Cat issues

Hi all, having a problem which I hope someone can help with please.

We have a 4 year old, de sexed, female cat. She has always either used the dirt box, or the newspaper it sits on, or done her business outside.
We shifted 10 days ago and since then, she has been doing her business where ever she likes
I know the shift has upset her and stressed her out, so I have been very tolerant till now, but yesterday she went outside for an hour and came back inside and peed in the bath [:0]
At least, at this stage, she is using the uncovered floor rather than on the carpet, which is good as it is easy to clean up, but I would really like her to get back to using outside.

The elderly male cat we also have has had no problems adjusting to the new place and continues to use the litter box or outside.

Any suggestions please as this is getting really annoying.

Too many other cat, or just completely unknown, smells outside? Mop up what she leaves you and wring the cloths out outside so she knows it's her place? Now there's an appealing idea! [}]

More litter boxes in the mean time, all over your house? Is she a cuddly cat? Pick her up lots.

I am now into the seventh year of rehabilitating a kitten someone dumped near here, which was initially scared of everything, but these last school holidays actually came inside while the visiting children were here and let one of them touch him. Feline emotional recovery can take a long time! (He's a very affectionate and lovely animal with us on our own, or I'd have given up long ago.)

Might be worth trying Feliway (Sp?) which calms stressed cats. We used it when Max got upset about the new kittens and it seemed to work. You can get it from vets.

How about confining her to one room for a few days with everything in there such as food, warm bedding and her dirt box.... it just sounds like she is out of sorts with the move and nothing is familar for her.

We had similar with one of our cats after we moved, he needed to have his smell over the place, in particular he peed on my husbands clothes if he left them on the floor (good incentive for him to put them in the linen basket straight away though lol ) We had to put up with it for about 6 months (cost a fortune in carpet cleaner), but eventually he got used to the new place and has stopped, so time is probably the only cure.

I know what would happen if my cat started peeing in the house for 5 months.
Following on from what Kate said, why not just try some rescue remedy in her water or milk but am not sure what the product is that kate is suggesting or what it does

do the planet a favour. bury the cat.

Feliway is fantastic stuff! It's not cheap but works wonders. It's a mimic of the happy cat pheromone. We used it when our neutered male was peeing inside due to stress from marauding cats. It calmed him fantastically and almost immediately he stopped scratching furniture and began smooching again. And stopped peeing inside!
The plugins are best. Buy it online..it's a lot cheaper. Try 'My Vet'.

Have you got an 'open access' cat flap??

www.myvet.co.nz/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=feliway

Kate;461809 wrote: Might be worth trying Feliway (Sp?) which calms stressed cats. We used it when Max got upset about the new kittens and it seemed to work. You can get it from vets.

Didn't work fo my cat. I paid something in the region of $80 for the plug in and the bottle to go with it and the first thing my cat did was pee on the plug in. (Don't know how he avoided an electric shock)
When we moved here with the two cats, I put one litter tray in the bath and the other out in the porch which we are able to close to outer door on. For a while the bath was the place to go (and much easier to clean out in case of overspills) Now, one goes off outside and the other still occasionally uses the tray in the porch. It took a bit longer for them to settle than I would have thought, but then the first weekend we were here there was a very noisy air show, and planes of all descriptions making noises of all descriptions, upset them a lot.

My history with cats is that you need to get them well away from the old house before you are moving and you don't bring them back until you are settled. That means spending the money to have them in a cattery.

When you bring them home, you are settled, they are glad to see you and they can go around the house and smell all the familiar things; the sofas, chairs, beds etc. You then watch them as they look out the windows or ranch sliders to familiarise themselves with where they are (cat litter obviously in place) and they tell you when they want to move outside. You go with them and reassure them that this is all good.

I have moved three times in the past 2 years and this is what I do and have never had a cat pee in the house (unless in the litter box). Perhaps the fact that my cat is now 10 years old makes me more sensitive to her needs and having to face new cats in the area. Perhaps I go overboard (and yes it does cost money) but I want her to feel safe and secure before she has to face the new challenges that are possibly huge monsters to her.

Thanks for the (mostly) helpful replies. I caught her wanting to "go" in the bath yesterday morning and put her outside for long enough that she must have went somewhere. The weather was dreadful and she definately did not want to go outside so I felt quite mean forcing the issue but she has to learn. No puddles yesterday or overnight and she has gone outside already this morning.
I hope it is just a time thing and she will come right.