I can't deal with this cat anymore

[BboxC]

Ever since I was about 6 months pregnant, my cat has been peeing in random places. Now my baby is here and she keeps peeing on any baby stuff she can and it's driving me mad. The vet said there's nothing physically wrong with her and asked if anything has changed at home that might be causing her stress and I explained we'd just had a baby. We've since had a feliway for a couple of weeks and done what we can to make her comfortable but it just continues and i am at my wits end. I feel awful saying it but I've gotten to the point that I actually hate this cat now and I am so scared that when my baby starts crawling he'll end up putting something with cat pee on in his mouth. I've mentioned rehoming her to my husband but he really doesn't want to so I feel like I'm trapped with this cat th at I hate and she's trapped in this house that she hates with a baby that she hates and me who can't stand her anymore.

Unpopular this may be but I’d rehome. Cat is unhappy. If DH isn’t on board suggest he take over the cleaning up duty. Life is too short to make your and your babies life difficult because of a cat.

In the circumstances you have described, I would rehome. The cat doesn’t sound happy nor do you.

As the others have said, rehome the cat. This happened with a friend’s daughter although she did introduce a puppy and a new baby into the household in the space of just a year (toddler already there) so it’s no surprise the cat couldn’t cope.

They were upset to do this of course but within two days the cat had stopped urinating in random places, was back to using litter tray and was generally much happier.

Sometimes it’s the only fair solution.

Baby arrives beloved pet no longer so beloved.
Happens all too often

Can you search online and YouTube to see if there are any tips on this from Jackson Galaxy

Well usually this would be my reaction but actually this is a cat that is very unhappy with the new family addition and would probably be much happier in a different home.

You also have a new mother dealing with all that new motherhood entails and one would expect a little more understanding from someone posting on a forum for & about mothers.

Oh poor cat, they do seem stressed and if DH is anti rehoming then you'll have to consider other options as a first step

What about those feline anti anxiety plug ins?

A ten minute daily dedicated playtime (DH can do that)

The new scent is probably worrying them - hence marking with their own scent

Do you have space to create a catio or place of retreat from baby for the cat?

Jackson Galaxy has some good videos as suggested

My husband does do most of the cleaning up after her at the moment but she just keeps peeing all over the place

Thank you, if she wasn't peeing everywhere then it would be fine but it's gotten so stressful on top of everything else 😔

Hi! We have got a feliway plug but doesn't seem to have any effect. They have a little room under the stairs that is purely for her and we've been talking about making a little cattery in the garden for her

Yep. Very frustrating.

Poor cat needs a better home.

The cattery would be a good option for the kitty

This happened when I had a baby. The final straw was the cat pissing in Dd’s car seat

I did try to rehome but couldn’t find anyone so we built a cosy place for her in the porch, which was quite large and enclosed and she stayed in there for about a year, I just couldn’t cope with cat urine being around my baby.
When we started letting her back into the house she was absolutely fine, never peed again in the house and lived happily until she was 17.

Hoppinggreen
Baby arrives beloved pet no longer so beloved.
Happens all too often

*Yep. Very frustrating.

Poor cat needs a better home*

What shitty, horrible replies.

The OP hasn't done anything wrong. What is she supposed to do? Rehome the baby instead?

My cat pees everywhere when he is anxious. I got a feliway plug and also put a litter tray in every room, which helped.
I still can’t leave a basket of washing out anywhere, or a bag for life, but he seems to be coping better now. I’ve reduced the litter trays to three and that seems to be enough.

I'll have her, no babies. Honestly only joking but if she continues doing this I'd see if I could find a new home, preferably with a friend or relative so you can still here. We had cats with a baby and the cats stuck to her like glue.

This polarised thinking won’t help the OP.

I think this is quite common - I would try something along the lines of @LizzieSiddal ’s post. The cat needs its own space where it feels secure. Maybe a room that is out of bounds for the baby where their bed, Food and litter tray are. Some cats prefer their bed to be up high to feel safer as well. My Dad’s cat lived with its bed in an insulated garden shed until it was 17. With a heat pad in winter.

Yeah if cat gets a catio space then I would cut the rooms cat can go into down so you have safe pee free spaces for baby things until they get used to baby

Maybe have some second hand baby items - whatever it is cat seems to think should be theirs and spray with catnip spray eg a bouncy chair or Moses basket or whatever to attract them to that Vs actual baby belongings - from the cats perspective you've probably bought home a very different smelling pet and changed all the scent in the house and this pet is noisy and gets all the attention

Add in a few more litter trays too - unpleasant I know but it's better than pee on other things - the baby scent might be confusing them on finding the litter box and they need their scent to overpower it a bit- they have stronger smell than us so I don't mean dirty litter boxes- just enough that it has a clear "oh here's a toilet" smell itself Vs the baby scent

Cystease capsules help this, it works synergistically with feliway too.

You put one or two capsules in wet food & stop feeding dry food. I used to add an extra tea spoon of water to food too.

Use a soft litter too like cornmeal or ultra clumping so it’s soft on paws. Anything too rough like wood pellets or crystals stops them using their trays.

Hey, we do have a room that's soley for them that baby can't get to but she only goes in there to use the litter tray

If this is an indoor cat let her out. I bet it solves your problem when she can get some space and has an outlet for stress.

This Exact thing happened to me, it caused so much stress on my pregnancy. Cat p** is vile too. Last straw was when it climbed into my set up to go hospital bag and peed on everything. I lost it. - I took her to an animal shelter that same day and I won't lie, I've never looked back and life's been much nicer without her.

You don't sound like you have the patience and experience to deal with this so rehome the cat.

Find a good shelter and they will find a home where they are no small children or other pets where the cat can be much happier.

Please don’t ever get another another pet.

Oh, I can assure you I will not...I don't know what possessed me, I can't fathom people who idolise these smelly things.