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Original poster

MIL treads cat shit over bathroom and leaves it

133 replies

Chemistria · 17/12/2016 14:19

Ok so me and OH are having our kitchen done. We have cats. Cats at the moment live in the garage / go outside as we don't have a tray in the house.

long story short, one of the cats accidentally got left in the house last night. It went for a runny stinking shit in the bathroom, MIL stepped in it this early this morning, and after a lot of crashing around in there (washing her feet) she went back to bed and left the poo all over the floor.

As she'd woken DS up with the noise, and then me, I went to settle him and then noticed the awful stench coming from the bathroom and found it to be trodden in.

I went straight to her room and said that I think she might have trodden in cat shit. She was back in bed trying to go to sleep. She said "yes I did, it's disgusting"

I then spent the next 15 mins bleaching / disinfecting the floor with boiling water and everything else I could find.

Since then I've been called "getting on my high horse" for telling her she should have woken me or OH up immediately to clean it up. Also been called a brat for saying this.

I wasn't expecting her to clean it up but should she have at least told us?

OH now angry at me for causing an atmosphere, when to be frank I was disgusted by MIL attitude this morning.

Maybe I have overreacted but I'm 9 months pregnant and think that to save it being there any longer than necessary, she should've just bloody told us straight away.

OP posts:
YelloDraw · 17/12/2016 15:07

She should have cleaned it up

WHAT?

If I trod in cat shit in my sisters house I would be calling her to tell her one of her kittens needed clearing up after!

BadKnee · 17/12/2016 15:09

Would you have cleaned up shit if you'd walked in it , in bare feet, in someones else's house? Would you have gone into your host couple's bedroom and woken them up to tell them. (Surely that would have been worse). Really?? In your pyjamas? Dozy from sleep?

I can't imagine doing that. I just wouldn't. I'd assume the house-couple would deal with it when they got up. (And probably apologise to me for the horrible experience). I'd assume - their cat, they were used to it.

The very LAST thing I'd expect is a row from my hosts is them barging into my bedroom while I was still sleeping to give me a row for not having dealt with it at 4 in the morning. FFS No wonder she reacted.

ChickenVindaloo2 · 17/12/2016 15:10

Why aren't your cats allowed in the house? Seems cruel.

I can't understand people who have dogs/cats but keep them in the kitchen/utilityroom/kitchen.

Best part of having a cat is lovely cuddles at night and snuggling with a blanket and a film.

Don't have them if you don't want them.

OurBlanche · 17/12/2016 15:10

She may be excused, half asleep and a bit freaked out by it, but your OH needs a stern talking to.

a) she is visiting you now... no kitchen and very bumpy, he should have dealt with that to your benefit/comfort

b) he needs to appreciate that you are a fully functioning adult, not a child, an accoutrement, bratt indeed!

hmcAsWas · 17/12/2016 15:11

Exactly so BadKnee

Original poster
Chemistria · 17/12/2016 15:17

chicken it's impossible to explain the ins and its of every exact scenario. We absolutely love our cats but the house is a bomb site so last night some slept in the bedroom and will meow at the window when they need a wee or a poo and we let then out. The rest is rather not risk get crushed by falling masonry in the room without a roof which is the "kitchen" at the moment.

OP posts:
Original poster
Chemistria · 17/12/2016 15:17

And if it was me in someone else's house I would clean it up but that's just me, like I said I wouldn't expect anyone else to do it in my own house.

OP posts:
diddl · 17/12/2016 15:20

Oh poor MIL.

Imagine stepping in that.

Can't think why you went straight to her room to tell her off rather than just dealing with it or telling her son to tbh.

Why didn't anyone get up to see why she was making such a noise?

KatharinaRosalie · 17/12/2016 15:21

I've had cats my entire life and I'm not immune to toxo.
What's wrong with DH that he can't clean it?

Trifleorbust · 17/12/2016 15:21

She probably felt bad waking you up. She must have been absolutely horrified to stand in a big sloppy cat shit in the middle of the night. Not really her responsibility to deal with it.

KurriKurri · 17/12/2016 15:22

I would have expected her to tell you.
But in all honesty if one of my pets had shat in the bathroom and a guest had trodden in it, I would have been mortified and not able to apologise enough. Cat shit is particularly foul smelling and to tread in it when half asleep and having to clean cat shit off her feet. Poor woman.

No way should she have had to clear up after your animals - she'd just had to scrub herself clean. She must have felt disgusted.

She was probably a bit torn between leaving it and waking you up int he night to clean up cat shit - so perhaps she made the wrong call on telling you. But your DH should have cleaned it not your MIL (or are they not 'his' cats too?)

ChickenVindaloo2 · 17/12/2016 15:23

Apologies OP, so being "banned" from the house is just a temporary thing for the cats for their safety? You don't permanently keep them outside/in the garage?

greedygorb · 17/12/2016 15:24

You should've gone straight to your OH and got him to deal with it. Not your MIL's fault. And wtf was he doing when his pregnant wife was on her hands and knees for 15 minutes clearing it up.

BarbarianMum · 17/12/2016 15:25

She should have told you/your dh but if it was early she maybe didn't want to wake you. It must have been really grim to stand in, poor woman.

Not surprised she didn't clean it up. Hell would freeze over before I cleaned up after someone else's pet (tortoises excepted).

ChickenVindaloo2 · 17/12/2016 15:25

I had read your OP to mean that the cats were usually confined to the kitchen/outside but whilst the kitchen is a no-go area, they are confined to the garage/outside.

MeetMeAtMidnight · 17/12/2016 15:26

I'm still a bit hazy on why OH wouldn't be asked to clean it up. And, I wouldn't expect a guest to clean it up even though I would as a guest myself especially if I'd already had to clean my feet up. I certainly wouldn't expect a guest to come wake me up at stupid o'clock to tell me my cat had crapped or thrown up. I'd never barge into their room to tell them off about it either. Wtf?
That said your OH shouldn't be calling you a brat which bring me back to why he wouldn't be expected to clean it up.

ChickenVindaloo2 · 17/12/2016 15:27

I think maybe it's time to invest in a litter tray, OP.

Emmageddon · 17/12/2016 15:31

I am looking after my daughter's two cats while she is having building work done and one of them shat on the kitchen floor. Of course I trod in it with bare feet and the sensation of sloppy shit oozing between my toes was horrific. So my sympathies are entirely with MIL Grin

hmcAsWas · 17/12/2016 15:32

As a guest I might have cleared it up myself (not sure how I would feel in the early hours of the morning.....) - although I don't think that any guest should feel obligated to do this...however probably not, as I wouldn't know where my host kept his / her cleaning materials and they might not have the tools for the job that I favour - so I would be outside my comfort zone

diddl · 17/12/2016 15:32

So really it's the fault of whoever didn't make sure that the cats who should have been out, were out.

Sounds as if you might have been cross/confrontational when you went in to see MIL.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 17/12/2016 15:39

You don't have a litter tray? so you are one of the charming people who encourages their cats to shit on someone elses doorstep?

Your poor poor MIL, that would be horrific. If it was very early in the morning and neither of you were up perhaps she thought she was being considerate not waking you. And of course she shouldn't have cleaned it up!

YABVVVU.

Patriciathestripper1 · 17/12/2016 15:44

Yrbu,
Cat shit is horrible.
You shouldn't be cleaning up cat shit when you are pregnant. Your Dh should have cleaned it.
Your mil shouldn't clean it up either, she is a guest and probably didn't wake you because you are pregnant and need the rest.
I'd have been ashamed if a guest had trod in shit in my home. If i had cats shitting in my house I'd get rid of the cats that's just disgusting but then I don't like cats anyway and defo not ones that shit in the house.
Of course your Dh will back your mil she is his mum. She didn't just stop being a mum when he got married and causing a song and dance about who should have cleaned it up and alerted everyone to the fact it was there in the first place is what is causing an atmosphere. It should have been cleaned up without fuss you should have apologised to your poor mil for having gone through that.

haveacupoftea · 17/12/2016 15:48

I wouldnt be pleased to be woken by MIL announcing the dog had done a shit. But any decent person coming across a shit would clean it up. In any case OH should be doing it if youre 9 months pregnant! Not just because of toxoplasmosis!

lilapril · 17/12/2016 15:50

I'm with you on this one OP, if it'd been me I would have cleaned it up and told you about it in the morning. Especially with children / pregnant lady in the house.

The last time my MIL came to stay she blocked our toilet, smashed the cistern trying to 'extra' (?) flush it and in the end got a pan from the kitchen to fish out whatever the hell she'd blocked it with before returning the pan (unwashed) to the kitchen. My DH has ocd and had a meltdown and had to leave the house. MIL then blamed me for her having to break the loo and dirty a pan because I didn't have a bucket!! I mean what kind of self respecting housewife doesn't keep a spare bucket for fishing shit out of the toilet?? It was obvs my fault. She refused to pay for a new cistern or for new pans. I refuse to ever let her stay with us again.

I feel your pain, I hope you have a quieter Xmas!

ExitPursuedBySantaSpartacus · 17/12/2016 15:51

If I was your MIL I would have woken up your DH to clean my feet before attending to the floor.

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