AIBU to expect 4 cats to stay in utility room/study?

Why can't they go out?

Quite frankly your house sounds like it will be grim. Numerous cat litter treats that are emptied every 3 days, cats then toileting around the house because they've no clean tray to use. No thank you very much.

I'd be upfront with your husband and tell him he either steps up to care for his cats or you will rehome them to someone who will take care of them. Don't do it behind his back, be honest with him. He's being cruel to them at the minute. How the hell is he not bothered about them pooing everywhere? And why is he leaving it says between cleaning the trays?? For gods sake he's making the job harder by leaving it so long - if he scooped when cat poos the litter will last longer than leaving it to fill up for days before cleaning it.

He sounds incredibly irresponsible and is not caring for the cats as he should be. Four cats is a lot of work and they sound like they're stressed if they're pooing and weeing everywhere. Confining them all to 2 rooms is not a solution. In all honesty, it sounds like you need to rehome them.

Totally possible if you start out like that but unlikely at this stage op will be able to crack it.

Ewww. His attraction to cats would give me the ick!

My DH is a dog person and his two dogs are his #1 priority. Me and the kids will always come second. I don't mind him preferring the dogs but it's the muddy walls and hair that I have to clean up daily.

If the dogs shat in the house it would be rehoming or divorce!!

Your DH needs to take responsibility. If they don't use the litter tray then they can't roam the house! He needs to clean it daily if they prefer it clean.

So yes you are being unreasonable as you should have toilet trained your cats before you got pregnant!
Now you are planning to restrict them, due to no fault of their own. Completely unfair.
My kids are now adults and have always had cats and dogs living with them. I never worried about them crawling in mess because my pets were / are, toilet trained. Why aren't yours?

Are any of them related?

It’s very irresponsible not to have neutered the cat. Are the younger ones neutered?

Cats are very fastidious and don’t like dirty toilets. Litter trays need changing refularly, preferably daily. They may need to be spaced out so that the scent from one isn’t off putting. It’s like territory marking. A submissive cat will shy away.

But the food needs to kept away from the litter tray. And water needs to be away from food.

The cat flap can distress some cats. In the same way that you might not relax in a house where the door doesn’t lock.

Once the accidents start they’re hard to stop because the smell of a previous accident can make them feel compelled to wee again in that spot. We had to get rid of carpet to stop it.

Stressed cats around a newborn doesn’t sound like the best idea.

My parents had a cat all through myself and multiple siblings being newborns however. But he was a chilled old boy and very well behaved.

Would he leave your baby in a shitty nappy for days? He is a terrible cat Dad.

Too many cats in a small space.
Not enough litter trays - needs to be number of cats +1
Litter trays not cleaned out often enough (daily, at least)
Litter trays not big enough
Litter trays not in the right place (often cats want a sheltered spot with limited view of other cats), too exposed, too cramped etc
Wrong litter used.

Stress is a major cause of inappropriate toileting issues in cats. Do all the cats get on?

I would add more litter trays.
Give more space, not less.
Use Feliway diffusers around the house.
Clean litter trays out daily.
Experiment with different litters to find what works best.

It may be that this combination of cats is not working well and one or more need rehoming.

No but having an irresponsible useless father is…

assume this is a joke 🙄

This is nonsense. I know a lady with 6 cats and all are litter trained. The reasons these cats have issues is they are neglected.

They are almost definitely doing this because they are stressed out by too many other cats.

Cats are not pack animals. I think you need to rehome at least two of them. It’s utterly unfair on them.

Cats usually mess in the house because they are scared or anxious. Perhaps there is some tension around the new baby coming? Perhaps they know you don't want terribly them there at the moment! Four cats is a lot for a non-cat-person to deal with.
Lots of pristine litter trays and a calm atmosphere are mostly likely to solve the problem over time. Also they need human contact, so lots of strokes from DH and from you if that feels OK to you.
So long as they have outside access, the utility/study should be enough space in the short term, provided they all get on with each other and there are four cosy sleeping places. A shelter in the garden would help too. But longer term if you want them to give them more indoor freedom, rehoming two of them might be the kindest thing, to give everyone more space.

I agree the litter trays can be tackled initially and hopefully this will make a big difference.

the poo needs removing asap from each tray - dh should check them several times a day if he doesn’t notice from the smell. I found cleaning the tray thoroughly once a week was enough usually if you’re vigilant in between.

i can totally understand why you’re stressed and your dh needs to take it more seriously.

I have 2 cats btw - though we didn’t get them too youngest dc was 5.

This is the problem, your DH is neglecting his cats and not scooping out poo and changing their litter trays every day. There should be 4 trays, one for each cat and every time one of them poos it should be scooped out immediately. Cats are very clean animals and they won't use a dirty litter tray. You and DH could sort this immediately and they couldn't wee or poo around the house. Also you need to clean wherever they have done a wee or a poo with a strong pet enzyme cleaner. If you don't they will smell where they have been and think its their toilet. It would not be unreasonable to keep cats in your utility room overnight with their beds to sleep in and 4 clean litter trays. During the day about half the time they could be out there but cats like to find their own space and maybe the stress of being all shut in together causing the soiling behaviour. When you are both home in the evenings the cats need to come into the sitting room for human company.

It's meant to be a tray each plus one.

Why aren't these numerous cats pooping outside like most outdoor cats will do when there's a cat flap? Why do you even have litter trays indoors?

Cats won't use a dirty litter tray as they are clean animals! We have a normal one which is cleaned twice a day and an electric one for our two main coons.
I've had cats for 20 odd years and, beyond being kittens, they've used litter trays, or outside.
I've had babies and toddlers with cats - but mine have been trained to not toilet inside so it's never been a problem.
Why are yours not trained to use a litter tray or do their business outside?