Our 5 year old cat, Lucy, is pooping on the floor. She had diarrhea about a month ago. We took her to the vet who put her on Metronidazole and Hills id catfood. Her stools now look normal but she poops on the floor, sometimes right next to the litter box. I bought ner a new litter box with new litter so she now has 2 litter boxes, one is left uncovered. She also has her choice of scented and unscented clumping cat litter. (insert smileyface icon with rolling eyeballs). She uses both litter boxes to pee, but has pooped all over the house, including several of her favorite napping places. She's an inside only cat.
We have wood and tile floors, so clean up is not too bad. Of course, it stinks up the whole house. The vet diagnosed her with irritable bowel syndrome but thinks the "pooping outside the box" is a behavioral problem.
How can I retrain my cat to use her litter box? Has anyone noticed that their cat prefers or refuses a certain type or brand of cat litter? Any suggestions on what could be causing this behavior or how to change it are appreciated!
Thank you, ladies. These are great suggestions and I am in the process of trying them. If she continues to poop outside the box, I'll ask the vet for some kitty Prozac for little Lucy.
Latest edit: She's using her litter box again, yipee. And the winner of the "cat's choice" award is: the pine pellet litter from Trader Joes!
I had this very problem when I moved my country cat to town. I gave up. I opened a kitty door and he went outside. The box and litter were removed and we had no more pooping outside the box problems.
Cats can be very spiteful over things you are not even thinking about.
I'm wondering if (based on Kristine's report of a cat with IBS that does the same) there is something about the smell that makes the cat not want it in her little box? Cats are very clean, and like clean litter boxes. Maybe try (if you can) cleaning it after every time she goes in there? I have three cats, and they've never done anything like that, although I do have one who sneak pees in piles of clothing occasionally. Good luck...cats resist training.
Second thought...IBS causes incontinence. In people, it causes painful spasms and inability to hold it for long...maybe she can't always make it to the litter box. Its not uncommon for a person with severe IBS to not make it to the bathroom on occassion. You could try setting up several small ones close to where she usually hangs out to see if it makes a difference.
We use a Tidy Cat Breeze cat little system with our 3 cats and our boys don't ever miss. The litter isn't clumping, but it's easy to clean. The litter is large pellets and there is tray with an absorbent pad underneath to collect the urine. Frequent scooping and changing of the pad keeps the litter clean and odors way down. Maybe what your kitty finds unpleasant is the odor or condition of her boxes. Cats can be really finicky about their litter boxes, especially after they've been ill. I found that no matter how much I worked to keep a box clean with clumping litter it just wasn't that clean. I love that this litter doesn't scatter far and what does come out of the box is easy to sweep or vacuum up, unlike the clumping stuff. Hope your baby feels better soon!
I discovered my cat was pooping and peeing in a corner of my house after I changed litter brands (I was trying a cheap store brand.) I switched back to the original brand she liked but she continued to poop in the corner. We decided to make her a full time outdoor kitty instead of part time.
We have three cats and one is very persnickety and picky. My kids are supposed to scoop out solid waste and flush it every morning & evening but sometimes that doesn't happen. I can always tell when it's not done properly because Sasha will pee beside the tub (she never poops outside of the box though, thankfully). The one time they did start pooping in the utility room it was where their box originally was when we moved in. So we simply placed a small box there and that problem was solved.
I can always tell when Sasha's nose is out of joint with me because she'll pee beside the tub right in front of me. I just remembered that she did poop outside of the box one other time and it was the day I gave her a bath to soothe/heal her skin inflammation after a nasty flea infestation. She pooped right in the middle of my bed. Sigh.... We did rule out that Sasha didn't have a UTI or some other problem so with her it's behavioral too.
I talked to the vet about it, and she said cats are extremely picky, some more so than others. She told me that for her cats, she actually didn't use proper "litter" boxes at all. She went out and bought several long, shallow plastic storage tubs and she only placed a shallow layer of litter in it each day. She then completely disposed of the litter every evening.
I haven't tried that but I have noted that with Sasha, having the lid on her box vs. off does make a difference. It doesn't matter how clean that box was. If the lid was off, it was a no go. While I don't dispose of my litter every day, I do keep a shallow layer in the box and changes it 2 or 3 times a week.
Have you tried a non clay litter (paper, wood, corn cob, etc.)? I use wood and as the cat pees in it, the pellets break down and expand so I often wind up with much more litter in the box than what I originally added. It's naturally scented too, which I like vs. the heavy perfumes in scented cat litter. It's not good for the fur balls and I don't care for it because I'm sensitive to synthetic scents.
There are usually recommendations on the back of the bag of litter on how to switch it with a new brand or type. I have to admit though that I will often go cold turkey with my cats on a type of litter and the only time I had a problem was when I had to use clay litter (because of budget issues). Come to think of it, that's the time they started going in the utility room. They really didn't like it! LOL I wound up using strips of torn news print instead for a few days until I could get the type of litter they were used to. While I often buy wood, they've also used paper and even wheat. It comes in pellets.
Since the vet indicated it sounds like behavioral vs. a physical problem I would try her with other types of litter, how often you dispose of the waste & litter, even placement of the box. See if that helps. If she wasn't always like this and it only started after she was ill, there's something going on in her environment that she doesn't like. Just observe you kitty. It may take a while, and lots of experimentation but it's worth it. Good luck!
Mine (and me) likes the Fresh Step clumping litter. But if her box gets too full, more than a couple of "turds" for lack of a better word and a couple of clumps of pee, she meows at me and lets me know she wants it changed otherwise she craps and pees on the bathmat in front of the tub instead. I have spanked her right when I've caught her in action on the bathmat and tossed her into her litterbox. It's kind of a sporadic behavior and I'm sure it has something to do with territorial rights and such. You know how cats are, they definitely arent dogs so sometimes you have to put up with some weirdness if you love them. It's a pain tho. Maybe sprinkle some baking soda on the spot that she's been liking to go, maybe that would detour her. Having two litter boxes might be confusing, I'd go back to just the one if I were you.
The cats I cat-sit for are very persnickety about their litter boxes--they have to be emptied twice per day!
My sister had a similar issue. One of her cats started peeing in the bathroom sink. The vet found nothing physically wrong with the cat, and suggested it might be caused by depression. (I know, I probably reacted the same as you're reacting now.) But once the cat had been on antidepressants for a short while, she resumed peeing in her liter box and has not relapsed. It might be worth a try.
we go through this with my cat several times a year. It seems to happen when she is mad about things. She likes a particular area of the house and she likes bath mats. We have 2 cats and count them, 5 litter boxes. one box has a cover, some have clumping litter and some have crystal litter. The vet said that she may be constipated and she goes when she gets it out, but I don't buy it because of the places she selects. I'm guessing with your cat she had the diarrhea with out any control over where she went and now she is probably lazy. put her back in her box every time you see a poop to remind her and you may want to put some of the poop there too. Make sure you clean the area too. One of the problems we have is once the sent gets in there, it keeps attracting them back to that same spot. We have Feliway diffuser which has helped a bit.
I have a friend who has a cat with the same problem.(IBS) She has to clean the box every day so she won't poop on the floor.
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I have a friend who has a cat with the same problem.(IBS) She has to clean the box every day so she won't poop on the floor.
