Hygiene

[Villanellebelle]

How do you come to terms with the hygiene issues that inevitably come with having a cat? We have our lovely cat a few months now, head over heels in love with her. But I am finding the hygiene aspect very very difficult. By that I mean, I feel my house is not clean anymore. She is And will be an indoor cat, so litter trays inside. Litter trays themselves not so much an issue but rather her tracking through it and then walking around the house. I feel like she must be dragging urine & faeces ( no matter how small) around the house. She has had diarrhoea yesterday & today & although she goes in the tray I feel there must be traces of it everywhere. Its really stressing me out. I can clean & clean but I'd never be able to know for sure there aren't traces somewhere. How do people deal with this? Am I just a clean freak?

[VictoriaBun]

I have a housecat, she is 6'years old and we have had her since she was a kitten. In all those years I have never found a trace of poo anywhere other than her tray.
We are not a family that goes down with sickness not diarrhoea .
Suggested to you in the nicest possible way , yes I do believe you may be a little ott with your worries.

[thecatneuterer]

Yes you're just a clean freak. I just clean as normal and don't give 'germs' a second thought. In my 20 years of (multi) cat owning I've never had so much as a upset stomach so if there are lots of extra germs around they certainly haven't done me any harm.

[dementedpixie]

I think of them as boosting my immune system!

[Villanellebelle]

Yes I think I am a bit of a clean freak, I think the diahorrea has pushed me over the edge

[Fluffycloudland77]

I think on a microbiological level everything’s covered in poo.

Our legs certainly are, that’s why food poisoning and lower limb infections get the same antibiotic as a first line treatment.

[Toddlerteaplease]

Be glad you don't have a longhaired cat with diarrhoea! It was not pretty.

[TrainspottingWelsh]

Mine have mainly free access to come and go, except overnight. So have litter trays plus anything they've tracked in. I wipe down any surfaces I'm preparing food on before use, regardless of whether dead things have been lovingly left as contributions, but otherwise don't worry.

[Villanellebelle]

41Toddlerteaplease she is long haired!

[KatherineJaneway]

Do you shut the toilet lid before you flush?

Genuine question

[Villanellebelle]

I do. Doubt my kids do though

[viccat]

I've had cats for 12 years now, and grew up with dogs. I've never particularly worried about it beyond usual home hygiene (for example cleaning the kitchen surface before cooking etc.). Never caught anything from them as far as I know.

There are other things that feel a lot worse to me like people wearing their outdoor shoes inside and all around the home, or not washing hands when you come in from being out in the shops etc.

[Spinderellacutituponetime]

Maybe let the cat out?