I have three large fluffy pedigree cats, indoor only, and I'm starting to lose the plot. We have had them all from kittens. The 7 year old boy is handsome and well behaved but he sheds like a month-old Christmas tree (this is my fault I know, but I'm pregnant and have a toddler and I work, so something has to give and grooming is one of the losses). The 5 year old girl is sweet and affectionate but she scratches the furniture all to hell. I have those sticky strips on the bed, I keep long throws over the armchair to hide the legs and I have scratching posts round the place - but she still prefers the sofa/armchair/suitcases/foot of bed.
And the most upsetting one is the 5 yo boy who pees EVERYWHERE. No UTI that I know of. He started it about eight months old when we went away for a holiday, we came back to the flat stinking and our bed a lake of cat piss. We were in our 20s then, no kids and the cats slept on our bed. He started to do it every time he felt neglected. We were hungover and he was looking for cuddles? We would wake up to wet feet, mostly DH who is a heavy sleeper. It started being occasional but it's got worse and worse over the years. Now he's an opportunist. If I catch him in time he will run away and straight into one of the litter boxes (DH cleans the poo out daily and changes the litter weekly). He does it on soft furnishings, anything left on the floor (towels, bags, clothes) especially anything of my husband's. He's DH's cat so he craves attention from him more and punishes him when he doesn't get it - that's my theory. I've had to throw out several pairs of shoes, a couple of coats, countless hold-alls and suitcases. I am on my 3rd mattress in four years - the mattress protectors sometimes don't cover the edges well, or shrink in the wash, or leak, and the odour remover has its own odour and it's not pleasant to sleep on. Cats have been banned from the bedroom for the last 2-3 years because of this, but the door is usually open during the day - we are in an open plan flat and our ensuite has our bathroom so we are in and out during the day at home. He won't pee on the bed when we are at work during the day, but if I'm up seeing to our son and my husband is dozing or looking at his phone and not paying him attention, I often find the room stinking when I come back in. Last week after spending Christmas with my family I came home to find he's been using the bathroom sinks as a toilet - poo too, and not just the sink but peeing all over the countertop. At first I didn't know what had happened so I cleaned it up, and the next day caught him in the act again. He hasn't done it since though but in the meantime two bath mats are in the wash, and the single bed in my son's room has had to be stripped and the mattress treated with enzyme odour remover.
I'm so sick of hauling the bedclothes off my husband at 5am because I've been up with a baby and now I can't go back to bed because I have to put the bed linen in the machine. I'm so sick of my home smelling of cat pee and having to track down and work out what exactly has been urinated on this time by following my nose like a grossed-out bisto kid. I'm sick of losing comfortable shoes because I can't keep them by the door. I'm tired of not being able to have floor coverings - rugs and front door mats have all met the same fate. I've spent a fortune replacing sports bags and shoes and bedding.
I feel so trapped. He's only 5 and has a life expectancy of 16-20 years. I can't put down a healthy cat and he can't be rehomed with that behaviour, and I couldn't part him from his beloved twin sister either. I know he's my responsibility for the next 10-15 years. I feel so envious of other people's lovely clean, fragrant, unscratched, hair free homes. Of their black clothes that they don't have to constantly lint roll or dry clean because the volume of cat hair from 3 fluffy breed cats means black clothes look even worse coming out of the washing machine than they did going in.
The right number of cats for me would be one or none. We lost the girl recently and found her trapped in a cupboard after a brief scare. And all I could think was "why her? Why couldn't we lose Mr Pissy Pussy instead?" I would never do anything to further his demise but when I fantasise about leaving my husband so he could keep his two cats and I'd have my own well-mannered boy alone... I mean they are all "our" cats, just happened that over time one of the boys has attached himself to each of us and the girl goes with the younger male cat as they are close sibs.
I am at my wit's end. I don't know what to do.