To rehome the elderly cat?

[Lazyginger]

The elderly cat (15) keeps pissing in the house. The house stinks.
I have tried everything! I've taken it to the vets (several times) for expensive tests - apparently there's nothing wrong.
I've thrown out countless carpet and door mat.
I've tried everything Google suggests. Tin foil. Orange peel. Aversion therapy.
Locking her out works whilst she's out! But as soon as I let her in again she pisses somewhere! Soon it will be winter again and I didnt really want to lock her out.
Thing is, apart from making the house stink, I've got a 4 month old ds who will soon be crawling and the last thing I want is for him to find a lake of cat piss.
I'm at the end of the road and considering taking her back to the cats protection as awful as it makes me feel. Is this unreasonable? Im at my wits end!

Basically the general trend of the replies seems to be blame the baby. So should she have the baby rehomed instead? Last in, first out? Get rid of the cat. You cannot have your baby rolling around in cat piss. Get your priorities in the right place people

And this is why anials are treated so disposable in this country with attitudes like that.
Have a baby, oh well bye bye pet.
Animal starts displays traits you don't like?
Bye bye or pts, or even dump on the street.
Ffs

Responsible pet owners do not anthopormorphise their animals and compare them to humans, and they deal with them as animals

Rubbish. Anthropomorphism and responsible animal husbandry are entirely separate, being neither mutually dependent nor mutually exclusive.

Don't try a red herring to avert attention from your own lack of compassion.

What kind of person suggests PTS is a good idea for an inconvenient animal with the questionable justification that there's "likely" a health issue "anyway".

Anthropomorphism and responsible animal husbandry are entirely separate, being neither mutually dependent nor mutually exclusive.
Don't try a red herring to avert attention from your own lack of compassion

Didn't you notice the other posters comparing the cat to elderly humans? I have plenty of compassion for the cat, I just have more for the people. Most people do.

I'm also puzzled by the OP's language. She refers to her cat as 'it' and doesn't seem to care.

I never knew about sanctuaries for unwanted pets, that's very interesting. That might work for the OP's pet, if the peeing stops. If it doesn't then I really don't think that could be a happy life for the poor thing.

It certainly wouldn't be fair to rehome it.

Yes notever I did, but it is not relevant, as per my previous post.

Put her to sleep, man the fuck up and do it.
Yes don't bother trying to find out what is wrong with the cat, just pts?

My cat used to piss in the corner of the landing. She's only 3 and has ruined the carpet and underlay in that area. After much experimentation, we have found she is an exceptionally fussy madam who will only poo into the little stones cat litter and only wee in wooden pellets cat litter. So she has two litter trays. She also pees first thing each morning so if we let her out immediately it us much more likely to happen outside.

I have numerous elderly cats (youngest is 16yrs old) and they started spraying and peeing around the house. They were wonderful until one needed to get a serious operation and then started spraying. Of course the rest joined in. because of personal circumstances I needed to deal with it quickly so had a special shed built for them. It has heating, insulation, night light and a separate toilet area with eight trays. The Lino runs two feet up the wall and there are lots of shelves/beds. I even leave a radio on if there's thunder. 😳 If you seriously feel that you can't cope, then can you do something similar?

Kitty will also need lots of cuddles and attention, so bring her/him in every day, even if it's just for five minutes and spend time in his/her house giving affection. Also make sure you lock him in his house at night, so he is safe. Don't neglect his wee home, as it's easy to think 'out of sight, out of mind'.

Our pets of various ages have had accidents over the years. Pulling up carpet and putting down vinyl is a starting point to dealing with the smell. Never had much luck with the various solutions marketed for cat urine, but I have discovered that white vinegar and bicarbonate soda are excellent solutions. Certainly works for us, and I buy in bulk online to have a purge of their litter tray areas from time to time.

Most animal shelters will not accept an older cat with little prospect of rehoming. Elderly cats are vulnerable to kidney disease, and incontinence is one sign of that. A special low protein diet might be a good step to take. If you don't want the cat at home, have your pet put to sleep by a vet. Traumatising an elderly animal with the stressful conditions of an animal shelter that will contain younger male cats, and perhaps dogs too is just an awful end to the life of any animal.

Oh dear op - posting in aibu AND talking about rehoming a pet. What sort of responses did you expect?!

For what it's worth it sounds to me like you've explored lots of possibilities. It's awful when you've got a young child and an incontinent pet. I remember seeing our cat peeing in my toddler's buggy and feeling absolutely desperate. He had kidney failure and was pts not long afterwards.

People are probably right about not rehoming. In your shoes I'd have a last heart to heart with the vet to make sure there's nothing left to try, and then pts.

Would you throw out your kid and rehome him if he peed everywhere because he was disabled and finding it difficult?

You don't get an animal just for when its cute and fun to have.

YABU. Massively.

Cat nappies are a thing! Invest in some, don't give up on your cat because she's getting old. If apart from that she's happy and fairly healthy having her pts is unfair and unnecessary

Would you throw out your kid and rehome him if he peed everywhere because he was disabled and finding it difficult?

That is incredibly offensive, to compare disabled children to elderly CATS!

@notnevernotevernotnohow

OP, these threads always attract the extreme type of pet people, so you can't win. In reality there are very few people who could or would cope with an elderly cat covering their house in urine. But rehoming is not really an option, no-one will take her on. Probably time to pts, at 15 it's likely that something is going on that can't be fixed anyway.

This 100% ^

It's a huge mistake putting something like this on here, as you will get the furious angry 'how very dare you' and 'you are a monster!' kind of responses. When in actual fact, as the poster I have quoted says, many people will find it incredibly hard to live with a pet who pisses over everything, even though they claim they would be just fine and dandy with it, or 'it wouldn't happen, because THEY would get the problem fixed!'

What makes me laugh are the posts saying 'how would you feel if your children put YOU out to pasture or gave up on YOU when you become an inconvenience, and put YOU in a home?'

PMLS that's what many people do with their elderly parents when they become very infirm, and they CAN'T cope with them, and find them difficult to handle; they put them in a home!!! So people need to climb down off their moral high horses, and quit acting like a cat pissing all over their house, wouldn't bother them, and like they would never put their elderly parents into a home if they became very infirm and frail.

As has been said, the OP needs to consult the vet. They will be able to advise her best, and may even be able to help the peeing issue. If nothing can be done, the vet can advise the OP what her options are. I am sure the OP isn't going to just dump the cat in the middle of the fast lane of the M6, so don't get your knickers in a bunch!

For what it's worth it sounds to me like you've explored lots of possibilities. but the op really hasn't.
She has proper options on here.
All she's done is google.
She doesn't even know if its a simple health problem!
In reality there are very few people who could or would cope with an elderly cat covering their house in urine. But rehoming is not really an option, no-one will take her on. Probably time to pts, at 15 it's likely that something is going on that can't be fixed anyway.

Yet people have said how they've had a cat/s/dog who've pissed in their house (me included ) and haven't pts...quite a few on here

In reality there are very few people who could or would cope with an elderly cat covering their house in urine. But rehoming is not really an option, no-one will take her on. Probably time to pts, at 15 it's likely that something is going on that can't be fixed anyway.

Oh and 15 is no age! Problems can be fixed!
Clear you're not a vet and have no experience with this at all.

YABU and cruel.

Fucking disgusted by this. It's part of getting old. YABVVVFU. That's all I can say without risking a ban.

But buying a living thing for fun and then going lol bye then when it's not fun any more is somehow fine and dandy, wtf

It's been 15 years and shes tried lots of things, so that is far from accurate.

I like to think that people who have lived with a pet for 15 years develop some feelings of responsibility, attachment and even, I would expect, love, towards that long-term companion.

Clearly some people really do see them as disposable when they become inconvenient though. The mind boggles.

But yeah, sure, your cat probably has a year or maybe two to live- I'm sure it'd be happy living in a small cage in a rehoming centre with no space or attention for that time. I mean, it's old and inconvenient now, right? It doesn't deserve to live out its days in the home it's known for so long, that would be silly.

I like to think that people who have lived with a pet for 15 years develop some feelings of responsibility, attachment and even, I would expect, love, towards that long-term companion

There is nothing in the OP to suggest she doesn't have all of those things. Where is your compassion for someone at the end of their tether and with a small baby? Or is it just cats you care for?

Jesus - get a grip OfficerVanHalen. If the op didn't have empathy she wouldn't have tried so many options and spent so much money trying to find a solution. Or even sought advice on here. She would have got rid of the cat as soon as it started to become a problem. She's clearly not someone who can casually get rid of a pet as soon as they stop being 'fun'. Save your anger for people who deserve it and stop trying to turn the op into something she isn't.