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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To banish cat from the house?

379 replies

FeckingEll · 30/11/2018 00:28

At night.

Have rehomed the bloody thing in the garage.

We haven't had a litter tray indoors for over a year. Had an outside one for a while which she didn't use so I removed it. For the last few weeks, when it's been wet outside, she has been shitting in her bed. Two mornings in a row now I've come down to it.

I don't want an indoor tray again so have locked her in the garage with tray and food where she will go every night over the winter from now on.

DC think IABU but they're not cleaning up the shit and having to do two boil washes, one for bed, one to clean machine!

OP posts:
empmalswa · 30/11/2018 21:44

My grandparents cat used to sleep in the garage towards the end as she had dementia

How did they know the cat had dementia?

Dotty1970 · 30/11/2018 21:44

JollyBodyTired
👍👍

BadgerBodger · 30/11/2018 21:44

It's not really appropriate to keep a cat in the garage all night, even if it isn't freezing cold. Pets are part of the family and it's a shame you don't see your cat as one. I don't think you're showing empathy to your children at all. You are teaching them that when a cat behaves like a cat, they don't deserve to be in the house anymore.

Calvinsmam · 30/11/2018 21:45

Because she was exhibiting all the signs of feline dementia and the vet said she had dementia. She was yowling all the time and wandering into rooms confused and asking for meals straight after being fed and being very clingy.

Dotty1970 · 30/11/2018 21:46

Our old dog had dementia, you can tell, they do go confused, he constantly barked at the door to go out and then barked at the door to come in... I could have just stood there all day letting him in and outSmile
There were other things to but that stands out in my mind

minkies11 · 30/11/2018 21:47

Firstly - do you want to keep your cat? Nothing you have posted seems to suggest you do and if you only have the cat to teach 'empathy to your kids' well you are probaby setting a pretty fucking bad example. Secondly - are you posting on here because you are bored or just trying to stir people up?
If you really have such a problem with the smell of cat shit then simply don't have a cat. You aren't doing it any favours if so.
It's a shame you feel the need to have to post something so pathetic here and upset people who genuinely care about the cats welfare. If anyone is a keyboard warrior it is you.
Wind your neck in and piss off - have a bottle of wine and think yourself lucky anyone bothered to notice your stupid post at all.

BadgerBodger · 30/11/2018 21:50

Also, you have decided to come onto an internet forum and post in a section called 'am i being unreasonable'. Doesn't that suggest to you that even you possibly think you may be doing the wrong thing? A person confident in their own decision making really doesn't need validation from internet strangers.

empmalswa · 30/11/2018 21:51

Because she was exhibiting all the signs of feline dementia and the vet said she had dementia.

Right. Bingo. The cat was VET CHECKED.

OP, do you see? People take their cats to the vet when their behaviour changes without a reason.

empmalswa · 30/11/2018 21:52

calvins

Sorry I wasn't being today or questioning the cats dementia. I was trying to point out to the OP that cat owners take cats to the vet.

Calvinsmam · 30/11/2018 21:56

Oh yeah they doted on her!
And she was in her twenties.

toddlepod · 30/11/2018 22:04

I think YABU very. Why have you got a pet at all? They're supposed to be a members of the family and have their needs met. For a cat, that means food, water, warmth, comfy places to sleep and a litter tray. They don't stink if you clean the poo out regularly, freshen the litter and replace it regularly.

Oh - missed out LOVE. Something you don't seem to give a cat's shit about.

Please rehome the cat to someone who will care for a cat properly.

toddlepod · 30/11/2018 22:07

PS Your attitude stinks more than any cat shit could.

BendyWendy18 · 30/11/2018 22:10

Another YABU voice here. Trying to get my head around how you can possibly think your callous attitude towards your cat is reasonable. And as an owner of cats, if you use wood pellet cat litter it doesn’t smell at all. Please reconsider your attitude, it’s only going to get colder as the winter progresses. It also can’t be good for your cat to be so isolated and locked away from the rest of the family.

CaliHummers · 30/11/2018 22:12

For those saying the cat will be fine because it has fur and that people should check their basic zoology, are you familiar with thermoneutral zones? This is the temperature at which the animal is comfortable and can maintain its basal metabolism. It's not doing any extra work to keep warm (or cool down).

The TNZ for domestic cats is relatively high, partly because they're small animals and partly because their ancestors were desert-bred. So cats are comfortable at 30-38 deg c. It's why they seem to hunt out what to us seem odd levels of heat. There's more about this here www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5059607/

It's irrelevant what temperature you're OK at because a cat just isn't a human. (And TNZ for humans is lower at 25-30). Feral cats do grow very thick coats and adapt but they may well be feeling cold for much of the time.

I think the main problem with the OP is less what she's actually doing and more her tone and the fact she just doesn't seem to like the cat at all.

ImNotKitten · 01/12/2018 00:24

Great post Cali. Hope the OP takes heed.

Darklene · 01/12/2018 07:13

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

CaliHummers · 01/12/2018 11:46

Thanks, Kitten. Not sure she will though! Seems pretty convinced she's in the right and quite happy to wind everybody up. Still, it might be useful information for someone else. Other species have different thermoneutral zones from ours and we should consider it in the way we keep them. Instead we tend to think "well I'm hot/ cold so they will be". Often worse with horses, who are OK in the 5-25 degree range (well most of them are) but as soon as it gets to about 15 deg. owners swaddle them in rugs which they don't need or want.

Claw001 · 01/12/2018 12:07

OP hasn’t changed her mind then!

Poor cat has spent another ‘successful’ night locked in the garage, with no stimulation. By successful, I mean OP hasn’t had to smell it or listening to it ‘yowling’ at the door to be let out! Great Hmm

Would you at least consider putting some toys and climbing trees etc in with the cat OP?

Picnictime · 01/12/2018 13:14

Is your house attached to your garage?
If so, cat flap between the house and garage, litter box in the garage, job done.

pigsDOfly · 01/12/2018 13:26

Yes, that is a great post Cali.

Anyone who knows cats will know they don't like the cold. One of my cats, sadly no longer alive, would lie in the sun all day given half a chance.

My dog, on the other hand, whose forebears came from cold climes, has a double coat, is not keen on hot weather and will take herself into the garden on windy winter nights to enjoy the feeling of the wind in her face; it's horses for courses.

Anyone with love for their cat and empathy for another living thing will make sure that their cat has access to warm comfortable places because that's what makes a cat happy.

Original poster
FeckingEll · 01/12/2018 13:27

Haha Claw. Do you think it was usual for us to stay up all night to 'stimulate' the cat when she was inside the house overnight then?

There are plenty of 'toys' and climbing apparatus in the garage. In fact she seems to be having a fine time playing with the spiders.

Cat is luxuriating in a triple cardboard lined wigwam type construction, on top of an old leather sofa, snuggled in a ruched up double duvet.

Snug as a cat in a garage.

Didn't rain before bed so no shit in the massive litter box I've put in there again!

OP posts:
Claw001 · 01/12/2018 13:52

No I don’t think you stayed up all night stimulating the cat.

Your previous posts stated that you used to roam the streets looking for her at night to get her in and she would be ‘yowling’ at the door to get out.

You seemed to be trying to convince us, that your cat was very much an ‘outdoor’ cat, to justify your cat being locked in the garage at night.

Your views seemed to have changed now and your cat is not very active at night and doesn’t require stimulation Confused and doesn’t like to roam and be outdoors Hmm

Lizzie48 · 01/12/2018 13:53

Cat was a rescue from CPL, well treated and lucky to have us.

She doesn't sound lucky or well cared for from what you've posted on here. You also don't seem to like her, so she should be rehomed to an owner who really wants her.

I'm another one who suspects that there's probably something wrong with her. I've had cats for years (I currently have four of them), and I've never had one of them shit on the bed. It can be a sign of anxiety actually from what I've read about it, and a form of marking territory.

If you're not prepared to put the work into looking after your cat properly then you shouldn't really have one.

Claw001 · 01/12/2018 13:56

I’m saying your active at night, outdoor, roaming cat, will be bored shitless being locked in garage.

You don’t seem to care about any aspect of your cats week being.

Claw001 · 01/12/2018 13:57

well being, not week!