Pooing in the house.

[Brieandcamembert]

Our 12 year old cat has started pooing and weeing in the house in the last month. It's not urge incontinence as she spends most of her life in the kitchen and actively travels upstairs to poo on the floor, despite having a cat flap. I clean with the pet odour eliminator and shut all the doors. She then did it on the landing.

We have a 3 year old dog that sometimes chases her and has chases her outside. We are also rural so don't know if she's had a scar from a fox or something. I suspect the dog is the issue.

I really can't have a litter tray in the house due to the dog and small children. Any thoughts on fixing the problem?

Forgot to say, she was previously a big roamer. She could be found a whole field away pottering about. She's a mouser and loves the outside, albeit she's a fair weather girl.

It sounds like the cat needs a safe place and a litter tray. If you have a utility or downstairs toilet put a catflap in the door and put the tray there. It's not uncommon as cats get older for them not to want to toilet outside.

A lot of cat toileting issues are the result of stress so you need to stop providing opportunities for the dog to chase her, supervise dog in the garden, keep on a lead, use long line, baby gates in the house etc.

You need a litter tray - having a dog and small children isn't a reason not to have one for her to use.

She needs space away from the dog and a litter tray in a quiet, secluded part of the house where she can go undisturbed.

You also need to get on top of training the dog - your cat is 12 and being chased out of her own home and is stressed to the point she's actively choosing to toilet on the floor.

I know it's tough with a dog and a cat (we have a dog and three cats) but we still have multiple litter trays and the dog is not allowed to chase either.

If you're worried about your children in the litter tray then put it behind a babygate or you can put them in cupboards and install cat flaps so only the cat has access.