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

Life is too short. You don’t need the stress. Re-home the cats OP

The issue is that you disgusting people arent changing their litter tray. Its like not flushing the toilet for 3 days but expecting people to continue to use it.
Changing the litter frequently is part of caring for these animals, you need to rehome them if you are not able to properly care for them.
Just because you are pregnant isnt really an excuse, wear marigolds and wash your hands, use a scoop, there is no need to even touch the poo.

Its absolutely not normal for cats to poo and wee anywhere in the house unless their litter trays are not useable.

OP, the cats aren't happy.
You're not happy.
Your DH is not taking care of the cats.
You are only doing the bare basics with the cats.
You don't like the cats.
No one seems to be interacting with the cats.
The cats are stressed.
You are pregnant and clearly don't want the cats.
You want to confine them to one room and the garden indefinitely.
Do the cats a favour, contact a cats charity, maybe Cats Protection, and rehome ALL the cats, as they will have no quality of life living with you and DH, particularly after the baby is born.

not trying to alarm you but I think you should be aware of this - personally no way would i have all those litter trays around me when pregnant

I think you need to home at least 2 if not all of the cats

What does he do with the poo in the garden? If he’s not cleaning litter trays, I can’t imagine he’ll be scooping it up from the garden either. 🤮

Toxoplasmosis is a parasite carried by cats that can be harmful to pregnant women:

How it's spread
Cats can carry the parasite Toxoplasma gondii in their feces, which can spread to people who touch a soiled litter box. Cats typically get the infection by eating rodents, birds, or other small animals outdoors. People can also get toxoplasmosis by eating undercooked meat.

The cats should go outside. `Not in litter tray. Outside in the garden. And not all over the house and the floor. It sounds like they are not trained to the trays or when they are all over the house they can't always get to the trays.

It just isn't normal for 4 cats to be doing that all over a house. Open the back door wide and let them out.

The litter trays are actually potentially harmful for you. Cats carry a virus which can damage unborn babies.

Litter should be scooped out any time anything is in it but how many trays do you have for 4 cats? And should be fully changed when there is too much in terms of wet patches etc. With 4 cats I'd fully change daily. But if they go to the loo outside it would be so much better.

I have 4 cats (well 5, but one is fully outside) and the only one who ever has accidents is my old 16 year old. And even then it's because he perches on the edge and sometimes wees out.

I don't fully change our litter trays every day but they never have any poo left in them. They get completely cleaned out 3 times a week. Depending on use.

Do you have carpets? As I think that's a major no if they've peed. Youll never be able to rid the smell. We have hard floors in every room, kids included.

Mine all go out apart from one who chooses to spend all her time in our utility room apart from an evening cuddle.

I agree with the PPs who say you have too many cats.
It’s not just the dirty litter trays that are the problem here. The cats are clearly marking their territory, because the poos keep moving. I don’t think the litter trays will fix this, at the very least you need to be letting all 4 cats outside as often as they want to. They will then have the chance to mark their territory there, rather than in the house. Be prepared to rehome some of them if the issue persists.

Lots of vets and the cats protection league recommend to bring your cats in at night due to something like 80% of road traffic accidents involving cats happening a night, they also kill more wildlife at night. Our cats come in at night but are out all day and we don't have any problems like this. We have a litter tray that rarely gets used as they are out from 6/7am in the morning.

However OP in your case it sounds like your cats are incredibly stressed out and I would give them outside access 24/7 as the benefits in this case outweigh any reason for keeping them in overnight. Four cats together in one room where they can't get out overnight is to much.

LITTER ROBOT.

I have not RTFT but I am surely sad.

Cats need very little toilet training, if they go outside the litter boxes it’s 100% either a behavioural or a health problem. It can of course be both combined.

The cats are not well and/or unhappy, and neglected.

They are by nature very clean animals and small, solitary predators with many natural enemies. They don’t soil around on their territories because keeping a low profile is what cats do instinctively.

if the cat’s poo smells it means they are fed crap food. I don’t know a single cat on BARF whose poo smells, it’s normally odourless if they are given biologically appropriate food.

These cats are being neglected.

One of you needs to be scooping the tray for poo as soon as they go, and for pee at least twice a day.

Reading your message made me think how much worse the situation will be when your baby arrives and you and your DH haven’t had much sleep. The cats may also be upset by the baby so their toileting habits might get worse.
I am a cat lover but I honestly think 4 is too many in your circumstances. Probably for most families, 4 is too many. Your cats seem to be unhappy which is why they are toileting around the house.
🌷to you OP.

I don't think you have a cat problem. I think you have a DP problem.

You should be extremely concerned about how he is going to step up - or not - when the baby comes along.

He seems totally convinced that his way is the right way, when it clearly isn't. It doesn't bode well.

I think you definitely need to address the fact they’re going to the toilet throughout the house. That is not normal cat behaviour. Are they litter trained?

as a cat owner myself I’d actually be suggesting something a little more extreme than keeping them in two rooms and I’d be suggesting they be rehomed. 4 cats sounds really excessive. They say you should have twice as many litter trays as you do cats so there should be 8 in your home.

are they all the same age/did you get them the same time? It’s really not normal for them to be going to the toilet throughout your house. It could be stress/a health problem as to why they’re doing it. Not being unreasonable at all to address it but I do think 4 cats in two rooms all day would go slightly mad.

Especially since it's a lot easier to move for family support before the child is born rather than after.

That was completely irresponsible of him. He's not acting like he loves these cats, he's neglecting their needs and he's not caring for them. Caring includes providing what an animal needs the very basics, like clean litter trays and vaccinations. He either needs to start caring for them properly or he needs to find them homes with people who can. The fact he thinks it's okay for his cats to shit all over the house and doesn't care how stressed they are is really worrying. Who thinks it's ok bringing a baby into a house with.animals that suit everywhere.

OP we had this same issue. The cats were stressed out. Resolving things fixed the pooping issue. Plus scooping after every single poop. If you can see poop it needs scooped. Not by you though!

I would call his bluff now. Lay it on the line. As parenting is teamwork and you are not a team. You stay or the cats stay. Let him choose. Brutal but you should k ow now if he is going to prioritise his wife and baby or 4 cats.
You can complain a baby cannot!

Or you take control and tell him this cat situation is not working and you need them gone. It he ignores you then he isn't taking you seriously- major parenting clashes are coming your way. Or he freaks out and again this is a major red flag that the you are not a compatible couple.

He may listen but I doubt it. I'm sorry but it's better to leave now than with a newborn.

Would you pee in a loo that 3 other people and peed and pooed in for 3 days without flushing? I'd pee and poo elsewhere.
DH needs to add more litter trays and clean them morning and evening. There are very expensive litter trays that self clean.
If that doesn't work then you'll need a rethink.

Yes, he is most likely lying because you are now trying to hold him accountable and he doesn’t like it.

If you had the proper amount of litter trays for 4 cats, which would be 5-6 trays, and he was scooping them morning and evening they would use them.

It is not likely to be a medical problem since there are multiple cats displaying this behaviour. Either they don’t have clean trays (most likely), or they simply won’t be litter trained. If it’s the latter then they will need to be rehomed to outdoor-only homes, perhaps as farm cats. Maybe spell that out for him if he still tries to claim that he’s cleaning the litter.

But honestly just leave him. He sounds like a selfish, egotistical manchild.

This is nuts. I would be telling my DH it’s the cats or me and the baby. Either way, someone would be moving out of that house before the baby is born. (Personally, I would’ve been gone at the second cat or the first sign of shit around the house, but each to their own…)

https://www.dr-beckmann.co.uk/products/pet-stain-and-odour-remover/

This is also really good for cleaning carpets and soft furnishings where necessary, you can get it in supermarkets, Home Bargains type places etc.