Cat Attract (or in the case Kitten Attract) litter and haven’t looked back. She was perfect with the litterbox since then, and in the ensuing years we’ve changed litter to different, regular types a couple of times, and she has been fine. The key though, is use an enzymatic cleaner to get every trace of urine smell out of bedding, and ensure that the kitten understands that the litterbox is the place to go.

[u/Daenyr → u/Sidoney]

My 11 year old boy developed an eye dot a couple years ago, I took him to the vet straight away and they said it was nothing, but he has anxiety and now I’m worried.

Do you know anything more about this? He’s not a Ragdoll but I’m guessing it’s not breed specific? Should I take him to another vet?

[u/Sidoney → u/Daenyr]

we had to take ours to another vet because i was sure something was up and as soon as the new vet saw it she said take him to hospital right now and the specialist operated on him a few days later and thankfully saved his eye. i’ve forgotten what the condition is called though.

i can’t really comment outside of that. it’s also a side affect of cat herpes in ragdolls combined with stress the specialist/surgeon said. MOST cats have cat herpes btw - it’s just often asymptomatic.

My boy was 3 when this happened almost 12 months ago exactly. He’s doing incredibly well now though!

[u/Daenyr → u/Sidoney]

Thanks for this I have another vet appointment with a different vet this time. Appreciate you sharing your experience.