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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Bauble16 · 17/12/2016 15:52

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?

Who has a litter tray once the cats can go outside? I don't and nor do I feel guilty for it!

NavyandWhite · 17/12/2016 15:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dubdurbs · 17/12/2016 15:56

If it were me who had trod on cat shit, I would have cleaned it up, regardless of who's house it was. But then I was reared to be considerate of others-looks like your MiL thought she had gotten away with not cleaning it up, and is now 'offended' because she's has been caught out. Your DH needs a sharp kick in the arse-he should have been scrubbing the floors, not you.

Original poster
Chemistria · 17/12/2016 15:57

We do have a litter tray but as they are temporarily not in the main part of the house as it is dangerous, we have some sleeping in the bedroom with us, without a litter tray as they will go out the window.

As for OH not being able to do it, I didn't want to get into that as that will probably open up a new can of worms.

Well I've had mixed responses so I'll just conclude some think I am being unreasonable and others don't.

OP posts:
CheeseCakeSunflowers · 17/12/2016 15:59

If I was your MIL I would have cleaned it up as best I could by scooping it up with wadds of toilet paper, flushing down the loo then wiping the area with damp paper. In the morning I would have told you so that you could disinfect the floor if you wished.
Finding a mess like this then leaving it for someone else to walk into is crazy.
As for the cats they are nocturnal creatures with thick furry coats and we are currently having very mild weather, what harm could they possibly come to?

kali110 · 17/12/2016 16:08

I know plenty of people who have a litter tray and their cats stil go outside Confused

Bauble16 · 17/12/2016 16:12

Yes Kali but having the tray doesn't mean they think 'ooh I won't shit on the neighbours veg patch, I will go find my tray and do it there'.

Most cats will pee and poo outdoors and if they do have a tray they will use it only when they can't get outside.

mummydawn07 · 17/12/2016 16:12

I would of been fuming if I were you, and if I was the one that stepped in the shit then I would have cleaned myself and the shit up.. I do not think yabu, maybe she felt embarrassed to tell you about it? especially if it meant waking you up to clean it up.. I personally think she should of cleaned it up herself and then gone back to bed... she sounds high maintenance

PortiaFinis · 17/12/2016 16:13

The cat was being unreasonable.

If your child can get to the bathroom without you then she should have foreseen the potential for even greater grimness but it is tough when you don't know where someone else's cleaning products are. If she does know where they are and your child could step in it too she is definitely being unreasonable if she doesn't and they can't then less so.

Bauble16 · 17/12/2016 16:13

Sorry Kali reread what you wrote and now see you could have possibly been saying the same thing. Oops!

Dagnabit · 17/12/2016 16:39

Blimey, lilapril ! How big was your mils dump?

LunaLoveg00d · 17/12/2016 16:47

How many bloody cats are there???

I loathe and detest cats - hideous creatures and I'm very allergic to them too. I wouldn't be sleeping in a house where there were cats in the first place, but if I stood in cat shit in someone else's home because they had forgotten/omitted to let one of the cats out that is not my problem! No way would I be rooting around for the marigolds and bleach in the middle of the night to clean it up. As if.

Also, had the MIL woken the OP or her DH to deal with it, OP would be posting "MIL woke me in the middle of the night and i'm pregnant, how unreasonable is she????"

MILs can do no right.

harderandharder2breathe · 17/12/2016 17:01

Why can't OH do it? He's really the one who should have since your (plural) cats, and you're pregnant.

Poor mil

Coffeethrowtrampbitch · 17/12/2016 17:09

I can't believe she trod cat shit all over a bathroom, cleaned her own feet and toddled back to bed leaving the place covered in shit.

If my DH had called me a brat for inquiring why someone who was a guest behaved so vilely, I would throw him out.

I think you have bigger problems to be honest if your DH is too precious to clean up cat shit but it is fine and dandy for your 9 month pregnant self to do in the middle of the night. Two un-pregnant adults and neither of them gave a shit about you or ds, unbelievable.

If I were you I would be making this my last Christmas of putting up with selfish ignorant bastards who think they are better than you, and think you are fine to host Christmas nine months pregnant with a roofless kitchen (!)and clean up cat shit in the middle of the night.

If funds allowed I'd book myself and ds into a hotel room for Christmas, as it sounds like the only way you will get any rest.

yeOldeTrout · 17/12/2016 17:13

If Ur 9 months that means could drop the baby at any moment but have a house guest for at least 8 more days, only no proper kitchen. WTAF. Is the MIL going to be helpful when baby has arrived?

thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter · 17/12/2016 17:16

Who's idea was it it have guests when your house is essentially a building site?

Why can't your DP clean the cat poo up? And he called you a brat? Hmm

At 9 months pregnant are they looking after you or the other way around?

amicissimma · 17/12/2016 17:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

happychristmasbum · 17/12/2016 17:21

There is no way I would expect any DIL of mine to be clearing up cat shit at 9 months pregnant. Nor would I wake her in the early hours to tell her about it.

I would have left it until "proper morning" or woken my son and asked him to do it.

I am an old gimmer now but I assume the advice about pregnant women not going anywhere near cat poo because of toximalplasmis (sp?) OP your OH is the one at fault here.

NoFucksImAQueen · 17/12/2016 17:22

Right can of worms or not we need to know why your oh couldn't clear it up. Pleeeeeaaaase Xmas Smile

FlouncedBack · 17/12/2016 17:28

If I'd trod in cat shit in the middle of the night I would have run out of the house screaming blue murder and not stopped till I got home.
The very thoughts of it is horrific...as for cleaning stinking cat shit up whilst half comatose in the middle of the night, hell would freeze over first.

Dazydazy · 17/12/2016 17:37

No winners and no villains in this one really. That whole issue of guests and hospitality that drives me nuts. My own MIL has trodden shit into my carpet before now. But that was a bit different. Still me that ended up doing the cleaning though, and even worse once I realised what it was.

I'm with those who think OH should have stepped up. I think he has as much to answer for in this as anyone.

andpeggy29 · 17/12/2016 17:37

You own cats, why wouldn't you have at least 1 litter tray? That's just bad pet ownership!

KatharinaRosalie · 17/12/2016 17:37

If MIL was U or not actually does depend on why OH couldn't clean it.

If she left it there assuming her son is about to get up and clean, she's a little bit unreasonable for not waking him and telling him there's a pile of stinking shit in the bathroom.

If she knew OH would not clean it and it's either her or a pregnant woman who has to, she was definitely more unreasonable.

Naicehamshop · 17/12/2016 17:38

Explain about your dh's inability to clean up cat shit please, op... ??!

woowoowoo · 17/12/2016 17:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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