Housemate giving me grief over cat

Hi, so I posted a while back about my new kitten (the one I couldn't find a name for). Well, it was all going fairly well at first and Mr. Bingley settled in well.

I live with 4 other people, 1 woman and three men. Two of the guys and the girl love Bingley but the fourth has been less than enthusiastic. It wasn't too bad at first, just nasty looks and passive-agressive behaviour but he's now positively aggressive and none of the passive bit.

I'd understand if he'd voiced his objection to having a cat in the house BEFORE I got it. For over a month I kept mentionning that I wanted to get a cat, did he say anything? No.

The latest thing is the litter box, ok, yes, it smells after one week, which is why I change the whole thing every week. But he feels it's his duty to remind me. It's insulting and patronising because I DO IT ON MY OWN, I'm not 10 years old, I don't need him after me to do it. I scoop everything out twice a day and also, he "reminds" me. Now, he's gotten one of the other housemates to back him into "suggesting" I keep the box in my room which I had originally intended except they all lock the cat in the living room and kitchen that's why I had the box in the kitchen. Not much use if the cat can't get to the box, right? So he's all "this way we can avoid the argument every time the box needs to be cleaned" and I'm thinking "what argument?". I comply every time and am starting to get annoyed and feeling like a pushover. At the same time, what am I going to say? It's not like he's asking anything really objectionable and I can't do conflict. But his attitude is making it very unpleasant to live here but I'm only 3 months into my 6 months tenancy contract.

What can I do about this attitude of his?

I don't especially like having it in the kitchen but the way this house is built, it was pretty much the only place where it could go. There's a downstairs bathroom that connects with the kitchen (and it smells foul, the guys use it but you don't hear any complaints about that... even though you can smell it from the kitchen...) but it's tiny and there's no space for the box. And because they insisted on closing the door so the cat only has access to the living room and kitchen, well, where else could it go? They forced me into having it there.

So, just a few minutes ago I had an argument with grumpy housemate. This morning he asked me to keep the tray in my room in exchange for letting the cat run free in the rest of the house. I said fine, even if it means keeping my room door open all day and the subsequent lack of privacy. This was my side of the compromise. BUT the kitten is very active at night and doesn't let me sleep. I wake up very early for a very boring job and I NEED to sleep. So, I talked with another housemate and he suggested I take the tray back downstairs during the night and then back into my room for the day. I informed Grumpy about this and he was all stubborn that he didn't want the tray in a communal area. ANY communal area. Upstairs bathroom included. He was refusing to compromise, it was hard but I stood my ground. I almost cried but I held myself quite well and no one noticed.

Eventually he agreed to one place that I thought off as being an acceptable compromise. He SHOUTED at me! I swear, he ever does that again, he's getting it right back. Ok, you can't say I haven't been a good and patient housemate! I keep compromising but not him, everything has to be done his way and he always has to have the last word. I'm not backing down though, he could have said something before I got the kitten. Bing is not going anywhere and neither am I (unless I get a job in London that is ).

Shakesbear said:

Um... once a week? I can only speak for myself but when I had a six week old kitten one a week was okish - but as he got older I changed his litter two to three times a week. As well as cleaning out as often as it was needed. Which may have meant twice a week. Is the cat going to be a house cat - or wills/he be going out? If the former then I think you ought to consider a better place than the kitchen - maybe the bathroom/toilet? No one can object to smells from there! If an outdoor cat then the use of the scratch tray will diminish greatly - and so will the smells. Ah - MR Bingley - sorry - slow here! He will make a pong unless you have him neutered - which should help greatly.

Agree with previous post!

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It really doesn't smell all that much, only really starts to reek after a week and even then, you have to really get close. He'll be getting neutered as soon as he's old enough too.

Oh and Grumpy plays with the kitten, even cuddles him every now and then, the hypocritical b*****d. I think he likes the cat just fine just doesn't want to deal with the consequences of having one in the house. If the cat had been his, I bet he wouldn't be nearly as accommodating as I have been. And he's the only one who has a problem with it, the other three housemates are fine with the whole arrangement but things have to be done to his requirements.

I wish I knew how to make myself less of a prefered target. There are things my other housemates do that he criticizes in me but doesn't seem to mind in the others.

I use a clumping litter and I scoop every day, twice a day (before I leave for work and when I get back). He didn't have to ask me, I had a schedule but he felt the need to "remind me" anyway. Just because I don't do it to his schedule doesn't mean I don't do it. He's just looking to cause trouble.

Also, I'm not the only one with a pet, the other girl has a rabbit and it pees on EVERYTHING when she brings it inside. Has Grumpy asked her to not bring the rabbit into communal areas? Nope.
He also asked me to "be more proactive washing my dishes". Whose dishes are those in a pile in the sink? Not mine. Has he asked the others the same thing? Nope.

And like I said, I didn't want it in the kitchen in the first place but they didn't give me a choice so I think it's really unfair that I'm the one getting criticized for the location when I was forced into chosing that place.

And yes, everyone in the house knew that I was going to get a cat so long as there were no complaints. He says I didn't tell him which is nonsense because I brought it up at our first "house meeting". If any one of them had said they didn't want a cat in the house, I wouldn't have gotten one no matter how much I wanted it because, like I said, I don't like conflict. That said, if someone brings it to me, I'll fight back. All he had to do is not be an anti-social jerk and ask me not to.

He goes around with this smug look on his face now that I moved the box to my room (because they realized they couldn't leave kitten locked in the living room if they didn't want the box in the kitchen) like it's some sort of huge victory against me when it was my original intent anyway. Also, considering he had to give in and let me have the box outside of my room at night when he refused completely at first would rather say I won the bigger battle. It's just so frustrating to live with this guy! Grrrrrrr! Sorry for venting on all of you but I know that there's a lot of people here who know how to deal with difficult and contrary people better than I can. I can handle the regular sort of bullies just fine, having been bullied all of my childhood, but this is a completely different sort of abuse.