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

He sounds feral as do the cats.
Cat urine is horrific and the whole house must stink. As for their poop. It is rank. I love cats but I wouldn't have this.
I find cats very easy to housetrain so I really think yours must be stressed. It's not typical for cats with access to the outside and litter trays to soil and piss in the house.

Change litter trays daily. I have 2 cats and one of them mostly goes outside but the second will start pooing outside the litter tray if hers is dirty.

It is concerning that your husband is so blasé about this situation. These are animals he supposedly "loves" but can't look after properly - not neutering them, then not bothering to clean out their litter trays. Is he going to be able to competently look after a newborn? I'd be worried he'd leave the baby in a dirty nappy all day.

Are the cats neutered now? If not you are looking at a lot more future cats. A cat getting out once accidentally and coming back pregnant but letting them out on purpose to come back with litters is the height of irresponsible cat ownership.

Even if you have unneutered toms, they are going to be aggressive and scent marking everything in sight.

All of them need neutering as a matter of urgency.

Cats pretty much hate toddlers I'm sorry to say.

Cleaning 4 litter trays every three days? I am gagging at the thought. Surely the smell would be overpowering by then?

We had two cats and two litter trays and the poo was removed as soon as we spotted it and flushed down the loo.

If they are pooing and weeing round the house, I would hazard a guess that they are doing it because firstly their trays are not clean enough and secondly because they are trying to mark out their own territory and are stressed.

I would seriously suggest rehoming all four, have your baby and then revisit cat ownership again, but you DH needs to step up and look after them properly.

We have four cats and one large litter tray. They all have access to the outside world but they come in to use the tray. Anything in it gets removed daily without fail. They neither pee nor crap anywhere else in the house.
The fact that your DH only cleans the trays every three days or so is I suspect a large part of the problem. First thing is to ensure he cleans the trays out daily and I suspect your cats may start using them again.

The cats are stressed.

That's why they're crapping everywhere. They need a litter tray each, which is cleaned as soon as it's dirty, a mealtime routine, reliable access to the outside.

I was the one that took them to vets to get their snips and vaccines - he's always 'too busy' and I just can't take anymore

That's outrageous.

Not being funny, but he's setting the example of exactly what sort of father he is going to be........ 😐😐

More trays, a good clumping litter and scooped daily - it takes minutes!
Plug in feliway

You could try pointing out to him it's like you going for a poo and then not flushing and expecting him to go on top of it
Cats are naturally clean so they must be really stressed

This can't be for real!
Sorry, but nobody is this stupid.

@notaurewhatusername tell him if they aren’t house trained by the time the baby arrives it will be a case of you or the cats . Frankly I think your mad having a baby with someone who can’t even care for his animals properly , doesn’t augur well for him helping with nappies etc .

I've never had to 'litter train' a cat, they've been naturally inclined to use a litter tray - in fact I don't really think you can train a cat to do anything!

Pooing and weeing around the home is usually a sign of stress/marking their territory (assuming any physical health issues that could cause incontinence have been ruled out)

Cats are mainly solitary creatures, they'll often accept a second cat if introduced early enough, but it sounds like that's not what has happened here. Cats arent group animals, and they definitely wouldn't be happy in a smaller space than they have now.

Change litter trays daily as a minimum. They really need to be clean all the time but that might be too much of a change for your DH immediately. That's the aim, though.

And if they can go outside, all the better, but if they are house cats I guess that can't be changed.

Why are you having a baby with someone who dismisses your concerns and thinks piss and shit all over your house is normal and ok? The cats are not the real issue here, the DH is! Time to start acting like responsible adults the pair of you

Completely agree with @Pandasnacks.

Honestly, I despair of people. Rescues are full to bursting because of irresponsible humans and picking up the huge costs and trauma caused to these animals by those same humans.

Take responsibility for your animals for goodness sake. And start by keeping the poor things in a clean environment. How would you feel going to a toilet that hadn't been flushed for three days?

Good god this makes me so sad.

You shouldn't be touching a litter tray when you're pregnant, toxoplasmosis is serious. Confining them to stop them pooping everywhere is a short term plan, not fun for the cats long term despite a cat flap. Can some be removed at all, as harsh as that sounds?

Please go to the icatcare website and read about multicat households and stress in cats. If they do go outdoors I don’t think they necessarily have to have access to the whole house… however… they need space to be able to get away from each other and have resources that aren’t shared. You need more litter trays than cats. Think about using something like feliway friends. And maybe consider rehoming some. The litter trays need emptying more. I think icatcare may also have a page on toileting in the house. It’s a great resource. But this sounds like a stressed cat household and that’s why you get inappropriate toileting.

This cannot go on, there must be something very unusual going on for all four to not be house trained. Mine only started using a tray when they were about 8 because we moved house and had to keep them indoors, and they mastered it straight away without a single accident.

Your DH needs to be scooping the trays twice a day (minimum) and dealing with any poos as soon as he spots them in there. What type of litter are you using? We have three cats and use Sanicat Active Clumping. The clumping power is so strong that we only change the entire trays once a week because every deposit is removed whole. It’s a fucker for tracking, but the best we’ve used for clumping/smells so we just put up with the tracking and sweep the floor morning and night to stay on top of it.

Your DH also needs to get a black light and go around every room in the house with it to identify where they have pissed, and use an enzymatic cleaner to remove it, or they will just keep going back to the same places every time. Happy cats do not toilet all over the house, so he needs to work out exactly what the problem is, and put it right ASAP.

Poor cats.

You need 1 tray per cat plus 1 so at a minimum should have 5 trays , even if the one that goes outside officially doesn’t have one , they need scooping every day and cleaning more regularly. Don’t rehome without your husbands agreement that is just nasty but it’s perfectly reasonable to tell him he needs to up his game with the care .

“He kept letting her out to get pregnant” 😵‍💫?!?! So these cats aren’t neutered as well as not being house-trained?

You’re crazy having a child with this irresponsible guy.

Daily cleaning of trays and I think they all need their own trays. You need to at least scoop them regularly to remove solids (a general you, not you OP). Also try changing the litter type as they may not like it. My cats were clean creatures and wouldn't use a dirty tray.