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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

The litter tray

Cat weeing and pooing where it feels like

25 replies

SageSeymour · 14/12/2014 16:40

At end of tether.

We have a 6 month old kitten. She has been litter trained from when we got her at 8 weeks old.

Over the past three or four weeks she has pooed four times on the sofa, three times on our beds and once on the rug. Today was a total heart sink moment - shed been outside for a couple of hours, came in , hopped up on our bed and did a huge puddle on it. Feels like a final straw

She has a clean litter tray in a quiet spot. It's regularly cleaned. Litter not changed. Nowhere near her food. She is spayed and has had a vet check only a week ago - she doesn't have a UTI. Nothing in the house has changed. I can't pinpoint any stress and I've a plug in feliway just in case.

She is just using our home as a litter tray and it's driving me mad. It's also driving my DH mad and he's darkly muttering that we can't put up with this much longer.

Any suggestions that I've not thought of? She is still using her litter tray but sometimes will see or poo next to it - despite it being clean and full of fresh litter , other times she will wee in it fine as well as poo - but it seems that she views our whole home as fair game to use.

Thanks in desperation

OP posts:

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SageSeymour · 14/12/2014 16:41

When I say litter not changed - I mean I'm not using a new unfamiliar litter. I tried switching it a few weeks back in case it was that but it didn't work

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chockbic · 14/12/2014 16:45

Some info //www.icatcare.org:8080/advice/problem-behaviour/soiling-indoors

SageSeymour · 14/12/2014 17:05

Thanks for that info. Have had a read through and it's really informative but nothing immediately leaps out at me

Hmm

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chockbic · 14/12/2014 17:08

What about confining her to one or two rooms with litter trays?

NeedaDiscoNap · 14/12/2014 17:10

Could she have something like cystitis? My female cat had stress induced cystitis after my baby was born and she took to weeing in odd places - like the bath! The vet said this was symptomatic of the cystitis.

SmokingGun · 14/12/2014 17:13

What litter are you using?

SageSeymour · 14/12/2014 17:15

Needs - I'm pretty sure she hasn't because she was checked for this only last week and vet said she is perfectly healthy

We use waitrose litter. It's not scented , it's easy clumping and it's like a fine sand . I tried a change just in case and she refused to use the tray at all. So I've gone back to the one I've always used

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chockbic · 14/12/2014 17:17

It sounds part habit and part fussy pussy to me.

SageSeymour · 14/12/2014 17:19

I'm considering confining her to one room. We have a conservatory which is where her litter tray is kept. It's fairly spacious in there and clean with her cat bed and blanket. I could keep her in there but for how long? She would just miaow on and on I think as our living room backs into the conservatory .
When she weed on our bed today it was right in front of us. We were folding laundry and she had been outside and just sauntered in and hopped up and did it

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SageSeymour · 14/12/2014 17:24

It's a habit that I need to break in that case because although she's a lovely cat, I can't have my house treated like a toilet.

Shall I try confining her?

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CatCushion · 14/12/2014 17:25

Yes, I'd confine the cat to one room.

Try washing the litter tray really well, and washing off any suds completely. Have a second litter tray too. A lot of cats want one for wee and one for poo, and like them frequently cleaned out!

SparkleZilla · 14/12/2014 17:26

we came back from our week away to a rug in our front room absolutely COVERED in cat poo!!! soo annoyed, rug is out in the (unused) conservatory (poo removed) while i work out if it is worth trying to save

chockbic · 14/12/2014 17:26

It seems you will have to confine her and hopefully train her litter use.

CatCushion · 14/12/2014 17:27

Tell yourself and family it will be for at least a week, maybe a lot longer. You might find a few days/a week will do it.

CatCushion · 14/12/2014 17:30

Cats hate the smell of a lot of cleaning products. Floor cleaner, facric softeners, all kinds of other purfumed thinfs, as well as bleach and spray cleaners. They sometimes soil places to compete with these smelks that they find a threat, for territory.

AngelCauliflower · 14/12/2014 17:35

I had a few problems with my rescue cat peeing in rooms and poo next to litter tray. Since I changed from an open litter try to a covered one everything as been fine....so far.

SageSeymour · 14/12/2014 17:40

When we say confined , do we mean she doesn't come into the rest of the house at all? The issue is that you get so very little warning don't you ? They just do it , despite watching like a hawk.

I shall buy another litter tray with a hood and place it next to her existing one . I've endured that her tray is super clean today and I've also rinsed it off after washing it thoroughly

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SageSeymour · 14/12/2014 17:40

Sparkle - Id be putting that rug straight in the bin has the cat also weed on it ?

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SmokingGun · 14/12/2014 19:08

Has her behaviour changed at all? SmokingKitten got really aggressive at about 6mo as well as seeing outside the litter tray. Vet reccomended Zlykene and it has worked wonders, it's really settled him down.

SmokingGun · 14/12/2014 19:08

I meant weeing not seeing!

SageSeymour · 14/12/2014 19:39

No don't think her behaviour has changed really - apart from now as she's most out out at being confined to the conservatory! She last weed this afternoon on our bed and I want to see something in her litter tray before I consider letting her in the living room for a bit.

She's always been very playful and attacks us all the time but only in a playing way - nothing has changed that I can see

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CatCushion · 14/12/2014 20:24

Might be worth taking her to get a check up at the vet. It's not unknown for a cat to get an internal injury or infection and lose bladder control and try to communicate their pain with little attacks like that.

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SageSeymour · 14/12/2014 20:33

Oh she only had a check up z4 days ago and she is definitely playing with her mini attacks. She's always done it and we usually wiggle a toy, she pounces and then does her mad attack and we repeat. Def just playing

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CatCushion · 14/12/2014 20:40

Phew, glad of that.

It isn't easy to get them to break a habit. You need her to show that she has developed a new habit of using the litter trays before giving her free rein through the house all the time again. Perhaps let her out for a little while a few times a day, keep her confined at night and the rest of the time. Is it going to be warm enough for her in the conservatory at night?

carlywurly · 14/12/2014 20:42

I sympathise. Dps cat started doing this for no apparent reason last year. He got a couple of my rugs and we went through 3 duvets in one month. The minute the door was left ajar - ever - he was in there weeing on the bed. It was utterly vile and I got quite miserable about it while staying at dps as the smell of cat wee makes me retch.

Fingers crossed, it was a phase and has now stopped. I still take up rugs and keep bedroom doors closed when he visits here though. Once bitten..

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