Cat shitting in living room

[viviennewestood]

I'm at my wits end. A couple of days ago my new cat started pissing in the corner of the room and now I've just walked in to a massive shit next to dd's play kitchen in the living room

She's has the choice of two litter trays and the garden. Why is she doing this??

You say new cat. Whenever a cat is getting used to a new home the advice is to leave them in the room where their litter tray will be permanently so that they can get used to where their toilet is. That they stay only in that room for a few days, then slowly let them scope out other rooms.

Also, make sure there are no strong smells around the litter tray e.g. not close to a bin and keep the litter tray clean as you can as they don't like going again when they've already used the tray.

Your new cat may also be stressed out/confused in new surroundings.

I've had her for a month now but the accidents coincided with me letting her out into the garden for the first time. I think she assumed I was abandoning her because she had a bit of a tough start

I was a bit stressed the other morning when it happened (not with the cat!) but I think I've sorted it out and have been giving her even more love and attention than usual to make her realise that I'm not going to treat her badly. Poor girl.

Aw, poor girl. Do all new things slowly so let her get used to just being indoors first. Then when you want to have her outside stand out with her while she has a stroll around and then go back inside. build it up to you being in but leave the door open etc and hopefully she'll soon settle.