I can't look after my cat anymore

Amazon do a Microwave Heat Pad which stays warm all day. They're excellent.
Could she be shut in the kitchen with a litter tray on a training pad?

Your cat needs to be taken to the vet asap

Cats hide pain very well and there is a reason why your cat is doing this - arthritis, uti, etc

You should rehome your cat if you cannot provide proper care for the pet
Your suggestion to put the cat to sleep as cat is a nuisance reaffirms my rehoming suggestion

cassy one thing to be aware of if you are considering looking into rehoming her: there are some utterly vile people out there who will answer ads on social media to rehome cats & kittens (often sending an extremely plausible woman with a convincing story) who will then use the poor cats as bait for dog fighting. Be very sure about where your cat will be going.
The rescue organisations around me have waiting lists and there are very few places with foster carers, mainly because people won't be responsible enough to have their cats chipped and neutered.
You do have my sympathy, it's a really difficult situation but cats are clean creatures and don't deliberately wet and soil in the house. There is always a reason behind this behaviour but sometimes you just need help to work out what is going on.

She really needs to go to the vet!

My old girl had kidney failure.
So I would advise seeing a Vet first.

I was expensive to treat her. Special food, meds every day. Luckily I had insurance that paid about 75 % for the medication, as she has been with them all her life, had a good history with them.
She developed this about 16 yrs old, I got her to 20 years before she finally passed away.
The Vet will advise you.. Its difficult.

Sending you and your old girl best wishes.

Oldbat1

She really needs to go to the vet!

If you can't afford a vet, please go to PDSA- to be fair to her, you need to find out what's going on and how best to help her.

High sided trays can be very hard for them when they get old. You need a normal sided xxl tray from Pets at home sat on puppy pads. www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/rimmed-cat-litter-tray-p4619--1 and an igloo type bed as it keeps them warmer.....similar to this but you can get better ones cheaper by searching round www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/searchterm?searchTerm=igloo%20cat%20bed&pageSize=24&resultType=1 . I second taking to the vets for a check up just to be sure.....might be an arthritis thing, our old girl was given an anti inflammatory gell that wasn't expensive. I know what you mean about the smell of urine but if she's been faithful companion for years, I know you will want to take the vets advice and do what's best for her.

This might be helpful

www.cats.org.uk/what-we-do/giving-up-a-cat

My cat is 15 and had exactly the same problem as yours, weeing on the carpet so i got some special cat litter from amazon so you can take a urine sample easily, and the vet tested it and she had a urine infection which was easily treated with antibiotics i just put in her food, she also had athritis so they also gave me pain medication, and she's now a different cat and no more weeing on the carpet, i also use yumove for cats which is for their joints, the vet said she's doing great for 15 so don't give up on your cat

Oh and i also bought a waterproof mat to go under the litter tray, and she loves her heatpad from Amazon which you just put in the microwave and it keeps them warm and cosy all day so you won't need to put the heating on just pop it on her bed

I will take her to the vet. She is just elderly, and doesn't have much of a life at the moment.

Let us know how she gets on cassy. Older pets are very time consuming, especially with continence issues, but I've lost both of mine within six weeks of each other and I miss them.

My beautiful old cat died late August, the week after I'd had the floors here replaced. I had toyed with the idea of moving out into a hotel with my dog, and putting her in kennels, but as she didn't go out very much, I hadn't kept her vaccinations up to date so it would have meant a full round of vaccinations then the stress of a kennels. We'd rescued her as a feral kitten from a farm, she was very timid. Up until this point I'd been lucky and found cat feeders when I went away. Instead, we all crammed into the back kitchen/lounge while the work was being done and she slept with me on the blow up bed. As she was fed in the kitchen that routine wasn't changed. She stopped eating about three days after the work was finished, but I was still varnishing the floors so the rest of the bungalow was still off limits. I'm glad she caught a mouse the week before she died, and didn't suffer for long, it was her kidneys.

Good luck.

We had this problem with our cat, also 15 now. She's now on dry biscuits, as recommended by the vet - Royal Canin Urinary. It has solved the problem.

Hope you come back from the vet with some solutions cassy - upu must be so desperate and exhausted.

Cassy
No, she is having a problem with her hip (as you observed) that is why she doesnt have much of a life

It has nothing to do with being eldery

Please do not adopt any more cats after this one - pets depend on us, their humans, to take care of them.

cassy

That's the thing @parlourgames and @razzamatazz. She isn't ill, she just wees outside the box and it has such high sides to stop her peeing over the top it's hard for her to get in, and she still manages to wee over the side!!
I just can't do this for maybe 5 more years. I can't.

I actually think you really know the answer. I think you need to get your cat re-homed if only for your own health and safety - you simply can have cat wee on the floor, you might slip or pick up something nasty from it.

We have a 10 year old cat with similar problems- so we solved it by avoiding the normal sized litter trays and instead using a very sturdy, low sided, seed tray from the garden centre. It's about 2ft x 2ft. She uses this all the time, no spillage, etc. She chooses to be on her own all day, she's quite cosy in one of the spare rooms, even though we have no heat on. She lounges in the sun wherever it's shining in the room. She has the freedom but chooses her own little routine. She's also a "biter" being ex feral, but I'd never rehome her purely because noone would want her due to her nature and age, and anyway this has been her lifelong home. I hope you can get your elderly cat to see a vet regarding her waterworks, there may be a kidney problem or even diabetes.

If she is weeing outside her tray, or inside it but aiming wrongly, the problem could be due to one of two things.

Either the tray is not clean enough by HER standards, not yours. If this is the case give her two clean trays and see if it helps.

She is old, so does she have rheumatism that makes getting in and out of the tray difficult?

If so a tray with lower sides might be the answer.

Have you had her checked by the vet? Female cats are practically as prone to chills on the bladder as we women are.

And elderly cats (and dogs) can become incontinent.

Is she distressed by this habit of weeing all over the place.'? If she is, then there is a physical cause most likely. If she isn't, she is either cross with you because the tray is not clean enough by her standards, or she is doing it deliberatly to provoke you, being in a huff about something else, or she is suffering from a form of senile dementia.

I realise going to the vet is expensive, but if there is a physical cause it needs either to be treated, or you and the vet need to agree that the end is in sight and let her go now.

Hard yes, but letting the cat go downhill slowly is worse.

Yes, I don't want her to go down hill. She went outside today, God knows why. And couldn't get back in again. She was cold and damp. What if she does it when it snows or gets really cold. She is definitely getting senile
Her litter tray is clean, it's just the way she wees, very high and it goes over. A shallow tray does not work. Period. A low tray is worse. A high tray is better, but she struggles to get in it hence the accidents.

Take.cat.to.vet.asap.

What's stopping you?

You say your cat isn’t unwell, but several things suggest otherwise, including excessive urination, a clicking hip and poor mobility, general unhappiness. Yes, she is elderly, but it does sound as though she’s not enjoying her old age.

On the other hand there’s your anxiety and concern for her, and the distress the whole situation is causing you.

Then there is the question of rehoming an elderly cat with hygiene, possibly health, problems. That doesn’t sound like the kindest solution for a very elderly cat which has been rehomed at least once before.

If it was my cat, or dog, I’d take him/her to the vet for a health check and be prepared to face having to say goodbye. It might be the kindest option, all things considered.

I dont know where you are cassy but if in north west/ cheshire region there may be someone who can help. I will pass on details to you if this is the case

I'm south west mikkima

cassy. Please take your cat to the vet without further delay. She is very poorly and distressed and needs professional help.

Please seek medical advice. Are you doing anything to help her out? For example underneath our huge litter tray we have an even bigger mat, just to catch the litter ours treads on. It looks untidy, but we don't mind. You worry she can't get back in once she's outside - why is this? Could you not provide her with an outdoor shelter? She's getting on now so needs a bit of help I'd think. You can even get built up ramps to enable her proper access to her built up tray contraption.