Cat has pissed in the fruit bowl...

[SomethingSimple]

Advice please.
I have 2 cats. Sisters - 15 years old.
Got them from a rescue centre when they were kittens. They were nervous as kittens and have had lots of love from us.
Both have form - peed on our children when they were babies, pooed on my mother when she was asleep, shat on wallets, weed on lego, pissed on slippers, peed IN THE TOASTER (straddled it) BUT all when our children were little. We put this down to jealousy and sought to compensate by making time for them when we could. Groomed, made them dens etc.
Both our children are lovely with the cats, they are quite and careful around them, groom them, are respectful.
The cats go out to pee/ poo.
Years of good behaviour from the cats (the the occasional transgression -pissing on new lego/ on presents under the Christmas tree) and now a month of hugely depressing & disgusting peeing and shitting that feels personal. It's feels impossible to have them in the flat now.
For example in the last month one of them has climbed onto a book case to piss all over children's books. Pissed on the entrance between kitchen and hall so that we step in it first thing in the morning. Pooing RIGHT in front of us in the front room just now!!!! pissing IN A JUST FILLED FRUIT BOWL. Running into my daughters bed to have a piss...I spend ages cleaning/ throwing out much loved possessions that are covered in CAT PISS and I'm at the end of my tether.
I have to have them out.
Why would this be happening?

Oh god that's awful! Sorry I've no advise, my cat goes outside and we just have the litter tray for emergencies. I always thought cats were quite clean though, could it be something to do with getting old? Cat dementia if that even exists? Is it both of them or just one? You have been very tolerant, I would be really upset by this X

Have you taken them to the vet to make sure there's no health issue behind it?

Is something bothering them outside that's making them reluctant to go out? You could try putting a litter tray inside for them just to see if it helps.

I also have a cat that has shat on my sleeping children before and pissed all over the house. I think the problem was a new unneutered tom in the 'hood. I almost rehomed my cat during this phase. It's stopped now, we got in the habit of making sure the cat was locked out in the day (he has a shed with a cat flap,shelves to hang out on etc. doesn't shit in there funny enough!) and keeping all doors closed in the house.

Definitely a litter tray or two needed indoors. I think they're like people in that they can't hold on so much as they get older. Agree with getting vet checks done too.

Can't be great but I think it's worth trying to get to the root cause.

Have you tried Feliway? I have a nuetured Tom who goes through phases of dirty protests (2 Handbags ruined while I was o. Holiday, 1 new boyfriend sent home is cat piss stained clothes etc). A couple of weeks in the Feliway usually gets him right again.

Any animal suddenly pooping or weeing in the house when they've been housetrained for years should flag up health issues (possibly contagious if you've more than one pet) and they should be seen by a vet ASAP preferably taking samples of wee and poo along for testing. My housetrained 8yr old dog started weeing and pooing inside a couple of months ago, turned out to be a UTI that was easily cleared up with antibiotics in a couple of days.

I think the root cause is probably that there is no litter tray in the house and they are reluctant to go outside for some reason (which often happens).

That said one of mine peed in the fruit bowl too this week. First time ever. I think he was trying to tell me something (probably that the litter tray hadn't been cleaned in the last hour -but it could have been anything).

Thanks all,

Good advice on here.

I'll take them to the vets. They seem to be in fine fettle but will check them out.

Sadly my old cat spent the last 2 years of her life pissing where she slept so basically the sofa.

Also the dog beds, our beds, any pile of clothes, anything on the floor, any boxes.

It stopped when she died and the younger cat had to become an outdoors cat as she did likewise as by that point the house stank of cat piss. It's a form of dementia I think, but when one does the other will too.

Good luck with it.

And we had 4 litter trays.

Two cats need three trays.

Yes Wally, one of mine will pee on anything we leave on the floor - especially the children's book bags if they can find one.

My cat is doing this as she's developed dementia. Had similar with her sister before she died 2 years ago due to dementia (her death was an unrelated medical condition).

This is advicevfrom vet:

3 litter trays - 1 of which does not have a hood.
Feliway infusers
Cleaning with a special pet deodoriser or vinegar as regular cleaners smell like cat urine.
Vets to be checked for a urinary tract infection.
If it's dementia, being locked in a room together with litter boxes when not supervised.
If it's because they've had a UTI and are worried about peeing due to remembering pain, the vet can prescribe a product called Zylkene which is effectively a cat happy pill. Supposedly it's non-addictive but our old girl used to pee in front of me every morning if I didn't give it to her.

Cat dementia is a thing. And I was wondering the same thing. Because my cat has pissed and shit in the fruit bowl as well. She only seems to do it whenever there's oranges in it though. When it doesnt It's completely fine. Nothing happens to it but It might be a stress thing as well.