How to help our cat adjust

[AuroraBorealis]

Our elderly cat (going to be 16 this year) is obviously not happy with my partner and me now working full-time. We moved to another city a few months ago and expected her to struggle, but, to our surprise, she handled the move quite well, with a few obviously stressed days in the beginning, but she seems to have settled in well. But last week, my partner started to work full-time as well, so that during the week, she now is home alone for most of the day, until usually I come home around 5PM. We do our best to pet and play with her when we're home and on the weekends, but, of course, she still is alone quite a lot. She is obviously not happy about it, seems grumpy and peed in front of her litter box the past 2 nights, even though her litter box was clean. She doesn't have any health or kidney problems that we know of, and, considering the overall situation, we are fairly certain that the peeing is for emotional reasons.
After the move, we let her sleep in our bed at night, but for a few weeks now we started putting her out during the night because she disturbs both of our sleeps. This probably also upset her. We already considered letting her back to sleep with us at least on the weekends, when it doesn't matter so much if she wakes us up a few times.

We try our best to give her as much love and attention as we can while we're home, but we just both work full-time now.

Any advice from fellow cat-owners? We have no family living nearby who could drop by during the day. Maybe she also needs some time to adjust to the change. There have been phases in the past where she was alone for a big part of the day, due to internships and such, and while of course she was a bit grumpy with us when we came home, she seemed fine. Maybe it's just too much change for her right now.

 

[Masked Man]

Have you taken the cat for a vet check up? She may have a bladder infection and peeing causes discomfort. They don't understand that it's the bladder itself causing pain and associate the pain with the litter box.

Or it's possible that she may have some arthritis and just moving around causes her pain.

Either way, a vet check may be in order just to rule out some issues.

 

[Mary Terry]

@AuroraBorealis - I wish I had some suggestions but it sounds like the cat needs time to adjust to the new place and routine. My two cats are really old and so jealous of each other that they'd pee on each other if possible. One sleeps on top of the clothes dryer during the day; the other one sleeps on a shelf in the corner of a closet. Maybe make sure your cat has a secure place to sleep when you're not there?

We have a pet door that enters the fenced backyard so they can come and go at will but we live in a rural area so the cats are fairly safe outside and can come back in the house whenever they want to. Is a pet door feasible where you live?

 

[TBRS1]

I have two cats. That takes care of the problem for me.

They both prefer humans, though.