Is it time for my cat to 'go'

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I love my cat. She's cute and small and furry and warm. However as soon as it gets to be about October she refuses to poo or wee outside. She'll go outside quite happily for a little stroll, then she'll come back in to POO AND WEE ON THE FLOOR. I have just heard the telltale sound of her little clicky claws as she tries to cover up her poo mountain with the wooden floor, and lo, there's a big stinking pile of poo in the middle of the hall.

She's 15. Is she senile? I just know that the first thing I will be doing on Christmas Day, before even checking to see whether Father Christmas has come, is clearing up a cat poo and a great big lake of wee. She has a cat flap, and a litter tray for goodness sake.

I don't really think I could go through with asking the vet to, you know, 'deal' with an otherwise perfectly healthy cat, but HONESTLY. What's wrong with doing it in the flower bed?

Could you try being very vigilant and/or take her out after she's had food? We do that with one of ours who used to be fine. We don't stop every accident but it cuts them down.

I don't think it'll be a problem for long. She's quite old and I'd say this is a sign she's on the beginning of her way out. She probably is getting senile and there is likely to be a health issue arising sooner or later.

This is definitely NOT a reason to have your cat put down. (I don't mean to sound harsh, but I am a little bit shocked that you could even consider that!)

However, I do know how annoying this is and how much work it creates. In my old house, one of my cats used to pee in the house ALL THE TIME! It drove me nuts, and I spent endless amounts of time trying to solve the problem. It turned out that my utterly vicious next door neighbour was bullying my cats, and this was making them too anxious to go outside. To give you an idea of this woman's depravity, she ended up shooting him in the head twice, wrapping him in a compost bag, and dumping him over a wall in the middle of the peak district. Amazingly, he was found, and has recovered fully, though he has no use of one eye. Sadly, she murdered another of my cats using poison at the same time, and he didn't make it.

I moved house, and the cat now pees outside. Like normal. My point is that there can be environmental cues for this behaviour. Hopefully your neighbours aren't as awful as that family, though.

So, what can you do?

1. Buy a litter tray, so that she has a legitimate place to 'go' indoors in the winter. It's a lot easier to change litter than keep cleaning the floor.
2. Buy a steam mop so you can disinfect the floor properly
3. See the vet, and ask if there may be a behavioural reason why she does this. Cats change their behaviour quite dramatically in the winter, compared to the summer and it may be that this change has had a knock-on effect on their routines and territories in your area. If a bigger, tougher, more aggressive cat has a bigger winter territory, and is coming into your garden, she may simply be too scared to go outdoors.

At least she's doing it on a wooden floor which is easier to clean up than a carpet.

struggling100 that's dreadful. Was she prosecuted the evil evil bitch.

Op is it worth getting rid of cat flap but providing a warm shelter outside?

We have an old cat too who would happily stay indoors to poo. We feed him and out him straight out. He can't get back un until we open the door but dh has built a raised wooden kennel with cushions where it's warm safe and sheltered. He loves it.

We only have him in if we are sat with him because we know as soon as he starts roaming the room he needs to go out for a poo/wee.

struggling I wouldn't really EVER have a cat put down for that. Please don't worry. I was just ranting. I do love her. I had just cleaned up a big smelly one before I started typing and was a bit frustrated. Your story is horrendous... how cruel of those neighbours. That made me feel sick.

Her perfectly lovely clean tray is NEXT to the place where she poos and wees. It's in a different room from her food and is tucked away in a little corner. She literally wees right next to it and does the poos right in the middle of the hall floor about two feet away. Same place, every time.

I've started putting her outside the back of the house when she's looking shifty (never seen another cat in our back garden) and she just walks round to the front of the house, in through the cat flap, and wees or poos when I take my eye off her.

There is a big ginger tom who I've occasionally seen in our front garden but not for a while. We don't have any nutty neighbours.

I just don't think she likes getting her feet muddy or cold or wet, and it is driving me MAD!

Oh the temptation to stop her from coming in when we aren't sitting down is very high, but I think I would feel too bad. She always sleeps next to the fire or on the radiator so obviously like to be warm. Also, she poos and wees at night (as well as in the day) and I wouldn't feel comfortable with locking her out at night. She has been a house cat for 15 years. It would probably kill her

If she's going in the same place every time then I reckon she's doing it because of the smell. Best tip I ever had, from a veterinary nurse, was to use vinegar where they've been going to the toilet as this will totally neutralise the cat smell and stop them going there. Being clue less I used neat vinegar everywhere but it worked a treat.

I would say the cat has a problem with its sight. We found our elderly tom would not go out unless the light outside was fairly bright so tened to stay indoors during the winter months. He aso missed the litter tray quite frequently although was "going" in the general direction of where it was. I put it down to senility and poor sight.
We resorted to vast quantities of newspaper and wiping where he had "gone" with white vinegar to discourage him going there again.

If this happens every year, it might be, as you say, that she doesn't like digging in cold, wet soil. Have you experimented with different types of cat litter? Maybe she's not keen on the one you're using? Assume you are keeping it very clean (not that it sounds like you need to clean it out if she never uses it...)

Would definitely advise re-posting this in litter tray topic as there are some real experts on there.

struggling what an awful story, I do hope she was prosecuted.

You sound a lovely person and it does sound as if she may be going a bit gaga. Could you try putting a newspaper down on the spots she uses?.Is the side of the tray high and maybe putting her off ?

You sound a lovely person and it does sound as if she may be going a bit gaga. Could you try putting a newspaper down on the spots she uses?.Is the side of the tray high and maybe putting her off ?

poor old puss, and poor you!

I agree, try different types of cat litter (we've got a dust free one from PaH which my cats like and is much less messy than others).

also, does your tray have a lid? mine prefer the lidded ones.

finally, how about putting the tray inside another tray, eg one of those you can get from Lakeland for cleaning oven trays (used mine once). then at least she might go in there rather than on the floor...

Thank you for all the advice. I'll post in pets as well. And I'll try vinegar.

The tray is spotlessly clean and very low. To be fair she does wee in it maybe 1 in 20 and then we clean it. Poo...never.

We do put newspaper down for the wees which helps a bit, but she won't poo on newspaper. She likes a nice clean bit of wooden floor to make her poo castles on. If I covered the whole ground floor in newspaper she'd probably poo outside.

Hang on... maybe that's the answer!

Agree fedup- cats and dogs will go in the same place because of the smell. It may smell clean to us, but with their superior sense they can still tell where they have been to the toilet. The vinegar tip is great, I would also recommend a steam mop to totally disinfect the area.

Thank you boschy. Maybe I'll try a different litter. The tray doesn't have a lid but we did try one of those once with no luck. Roll on summer when at least we only find mouldy old poos when we're digging the veg garden (yuck).

thebody - I got the police involved, but I really had to hassle to get them to do anything. The evidence against her was only circumstantial. She and her husband had banged on my door to complain that the cat in question was sitting at the end of their garden and its eyes were (and I quote) 'glowing'. I explained that this was normal reflection from the tapetum lucidum, and they said that their 5 year old daughter was afraid that it was 'the bogeyman'. I suggested (gently) that they might want to disabuse her of this idea and explain the science behind the effect so that she wasn't frightened. They then became aggressive (they were drunk) and said 'We have a gun and we are going to shoot your cat'. I knew from experience that they were completely bonkers, and likely to become violent or aggressive without provocation, so I was recording the whole thing on my mobile phone. However, the police weren't even interested. The local copper spent half the 'interview' with me telling me that the local station was haunted, so I didn't feel like I was really dealing with a force at the cutting edge of forensic science.

Farewell - sorry for misunderstanding your post! I am glad you love your cat so much!! It does sound like she's showing really odd behaviour. Have you tried different types of litter? Mine HATED the paper-based stuff and refused to pee in it! They also refuse to go in the tray unless it's changed every day. Also, if she's pooing and peeing on hard surfaces perhaps try reducing the amount of litter to a small scattering to see if she likes that better? I have heard that some cats really don't like a lot of litter because they sink into it too much.

Another idea - clean the surface where she's peeing with biological powder, to eliminate ALL smell (even when we can't smell it, kitties often can and will keep going on the same place to continue the delightful smell ). Don't use bleach - there's something in the ammonia that can make them more likely to pee over it. Then, once you've cleaner up, cover the spot with foil or rustly plastic. Cats don't like the sensation of treading on this, and will tend to avoid it. You might be able to coax her into a habit of using the box this way! (I have to say, this didn't work for me, but one of my friends swears by it).

Another idea - it could be a urinary tract infection. One of mine had one once, and took to peeing in the bath for a bit. I think it was the fact that it was soothingly cold on his little bottom! A change of diet, and he stopped. Maybe get a checkup at the vet?

Another idea - if it's stress, Feliway might help!

I'm glad to see that you wouldn't really PTS for this issue alone, I nearly gave you a telling off!!

It could be quite possible that she is going senile but also possible she doesn't like the litter you are using. Try changing it to see if that helps
Also get rid of the smell completely to stop her using that same spot on the floor, Biological Washing powder is good for this.
Try putting newspaper around the litter tray area. sometimes this encourages them nearer to the litter tray.

Some cats just don't like going outside for the toilet my older boy (who was senile) didn't and due to various other health issues it was hit and miss whether he would use the tray or not. (also used to vomit on a daily basis) But I didn't mind as I knew he couldn't help it. It was when he stopped doing his business altogether (also stopped eating and drinking), we knew then he was shutting down and had to have him PTS. I'd happily have cleaned up his crap to have a little longer with him

Go and Speak to the vet to see if there are any underlying issues.

I hope you find do a solution and get this sorted!

struggling the police weren't interested in recorded gun threats? Just bloody bloody awful. You fear for their child.

Ooh massive x post. I've just stated what everyone else said

struggling, that's awful- what vile people. So disappointing that the police weren't interested. Did you try the RSPCA? Have to say I would have had to restrain myself from presenting the "DD" with the evidence of what the parents had done, give her a good reason to have nightmares. But then I prefer cats to children by quite a long margin :)

When my cat turned 16 she started to wee and pooh in the house. I took her to the vet and she said that it was a sign that something was going wrong with her. She also said that she was anaemic from looking at her gums and was dehydrated. She thought it was her kidneys failing. We decided to have her put down as she would have needed to be taken in to the vets to deal with her dehydration and she would have hated that. It is always a hard decision to make.

thebody and Angelina - yep, you can't present such things as 'evidence': it doesn't count because it's circumstantial. I guess the fact that they told me they were going to shoot my cat doesn't prove that they did it in the eyes of the law (though I am morally certain that they did, I can't prove it).

They were absolutely horrendous people - this was by no means an isolated incident, and living next door to them was an absolute hell. For a long time I was so upset and angry with them, and so frustrated by the fact that I could do nothing about what they had done. Then I realised that being so awful brought them their just deserts. They ended up getting into debt with some people who didn't take 'no' for an answer and had to do a midnight flit to Spain. I guess they will be stuck out there and unable to return, even if family are sick etc.

I did feel desperately sorry for their children. They were 'home schooling' their kids, but they had no education themselves, so actually the kids were just being used to do housework. I used to hear her screaming at them that they needed to do the hoovering - at the age of eight, poor mites! They effectively ensured that their own offspring didn't stand a chance of getting a decent education and would perpetuate the cycle of poverty, alcoholism, and anti-social behaviour.

We had our cat PTS, it started with weeing and pooing around the house and progressed to diarrhoea everywhere including the children's rooms, She wouldn't use the litter and was just leaving trails wherever she was.

the vet couldn't find anything wrong and the next step would have been an exploratory op (which I wasn't going to put a 17 year old cat through)

If the cat always poos and wees in the same place, can you put an extra litter tray in that place?