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Original poster

Starting to get to breaking point with my cat(s)

59 replies

chloemegjess · 02/01/2009 19:51

Have had non stop problems with my cat from the start. I have 3 cats, who I love very much (chloe, meg and jess hence name). They are all about 3 years old roughly. Chloe is Persian and the others are just normal cats.

I am pretty sure Chloe is the one with the problems but can't be 100% as don't often see it.

Basically, had a lot of problems with her weeing on the carpet, and somtimes poo too. We used to have litter trays but it got so stupid, had to have 6 or so different ones because she was so fussy about it, had to clean it everytime one of them did a wee or poo which restricted how long we could go out for etc and the cats would fight etc over them and we would STILL have wee on the carpet. When I started to register as a CM we tried them without the trays and the problem just went away. All 3 cats went in the garden (cat flap), the fighting stopped and so did the wee on carpet.

Then, the last few months, it has started up again. I first thought it was because of the cold, but I often see them out playing/lying in the garden.

Have tried everything.

Have been out all day and have come home to wee and poo everywhere. The bath has wee all over it, all over DDs toys, Bath mat has wee on and there is poo in the corner, in the dining room/playroom there is poo on the cat bed and wee on carpet.

I just can't do this anymore. I love them to bits but this isn't working for anybody.

I was thinking about getting Chloe re-homed but I am worried that she will just have the same problem else where and keep getting passed on from owner to owner . I think she would much prefer to be an only cat and this might be where the problems lie as we seem to have tried everything else.

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SeanBeansBitOnTheSideBella · 02/01/2009 19:59

Poor you - I took on a cat once whose owners had gotten to the end of their tether with him because he kept weeing indoors, and he never did it with me.

Some cats do prefer just to be only cats and you are right, you cannot go on like this.

Try Cats Protection, your vets, or the RSPCA for rehoming help. if you decide to do that.

Best of luck x

Original poster
chloemegjess · 02/01/2009 20:09

It is a shane as we have a fmaily friend who is one person I would actually fully trust to have her, but she recently adopted a neglected cat who turned out to be pregnant and she now has 8 cats, and is keeping them all!

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Original poster
chloemegjess · 02/01/2009 20:52

It also doesn't help that I have a 1 year old who is crawling and obviously doesn't know what it is and I am so worried she will find some poo or something when I am not looking.

This has really upset me TBH.

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Original poster
chloemegjess · 02/01/2009 20:53

Oh and noticed today when she wee'd on DDs white clothes that her wee is also a bit yellowy - is this normal?

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babypringle · 02/01/2009 20:54

Have you tried a Feliway diffuser - my mum got one when her cats started randomly weeing everywhere and its made things much better.

Original poster
chloemegjess · 02/01/2009 21:04

#Haven't used the diffuser but have used the spray which i think is the same thin

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heavenstobetsy · 02/01/2009 21:09

well, it could be a urine infection but it wouldn't really explain the pooing. It also sounds like a lot of wee/poo for just one of the cats to churn out in a day.

Could it be that there is a terrorist cat moved in on your cats patch and hence your lot are too nervous to go to the loo outside anymore? - since there are no trays indoors they'd have no choice but to go whereever. Perhaps introducing a tray again may help - although I appreciate this wan't great before

good luck - this must be really tough for you x

Original poster
chloemegjess · 02/01/2009 21:27

I really don't want to have the trays again, there were too many problems to even list.

UNLESS one things I was thinking is that she could live upstairs and have trays for her, and just let the other 2 carry on downstairs? At the moment, none of the cats go upstairs, as we have a door at the bottom of our stairs which is kept closed. I would then know 100% if it is her and only her, give her a chance to break habits and see if being seperated helps.

BUT is it safe to have a cat upstairs with the baby asleep? She has just turned 1 so not like a newborn? Although I am pregnant again so I guess we couldn't let her in our room with the newborn when she is born.

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Original poster
chloemegjess · 03/01/2009 12:45

Came down this morning and trod (bare foot) in cat poo on the living room floor. Please help me! This is driving me mad!

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suiz · 03/01/2009 12:50

I always turn to Celia Haddon who used to have a column in the Daily Telegraph:
here's the address:

www.celiahaddon.co.uk/

Hope this works, I've used her for introducing a new cat, what to do when moving house and how to clean up poo etc

Original poster
chloemegjess · 03/01/2009 12:51

Thanks, will have a look at the link now.

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Original poster
chloemegjess · 03/01/2009 13:58

Have read a fair bit, although there is a lot of info to get through so I will finish reading tonight. But TBH, everything I have read so far, we have already done!

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Original poster
chloemegjess · 03/01/2009 17:17

Bump

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Original poster
chloemegjess · 03/01/2009 23:23

bump again - sorry but I am desperate

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bella29 · 03/01/2009 23:28

Trying to understand - will she not use a litter tray if another cat has used it or will she not use it even if only she has used it before?

LuckySalem · 03/01/2009 23:29

My female cat did this. She did it cos she was getting bullied by her son who had obviously just become a teenager. lol.

She'd always pee on the sofa so eventually we stopped leaving anything on the sofa as she seemed to do it only if she had something she could scratch over again. IYKWIM. It stopped - recently started again when we took in foster cats but again we moved EVERYTHING and it stopped.

Try getting her a tray and keeping it somewhere for her - our cat was as fussy as yours btw, I have to change the box EVERY day.... [yawn]

PurpleOne · 03/01/2009 23:40

My cat does this too. Was about to post a new thread about it. She is SITTING in the tray and pees all up the wall and misses the tray completely. I've tried her with a bigger tray and she still pees sideways.
She never used to do this at all, until I saw another cat outside about 3 weeks ago..and she's never been 'in season' before.

Is she marking and scenting? About to go in season...or just being a pain?

suiz · 04/01/2009 10:08

Purpleone, you could try one of those trays with roofs maybe? Pain to clean admittedly but better than having it over your wall.

Hangingbellyofbabylon · 04/01/2009 10:15

Hi, I really do feel for you, this is a really hard situation for you all. what is the outside area like for her where she wees and poos? If she's a bit of a sensitive soul it could be that the earth is too hard for her to scratch over. Cats love freshly dug earth, have you tried digging over a patch of ground, even if you have to forgoe a bit of lawn or something - then everytime you find poo indoors, scoop it up and put it on the new patch - if wee is on something where it hasn't soaked in again try to put some outside. Then repeatedly place her on the patch - if you ever catch her sniffing round for somewhere to go indoors then take her out to her new patch. It does sound as if you have tried loads of stuff but I know this did work with our fussy old adopted cat who was very reluctant to give up his litter tray.

suiz · 04/01/2009 10:23

ChloeMegJess I reread some of Celia Haddon's tips and honestly it sounds like you HAVE to get a litter tray. Also check out the cystitis thing: frequent small urinations instead of infrequent large one is a sign.
Also very important not to use disinfectant or bleach when you clean up as it just encourages them to go back to the same spot. Maybe you could use some of the soiled stuff, if you have to throw it out anyway, to put in the tray to encourage it back.
I have 2 cats and one goes outside and the other in (we don't have a cat flap). We've had accidents and we've even had poo in the playpen . I take the cat to the scene of the crime and make it sniff then tap it firmly on the nose with my finger, apparently that mimics the mother cat when it trains the kitten. My solution to the awful tray problem is to use 50L bin bags and just whip the whole lot out when necessary. It's cheaper than those litter tray liners - I know it's not very green, sorry - I put some newspaper right on the bottom under the liner.

suiz · 04/01/2009 10:27

RE Hangingbellyofbablylon's tips: on the same site are tips to make a garden latrine (from memory I've a feeling it involves sand) which I might try soon cos the outdoor cat never seems to cover up, aarggh. And right enough, the ground is probably really hard now it's cold.

Original poster
chloemegjess · 04/01/2009 10:57

She has never covered up her mess anywhere, litter tray or no litter tray so it isn't that. We already have a dug out patch for them, we re-did our garden last year but left a big section just for the cats to go, which she was using. She doesn't cover it up (sometimes the smallest cat, Jess comes to cover it up for her when she comes out).

When you say bring back the litter trays - how? It was so much worse with the litter tray so I don't want to take a step back. She won't go in the tray when one of the others has been in it, but they use every tray I put down. This is why I was thinking about trying chloe (the culprit) upstairs with her own tray, but the others wouldn't have access to upstairs, which none of them do at the moment. Just a bit worried she will wee on the beds but other than that, I am wondering if this is the best option? She wouldn't then have access to outside, unless she was maybe asking to come down and we could let her out the door, but I don't think she would really miss outside to be honest. She would then get her own space, her own litter tray and we would be able to check 100% if it was only her doing it, as well as giving us a chance to throughly clean everything downstairs, maybe get proper carpet cleaners etc in. Could maybe get a fliway defuser up there first so hopefully she would be comfortable with it all. From looking at Celia Haddons site, the only thing we haven't done is "remove the source of stress" which I think is the other cats.

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Original poster
chloemegjess · 04/01/2009 11:01

God just looking on ebay - those feliway defusers are very expensive (the refill more worrying than the actual defuser). Does anybody know how long they last? Are they safe around babies?

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Original poster
chloemegjess · 04/01/2009 11:44

Do you just need one diffuser in the house or need several around? We don't have a big house, but a cottage with lots of small rooms.

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Original poster
chloemegjess · 04/01/2009 11:49

Found this website and it has feliway as well as other de-stress products. Has anybody tried any other products? I am starting to spend a fortune on these cats! Lol. I have also got their frontline etc in the same order so not too bad. And have got her some new catnip sack toys which are always a hit with my cats, so if we do need to shut her in a room or upstairs, she can have lots of stuff to distract her.

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