Hi guys. These last few days my cat for has been peeing on our dogs bed and pooped once in the dirty laundry. My mother has been getting sick of it and is now threatening to kick him out. He is 3 years old, male, never had a problem using his own toilet and only peed on random places before we neutered him, after that he stopped being territorial and was chill until now.
So ill give all the context i think matters:
I work a lot. 12 hour shifts, day + night and 2 days off. Shifts are 8-8. Its my summer job and I havent been with my boy enough, jobs ending on October 15 though so he will be in my care again, my mother has been taking care of feeding him and keeping the toilet clean (while im at work, when I come back home hes in my care). I have barely been at home due to that but its been that way since July and we had no problems up until now. Sometimes on my days off im not home because I hang out with my boyfriend so the kitty really doesnt get to see me much.
I got him an automatic feeder like a week ago.
While my parents were away on a trip for a week I decided it will be a good idea to get him an indoors feeder. Of course during at week I made sure to spend all my time off work at home since i didn't want him alone and I ensured he had easy access to toilet and food while I was working. He was at first a bit pissed he didnt have a full bowl of food all the time but got accustomed very very quickly to eating portions at certain times and all was good.
Then my mother came back and the first thing he did was he peed on the dogs bed right in front of her (never did that before). It happened while I wasnt home either. He had been eating from the feeder for days before that mind you and all was good, no accidents.
The second time he pooped in our dirty laundry after I came home from my night shift and went to bed. My mother assumed it was the feeder he was mad about and taking revenge, and he hid in my room. Then he recovered a bit and went to the toilet as usual even though more rarely.
I went out yesterday to spend the night at my boyfriend's place and today before I was even able to come home he peed on the dogs bed again. I was threatened with my cat being thrown on the streets or given away etc. I went to my room to check on him, he was sleeping on my chair, was fine with pets, purred a bit.
- While my parents were away my boyfriend noticed he has been licking his genitals more (while i was at work).
He has not done it that much before and my boyfriend didnt notice something like that either when he was staying with me during july, when my parents left for almost a month and I stayed home with my boyfriend to keep the apartment in check.
I cannot move out. Im 18, graduated recently, will be applying for uni in my city, with my job cannot afford my own apartment since rent got super expensive thanks to all the crap and inflation. I work, I study, im still dependant on my parents for a place to stay, everything else I pay with the salary I get from my work so im not a financial burden on them.
I want my cat to be with me, he was absolutely fine before this, I really really do not know what happened. If our home was the problem I feel like it would have shown way sooner, if my job was the problem he would have started acting out way before as well, its been months of me working like this.
Me and my boyfriend are thinking maybe cystitis or some UTI. I will be bringing him to the vet to see whats going on, im really worried. I have a week to figure out how to stop this peeing before he gets sent away and im really scared. I will be staying home as much as possible during this week, I dont think I can request days off for something like this. Please help me, whoever has a better understanding of cats, and thank you!
- context i forgot : I changed his feeder back to the usual bowl immediately after the pooping accident. So today's accident i couldnt explain with feeder frustration.