# Elderly cat peeing and pooping indoors



## jalfrezi (Jan 24, 2010)

I have three cats and the eldest one is now 18 years old. All of them go outside via a catflap but the eldest has recently started peeing (at first) and now pooping inside the house and the problem seems to be getting more regular. She first did a very occasional pee a number of months ago, usually on carpet tiles just inside my front door. I mentioned this to the vet when I took her for her annual booster and he just said that considering her age she may well be going slightly senile (as we humans do) and didn't realise what she was doing. The problem seemed to disappear for a while but over the past 2-3 weeks it has got worse and she has pooped a number of times in the house now as well. This may have been made worse by the dreadful snow we had late December/early January which may have put her off going outside. I have shut the door to prevent her using the carpet tiles area in the hall but discovered a pool on the bathroom floor the other day so I have to keep that door shut as well. The strange thing is that she doesn't resort to this every time and I have seen her going out the cat flap on many occasions. Because I have another two cats I was really hoping to avoid providing a litter tray for her as they might all start using it and none of them will want to go out! 

It may not have a bearing on things but she is hyperthyroid and is on Felimazole tablets. having said that she has been on this medication for a number of years, certainly long before this problem arose.


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## kittykat (Nov 2, 2007)

aww poor kitty, I think its just her age - really dont know what to suggest other than a litter tray sorry!


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## owieprone (Nov 6, 2008)

don't take this the wrong way but for the sake of your elderly cat get a tray.. it's not that much of an imposition to clean it out and will go some way towards stopping oldie from leaving stinkers on your floor. although it won't stop it completely if she does indeed have memory problems.

it's rather mean to make an elderly cat go outside for the toilet just because you don't want to deal with having at tray (though i would rather it was a tray a 10% of the time than 100% on floor or furniture). 

you're only other option is to get rid of her or pts.
you wouldn't treat your grandparents with senility like this..why a cat?

i'd doubt any healthy cat in their right mind would stop going outside completely just because it now has access to a tray..they might use it when it's bucketing down or when they're feeling abit lazy but they will probably continue with their old routine as normal.
cats tend to go where they feel save, yours are used to going outside and will have a preferred area to do it, they will still use it even if they do supplement it with the tray. you can always get rid of it again when oldie passes away.


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