How the *** do I stop my cat using my landing as a toilet?!

[ISayWhatNow]

Context:

I inherited this gorgeous girl about 2 and a half/3 months ago from a friend who sadly died. She is roughly 2 years old. The friend was an alcoholic who allowed the cat to use the whole house as a toilet, despite having a litter tray. She is a very nervous cat who has only just begun settling properly.

She has full access to the outside at all times and a large, covered litter tray (came with her) that is kept clean (poo removed a few times a day and a complete clean every 2/3 days. I use expensive litter and provide a deep-ish layer.

She started out using the litter tray but has since decided that she prefers using the upstairs landing . I really told her off the other day and she stopped for a couple of days but has since started again.

On the advice of a vet I use biological washing powder and hot water to clean the carpet to remove her scent.

I'm at the end of my tether! She does it overnight when the house is quiet. How can I stop her doing this?! I have nowhere to shut her overnight as the house is completely open plan (apart from bedrooms and she will toilet in those given half a chance and the bathroom which she can open the door to).

Help!!!

Where is the litter tray? Is there any chance you could put it on the landing or in the bathroom as that's where she's shown you she likes to go to the toilet?

Do you have room for more than one tray until she settles in more? You might find she uses one in preference so you can remove those in places she doesn't use.

She’s probably stressed after the upheaval and will need more time to settle. Have you tried Feliway?

When our cat was doing this, the only thing that worked was moving her bowl of biscuits to the area. They don't like to eat and wee in the same place, and it completely stopped after we did that. Of course, you would then have a bowl of cat food on your landing, but that's definitely better than wee!

We had to have a litter tray on both floors and the cat in question much preferred an open tray not the covered ones. What litter do you use? Ours didn’t appreciate expensive litter and liked the basic stuff more. Feliway diffusers are good and Zylkene supplements added to food really helped with stress.

Pet remedy or feliway? Also we rehomed a cat who experienced trauma. For the first two weeks we kept him in the shower room with a tray, bed and food and water. We visited often. After that we left the door open and he could go out into our room but not the rest of the house. But we took things very slowly. He still had accidents when he was stressed. We do a complete change of litter every day. Cats are very sensitive to smell. The vet told us that cats prefer one tray for poo and one for wee. I think put the trays on the landing and change the litter every day.
You are so kind to rehome this poor little cat.

I have one that was constantly weeing on the carpet in a corner of the front room. I sprayed the whole area with a pet spray called Simple Solution (Amazon sell it), which is really good for getting rid of the smell. Then covered the spot with a heavy rubber door mat, and put an open litter tray on top of the mat. I clean the litter tray completely everyday, and only use a thin layer of litter. I don't know if there's room for this where she's going, but it has worked for us.

Ah, thank you so much for those ideas! She's a dear little girl and I adore her. I've known her since she was a tiny kitten.

You need two litter trays. I have two cats and have three, they use one for wee and one for poo. They can sometimes smell the wee after they have gone too so use a pet cleanser. Two things that worked for me were putting the tray where they had gone and also putting food there too as cats won't go where there food is.

Also maybe worth changing litter. I use world's best as my two little divas like it. They started going on the floor when I changed it. To be fair, some of the clean litter got on the floor when changing and I stood on it only to find it hurt, so couldn't blame them

Where their food is. Oops

She might not like the lid on the tray.

Get another tray and put it on the landing, preferably no cover.
I would also recommend world's best cat litter.

Also there is an unwritten rule that you have to include a photo of said cat........

Good advice here I'd definitely place another litter tray where she's weeing for now. Feliway does work wonders too to calm an anxious kitty!

Yeah, pics or it didn't happen.

I'd add another tray or two. Also take the cover off, and try one with a less deep layer.

Completely randomly mine shunned the wide, deep, covered tray and prefers a small, shallow tray. She also hates the expensive litter we used to used, but loved the cheap brand that the vet used when she was there for a couple of days.

Also what do you use to clean the tray? It may be that she doesn't like

This is little miss poo nuisance 😍

For tonight I'm shutting her in with me because she tends to wee/poo there during the night.

I'm not keen to put another litter tray down because the landing is v small and narrow and I just don't like the idea of her permanent toilet being up there.

I should also mention that this is the litter tray she's been using since she was a kitten!

I rinse thoroughly in running water and then I use an animal-friendly disinfectant and then I wipe it dry with kitchen roll and then refill.