Why does my cat pee on the rug outside the toilet?

Question

I have a cat which was a stray cat 10 years ago. No pee tray or litter tray was provided as she knows how to do her business in the toilet without any training from the 1st day.

However, the problem is in the recent years my cat started peeing on the rug/carpet outside the toilet even the toilet is dry. The urine will seep through the carpet and wet the floor, eventually flowing all around the area which makes the whole kitchen very smelly. Occasionally she will even spray urine onto the refrigerator or on the carpet beside the refrigerator.

I found that these post are quite similar for my problem in some way:

What are scents which cats do not like?

Why does my cat go to the toilet at the same time as I do?

There are three things that I could not figure out why:

1. She loves to pee on the carpet outside the toilet when there is nobody around, even though the toilet is dry (my cat seems to be a good actor; she will always pee in the toilet when she knows that I am home, but ignores my mother or grandmother even when they caught her in the act; she seems to only care when I am around.)

2. She loves to seek my attention when I am home, and "bring" me to the toilet to "over-see" to prove to me that she did go to the toilet.

3. Why does she only pee on the carpet but will 100% poop in the toilet even when the floor of the toilet is dry.

The only reason I could think of is that my cat loves me more than other family members as I am the one who took her in, takes care of most of her stuff, and hug her like a child every night before I go to bed. I will praise her everytime she goes to the toilet. Therefore she "respects" me and wants to prove to me that she a good cat doing her business in the toilet.

What could possibly be the actual reasons? Is there any ways that I could correct her?

Answer 1

Adding options to the previous answer, which is absolutely correct.

1. If your cat was a stray 10 years ago, she's obviously over 10 y.o. Which means she's not exactly young anymore. Many mature and ageing cats (and not only cats) develop joint problems and other conditions that make it harder to move. In cats' case, it means that with age it becomes harder to jump (among other things), and at some point it might become too hard/painful to jump onto the toilet.

In this case, get her a litter box, like the previous answer suggested. Actually, get her one anyway, because she's not getting any younger, and even if she doesn't develop joint problems at all, it won't hurt to be prepared.

2. It might be separation anxiety. She thinks she doesn't get enough attention from you, so she's acting up. I had this problem with my first cat, she even peed on my bed regularly (urgh).

In that case either spend more time with her (but cats can be very demanding), or make sure that she's properly entertained when you're away. Ask your mother and grandmother to play with her, leave toys for her, leave her some of your worn clothes to lie on (the last one helped in my case).

In any case, I would get her to a vet first. UTI (urinary tract infection) and bladder crystals can be very serious problems (my older cat has both, and both chronic, so I'm speaking from experience), so first of all make sure she doesn't have them.

Answer 2

There can be a few reasons. She may have a urinary tract infection that makes urination painful and she associates the pain with the toilet. So she looks for another spot to pee. There may be something that upsets her in the bathroom. Maybe she can here the sound of a strange cat from the bathroom window. So she doesn't want to pee in there. Despite her never using a litter tray before, you might try putting one on the carpet where she likes to pee. Perhaps she'll use it. Then you can move it to a more convenient spot.