To want to get rid of the cat

[Hellvelyn]

After months of badgering by dd(14) we finally relented and got a cat - 8 year old rescue from the RSPCA. She is incredibly good natured and dd adores her. However, she is weeing all over our house and I am sick of vaxing every day and worrying about my house smelling. Today she also pooed on the landing and puked in the kitchen.
We have tried everything. Full (expensive) check up at the vets to rule out urinary or kidney problems. Two different litter trays, access to the garden, dishes of dried food in the places she most often pees. We now have giant puppy pads dotted around to minimise wee on carpets. Every day we are cleaning both litter trays (which she occasionally uses) as well as constantly clearing up her "accidents" RSPCA have been round but weren't able to advise anything we weren't already doing. They said they will take her back but (a) it will break dds heart and (b) I don't think she'd get rehomed again with her toilet history. I'm finding it all very stressful and starting to resent the cat which isn't fair be sure she is so sweet. Aaaagh. Every morning we go downstairs not knowing what smelly mess will greet us.

How long have you had her? Do you have any other pets? Have you tried a Feliway plug in?

I would. No animal is worth all that everyday.

There can sometimes be an issue with cleaning out the littler box too soon so it confuses them as to where they're meant to be going

You could try confining her to one room overnight and have everything she needs in there.

Is she going outside?

Could you contain kitty to one single room with a solid floor and the litter tray....until she reliably gets used to using the tray?

Is she still settling - if you haven’t had her for very long maybe?

We've had her just over 3 months and yes to Feliway which made no difference.I clean her litter tray when there's signs of a couple of wees. She never sees in dds room which is her favourite place so she is definitely in control of where she pees. My kitchen smells nasty despite my best efforts.

Sadly my cat has been like this for 18 years OP. Nothing works and none of my other cats did this. I confine her to the dining room and kitchen now and she isn't allowed in the carpeted part of the house which is so sad as I'd love to have her on my bed but it's not possible.
Can you shut her in a non carpeted area over night?

What are you cleaning the pee with? Are you using the ones for pet pee with special enzymes to remove the ammonia smell that attracts cats to the same spots to pee on.

Are there other cats outside that are bothering your cat? Cat could really be scent marking rather than peeing for the sake of it.

Why are you giving her dried food?

She is limited to the conservatory during the day. Sometimes she ignores/misses the trays and pees on the floor. Not keen on going outside but has access and has been seen weeing under a bush. As soon as dd is home from school she cries to go upstairs to her room. Unless we supervise every move (unrealistic) she soon has a pee where she shouldn't. She also drinks alot (no diabetes - checked by vet) which makes the whole situation worse. Would I be completely heartless to take her back to the RSPCA?

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stud pants

We had the same trouble with a rescue cat. He had to go.

Dried food to deter her peeing in her favourite places. Theory is that cats don't like weeing where they eat. It has been successful to an extent.

Cat sounds stressed and unsettled to me. Maybe kinder to give her back and hope that someone will have more free time to calm her and make her feel less anxious. I'd have her - whereabouts, roughly, do you live and could she be an indoor cat?

Yes to the special pee cleaner. We have tried many types. There is a cat next door who occasionally visits our garden and they growl at one another.

Suzie - East Anglia and she would love to be an indoor cat. She is not built for speed. Just snoozing and being stroked. Rather charmingly she also only has one ear!

Uch..I have four beautiful cats and love them to bits. Had 3 other previous cats over past 26 years til end of their days and cared for them as they became infirm.

However you have a rescue cat that you've only just got, that is weeing and pooing in your house with young DD/DC isn't really workable. Take cat to vets and see if it is resolvable (cat UTI?) to see what can be done to help ...

But, I as one cat lover, would not blame you if re-home her. And I even took my cat for 6 months to a cat psychologist recommended (not cheap!) through vet (one of my older cats) and we tried all sorts (he didn't like smell of my son!) . 😻

Put her out as much as possible, especially at night. Hopefully she will get the idea that the house is not the place to go. Do you have a cat flap? The cat needs constant access to outside asap & litter tray needs to go.

Sounds like a poor old pussy cat that needs somewhere to spend the rest of their days after a hard life.

It's not heartless to put your DVs first if you cannot manage a new cat's behaviour as they only wee and poo inside house, not in their litter trays, when unwell or unhappy if they previously haven't done this.(if cat did this all.alomg rescue centre ought have told you. )

We had this with both of our (neutered) toms. Nothing worked except removing the litter trays and them being outdoor cats. It broke my heart the first night of him crying by the back door to get in but very quickly they learned that toileting was only outside. He 's mostly a house cat and mieows to go out for the toilet, but gets sent outside if we are going out. Eight years later I can still smell the pee in the carpet.

Oh i feel for you! There is nothing worse.

I would confine to hard floor utility or similar, the smaller the better, even her own crate with bedding one end and litter the other. She might appreciate the smaller confines, and will pee at the opposite end from her.

She will have to be confined until she can be relied upon to pee where directed, and the smaller space might give her some sense of security.

Good luck and I really hope you manage to find a way through these early settling in days.

I would definitely keep an eye to the quantities being drunk in case there is something there.

It sounds like a bloody nightmare. I certainly wouldn’t blame you.

@Hellvelyn
You've answered all.the first things I'd think of early on, in your OP. Only you will know when it's not workable after advice (can't imagine puppy pads of wee and poo.all around the house incase cat might use them and how that works with children)
Exhaust as many avenues as you can but only you can decide when you need to return cat to RSPCA.

Rescue centre told us she arrived with a UTI (no recurrences since - she has been tested twice) and occasionally didn't aim well in her tray. We bought her the biggest tray I have ever seen (think baby bath with lowered front for access) and she still ignores it or wees half in and half out.She also has a more standard tray too. I have thought about shutting her outside but she seems to have it. Whenever we put her in the garden she comes straight back in the cat flap.