cat behavior problem

Question
I am writing on behalf of a friend of mine, who has a 2 year old male tonkinese. He is not neutered,she adopted him from an elderly couple who had another tonkinese that he did not get along with. She has had him for approximately 6 months now, he shares the household with a male siberian husky, her two kids (one sixteen and one eleven) and her husband. Everything was fine at first, but recently, within the last two months or so, he has begun urinating on clothes/blankets that are left on the floor. He is not spraying, just squatting and peeing on fabrics that are left on the floor. He is an excellent cat otherwise, he is very well behaved, and very affectionate, excellent personality. Because of this problem, she has recently begun considering to give him away, the last straw being that he had peed on her bed. I don't know what the issue is, he gets equal attention and affection from everyone as does the dog. The dog does chase him though, he is only 2 years old himself, and is very playful,and wants to play with the cat. I don't know if he is not taking well to the noise from the kids and the harassment of the dog, or if this is maybe an issue of him not being neutered, or having a urinary tract problem. He is a sweet cat, and I would take him in a minute if it weren't for this problem.I have no kids, it is just my boyfriend and I and we live by ourselves. Did you ever hear of this issue before? Any suggestions on what this may be would be appreciated.

Answer
I would recommend having him examined to make certain he does not have a urinary infection and also to consider neutering to avoid possible health problems in the future.  However the history seems to indicate a possible texture preference problem.  Some cats find that they like a different substance than traditional litter and will choose to eliminate outside the box in order to use it.  First he could have started with the clothes.  Then if all clothes were picked up from the floor, he found that jumping on the bed was an acceptable option.

She should try setting up a litter box variety: one box with regular clay litter, one with clumping sand litter, one newspaper and one with fabric such as the kinds that the cat has been urinating on.  Also it could be helpful to set up two with fabric in different locations, at least one in a quiet area away from the dog.  If he uses the box properly offer praise and a small treat to reinforce the behavior.

I hope this helps.  Please feel free to write back with further questions or progress.  Sincere apologies for the delay as a family emergency kept me away for several days and thus I have been terribly behind.