Bloomin cat peeing and pooing in the house - is it because of the weather?

[lavenderbongo]

Just in the last month the fat cat has started to poo and pee in the house. Prior to this he was completely house trained. We keep a covered litter tray just outside the back door which he rarely used choosing to do his business somewhere in the garden.
But the last month I have caught he peeing in our suitcase and a few other places. Then yesterday he hasobviously peed on the sofa and then I discovered poo in our bedroom!
Now we are assumng he has started to do this because the weather is crap at the moment. I am in NZ and its cold wet and windy. Does anyne think this is right?
Also about 3 months ago a wierd cat started to walk into our house through the cat flap. Fat cat and wierdo cat had a few fights and we chased wierdo cat out a few times. I believe that fat cat won the confrontations as we have not seen wierdo cat for a good six weeks. Fat cat has only started peeing in the house in the last two weeks.
Any advice on what might be causing these problems would be great! At the moment we are justbutting it all down to the fact we own a fat lazy cat!

My cat has displayed this behaviour and he ruined various rugs and chairs. It stopped when a male cat that kept getting in through the flap left the neighbourhood.

I think you should try using a flap that is inaccessible by other cats such as a magnetic or chip controlled one.

Good luck! I feel for you. It is gross.

Are you quite sure that the weirdo cat hasn't been back in again? I agree with Migsy that it would help to have a flap that other cats can't come in. Has anything else happened that might stress the cat? Have you caught him in the act of peeing, as in, is it definitely peeing and not urine marking (backing up to a vertical surface with his tail in the air and spraying urine to scent-mark)?

Have you cleaned the areas with stuff that is designed to get rid of pet odours, like natures miracle or another enzyme cleaner? If you just use regular household cleaners, the smell still lingers (not that we can smell it, but the cats can) and the smell will encourage them to go there again.

Since the cat is going inside anyway, I would try having a litter box inside, temporarily at least, and see if that helps resolve the problem. I think it is worth a trip to the vet to rule out any physical problems. The ASPCA has a useful factsheet on elimination problems in cats that you can read here. That url has a link to info on urine-marking problems too.

Good luck. It's not a nice problem to have so I hope you can solve it quickly.

I have exactly the same problem in almost identical circumstances! I was woken in the middle of the night by cats fighting about 2 weeks ago and found that another cat had made its way into our house via the cat flap. My poor old saggy cat was putting up a great fight in the utility room and between us we saw off the intrude! However, since that night my cat has left a few nasty surprises for us in the corner of rooms etc. So we are in effect policing the situation. We have reinstated the litter tray in the utility room and at night and whilst we are at work we lock the cat flap. I don't think the other cat has been back but I think the dirty protests are a result of the unwelcome visitor. So far we are managing the situation. I don't think the sh*ty weather helps either.....she is quite an old cat and why go out in the rain when you can poo in the comfort of your own home!

have you tried using feliway? I found it very effective for these sorts of stress related behaviours.

When our cat started to do this, we put orange peel down in her favoured places. At the time I didn't realise how she was being bullied by next door's cat, when he moved she was so happy!