AIBU to expect 4 cats to stay in utility room/study?

[notaurewhatusername]

We have 4 cats that are causing major issues. They're constantly pooing and weeing all over the house, including in the bath. I'm 14 weeks pregnant and worried about having a baby crawling around cat mess.

The utility room and study combined are the size of 2 bedrooms and have a cat flap, so they'd still have plenty of space and outdoor access. They've had their jabs to go outside.

DH lets them roam freely 24/7, even when we're not home. I want them confined to that room, maybe let out for a couple hours in the evening under supervision.

DH loves them but they're completely uncontrollable. The mess is disgusting and I'm at my wit's end. AIBU to insist on this compromise? I'm not a cat person but I think it's reasonable. DH won't budge and it's really getting me down.

How would you handle this? Am I being unfair to the cats?

@notaurewhatusername if your DH insists he is keeping the trays clean enough, what is his explanation for why they are toileting in the house and how does he plan to solve it? Because he can’t say it’s normal for
cats, and surely he can’t say that he has no issue being in a house where there are regularly animal faeces lying around (even if once a week, it is a recurrent theme not just an accident). So what is he planning to do to help the cats and you?

He’s not cleaning the trays regularly though, you don’t seem to be grasping this. 4 cats, 3 litter trays and you said he only cleaned them every 3 days initially.

They're constantly pooing and weeing all over the house, including in the bath. So constantly is now once a week? Which is it? You said The mess is disgusting and I'm at my wit's end

I wouldn’t be bringing a baby home to that environment.

The problem is they're doing it in new places! The kitchen has become a favourite the last couple of months and today my dressing room was a new spot because my door is broken and I'm unable to close it so they took the new oppunritny.

The weeing in the bath is also quite new the last few weeks

Can people please listen it's getting a bit exhausting repeating!

To me cleaning the tray is emptying it A this is every two to three days.

Scooping isn't cleaning to me but it feels consider scooping cleaning this is daily

Of course they were rehomed!
and they were outdoor cats anyway- I just couldn’t bear them in the house at all - they made me feel physically sick just looking at them.

Anyway in case you hadn’t noticed the actual problem under discussion here is that OP is pregnant, and sharing a home with four cats that pee and poo everywhere and a lazy husband who doesn’t care. 🙄

Cat poo and wee in every room, sorry but your house must stink. Do visitors ever mention the smell? Definitely not the right sort of environment for a new baby.
Feel sorry for your cats too, contrary to what some people think, cats are solitary creatures and don't like sharing their home with other cats. This may well be the root of your problem. Reducing their space will stress them even more. The kindest and safest thing would be to rehome all but one of the cats. Also, now they've all marked the whole house with their smell, it'll be an uphill battle to get them to stop if you do keep them all.

Rather than nitpicking I'm changing the story if we assume it's truthful can I get opinions on if this frequency is normal? I genuinely want to fix this problem

How often you need to replace all the litter depends to a large extent on the type of litter you are using.

We use clumping fibre cat litter and can easily go a month without replacing all the litter. With other types of litter it can be just a couple of days, it varies.

However it absolutely needs scooping every day - one of our cats will tell us loudly he isn't happy with the state of the litter bin if it isn't cleaned to his liking.

It does sound like the pet urine smell has built up so your cats now see most of the house as an appropriate litter tray. You (actually your DH) will need to go round every single place cleaning with pet odour spray.

If they regularly wee just over the side of the litter tray, this is a classic sign of pain and stress related urinary issues.

Cats are clean animals. They will do their utmost to keep clean. 5 cat litter trays minimum is required for 4 cats. 1 each plus extra. Also, good size and depth ie. not tiny. More regular cleaning out and praise them when they use them. The cats are not happy which is why they are toileting about the home. They will be picking up your negativity towards them and any tension. Do they have any stimulation? Toys, cat trees, scratching posts? Nice beds to chill & sleep in? Really if you could put aside not being a cat person and befriend them you would be awarded with amazing friendship from them. If you do rehome them please never ever entertain the idea of ever getting a cat or dog in the future. It is not kind to the animal. I really feel sorry for the poor unloved cats in your home.

Yeah one shit per week will be enough to drive you over the edge once baby arrives. 4 cats is A LOT of cats for one house. If reducing to 2 is out of the question, and if you have the outside space, you can set up houses for them outside too, and you may find they spend most of their time there. We trained ours to toilet outside by having litter tray inside house for several weeks, then outside right beside the cat flap, then moved tray further away, then got rid of tray altogether and now go "in the wild". So much more hygienic. Ours were kittens though, so still malleable of mind. 4 litter trays will create quite the stench, and I think cats are happier sleeping where the air is not reeking of their waste. Even training them to go in a litter tray just outside house would make a big difference to the smell inside your house.

You've been told repeatedly it's not normal.

The cats if they exist are stressed and miserable.

@Throwingpots never had visitors mention

How about neither of you flush the toilet for three days and see if he doesn't mind using it?

Three days is far too long. The litter tray should be changed daily and poo and urine lifted out of it as soon as you spot it.

With four cats they are not doing go like sharing one tray and ideally you need four trays.

I don't think it's going to work confining them to two rooms.

This should have been sorted out before you had a child together.

If you are not a cat person it's going to get worse when you have the baby.

He keeps the trays in his bathroom too and has a bath every day for an hour and it stinks - I don't understand. He says he doesn't care and it's let's repulsive than human poo.

I find it so strange.

Another thing you can do is let all the cats poop outside. Just let them all out.
(In my view, there isn’t really such a thing as indoor cats really… I own two breeds often considered Indoor but they love the outside). It could help with their stress.

@Attelina so the whole litter thrown out and you buy litter daily?

ALS people have said rejoin g without permission sis cruel what about if I let them out daily as he won't? Then let them back in at night?

I don't have a clue about cats so rather than criticise can people give me actual advice as I want solution to actually fix this please

Posters are only reading your OP because it made it sound like he left the litter trays entirely for 3 days.

In the updated story, the frequency of cleaning is normal but the frequency of toileting around the house is far from normal and can’t be ignored, either for the cats’ welfare or for
yours.

FFS get the cats spayed/neutered for a start. The whole thing sounds like serious animal neglect. It's no wonder they're peeing/pooping everywhere when their trays are dirty. It's also a sign of stress and unhappiness.

@RogueFemale PLEASE listen they are ALL neutered I must have said this four times. Sorry but people keep repeating things I'm repeating! It's a bit frustrating

Seriously, for your health you shouldnt be living in such dirty conditions. Have ypu anywhere you can go, even temporarily until this mess is resolved?

If the trays were cleaned daily the problem wouldn't exist. Cats are very clean animals.

As well as not being pleasant for you to live in a shit hole, it won't be pleasant for the cats, I'm sure.

The only one who doesn't seem to mind is your husband!

@stormsandsunshine can I get my OP amended do you know as to me cleaning is the litter (I'm not a cat person so cleaning the tray I thought meant the whole thing so I'm obviously making it up clear for people).

In which case what advice do you suggest?

You've had loads of advice.

Robot litter trays, more regular cleaning, deep-clean the house to get rid of odours and soiled items, feliway, vet checks, animal behaviouralist, create dug over area in the garden etc etc.