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

Oh and get some disposable latex gloves for yourself because if they wee or poo in the day then you will have to deal with it right away rather than wait for husband to come home. You need a drastic change to get on top of this.

Your house must stink! Litter trays need cleaning and sorting out every day, multiple times.

4 cats is way too many

Ok so the litter tray IS cleaned every day, as in it’s scooped and the wee and poo is taken out. So firstly increase that to twice a day, husband does it first thing and again in the evening. Then for now change the entire litter every other day and properly clean the litter tray, ie disinfect and every trace of wee and poo and marks are gone. This should be noticeable for the cats.

If money is something to throw at this then get an automatic litter tray which senses when a cat has been and rotates and gets rid of the clump. I have one for my 2 cats and it’s good but I also have 2 more basic litter trays around the house, one in the lounge one next to the automatic one. This obviously gets cleaned very frequently as they still
like to go in these too.

Keep all bedroom doors shut so they can’t go in. They can roam downstairs and hallway etc.

Make sure they have separate places to lie, I have 2 cat towers side by side and they like to lie next to eachother but never together!

Get the plug in feliway and put that near the cat tower or where they sleep. You may well need to get a few.

Cleaning the litter tray multiple times is, I think, the only way to get some change.

Good luck.

meant clean litter trays of course!

Have you enough litter trays inside? One for each cat plus one? And clean?
I think it's wrong to shut pets away, they are sentient beings.
Get DH to clean the litter trays, the cats will use them when they are clean and spaced out on each floor.
How many cats do you have?

This sounds dreadful - poor cats and poor humans. You can't bring a child up in this environment. I agree you should rehome two of them. If DH can't cope with that, and with giving them clean letter trays every day, maybe you should consider rehoming him too!

They might not like the type of litter tray or cat litter they have. Also they might be marking their territory if some have lived there longer than others, even if related.
They might think the bath is a giant litter tray? I've heard of cats doing this with shower trays.

You both sound like horrible and irresponsible owners, rehome ASAP for their happiness, nevermind yours. Cats need love and human interaction, affection and their basic needs met to be happy and thrive.

@notaurewhatusername try a different type of litter if you haven’t already. Cats are sensitive to anything under their paws and they just may not like the texture of the little. I use a pets at home own brand clumping litter. Scoop the wee and poo every time they use it.

Cat behaviourists are a thing. Look one up, it might help.

They should have one litter tray each and an extra one. These should be scooped out twice a day at least. You cannot keep the cats locked in a room with only a few hours outside! Your husband is right in that they should have 24/7 access to outside if they only have one room. However, their quality of life sounds terrible and you both need to consider what is best for them. It may be that they would be better rehomed to somewhere they can be part of the family, not shut away.

2 don’t

...the cats do go outside.

These poor cats! This thread is really sad.
If your husband can't even be arsed to care for the animals he insisted upon then I seriously doubt he will step up for your child.
I would seriously consider rehoming the cats and yourself because your husband sounds like a complete waste of space.

p.s you can’t let indoor cats outside 🤦🏻‍♀️ you’re asking questions on a forum when you have google. The things you’re asking are a simple google search away.

this feels quite difficult to manage and could be very stressful for you when the baby arrives.

1. each cat needs its own tray, these need changed minimum every day and ideally you should be removing the poo immediately.
2. if the cats are peeing and pooing elsewhere in the house, your issue is they now regard these areas part of their toilet areas - are you noticing they are doing this in the same places around the house? If yes, this is a nightmare to sort, you will need to remove all traces ie lift and replace carpets, scrub out the smell on any furnishings….otherwise they keep doing it as they can smell the previous.
3. there could be addition behavioural or medical issue ie they are unhappy and stressed, perhaps the 4th cat who was not part of the original group has brought stress? Are there unneutered male cats? They will want to keep marking territory.

Honestly, I think you need to rehome some or all, or create an outside facility.

good luck.

Why aren't the cats pooing outside?

Depends if you want to be divorced ? You’d be disgusting to rehome without his permission imo, unsure why you’d have a child with a man that can’t even look after cats!

If this was me, I would rehome the cats (as in, load them in a car and drive them to the farm, about 25 km from here, but your husband probably would not like it.

If getting rid of them is not possible, I would suggest leaving your husband and the cats to it.

Please don’t rehome, the rescues are already full. You need to have a proper conversation about how to deal with this. Provide beds/shelves etc and heating in the room and they should be ok as they have access to outside. When u are home let them in house and keep an eye on them

Hang on, you said one cat, how did it get to 4? Especially if you’re not keen on them. I can’t believe he changes the litter tray every 3 days, that’s rank, the house must stink to high heaven with 3 day old piss and shit.
Something’s got to give. I had cats and they went outside, only had a litter tray for them when they were kittens, they were outside otherwise. In the winter they were inside in the warm more, in summer they were outside the majority of the time.
I have a dog now, he only goes to the toilet on walks.

tell him the cats need to go or you will

How on earth are 3 cats worth of waste just sitting there for 3 days before its cleaned? Then you expect the cat to go digging through the day old poo and pee to find a new place to poo?

This.

Litter trays need cleaning daily. Cats are by nature very clean and will naturally refuse to use litter trays that are heavily soiled.
Try putting cat food (just a tiny amount on a saucer) anywhere in the house the cats use as a toilet. They will not go where their food is. I had a cat once that used to wee and poo in the house. My vet told me to try this and it worked like a charm!

This. Cats will poop and wee elsewhere if their tray has any poop or wee left in it. We clean up as soon as our cat has used the tray, or as soon as we see it when we get up in the morning or get home from somewhere.