Pooping outside of litterbox?

[sirrahbed]

Has anyone ever heard of this? I know that peeing and spraying outside of the box is discussed often but what about an adult kitty who starts pooping? :confused: I am asking about a kitty that belongs to my sister Carol (persianmom). Oskar started this about a month ago. No health issues that she knows of, still pees in the box - but poops anywhere in the house, even on Carol's bed where he sleeps :eek:

Any experience or thoughts on this?

[catmandu]

I have never had that with a Cat that was trained.
Karina was dirty, and Tubster can be because they were not trained on the box. Tubsters slowly learning with treat incentives.
i wish your sister good luck with Oskar but I am puzzled too.

[rg_girlca]

As you know Debbie, my Nugget was pooping outside the box after his little baby PeaPod left. Fortunately he only pooped just in front of the box and no where else. It took me almost 3 months to get it under control.

In regards to Carol's Oskar, has there been any kind of change in the house?
Renovations, moving furniture, moving the litter boxes, different litter or anything new that was added? Has she thought of adding an extra box? Did she bring Oskar to the vet to confirm it isn't anything medical?

These are just some things that I can think of off hand.

Here is a little info that I got off a site that might help:

Litterpan problems are very common in cats. It helps to think about this problem from the cat's point of view sometimes when trying to deal with it. Cats like to have a clean, inviting place to defecate and urinate. Remember some of the dirty bathrooms you have had to decide whether to use or not, and you can relate to this feeling. So it is very important to make the litterpan as attractive as possible for use.

Keep it very clean. Use a litter that the cat likes. The clumping type litters are the most commonly preferred litters in surveys of cat preference. If you are not using this type and your cat has a problem, it can help to switch.

The litterpan should be in a convenient, but private or at least semi-private site.

It helps very much to have one more litterpan than you have cats. In multicat households where this is impractical, it can help to give the problem cat access to the litterpan, alone, for several minutes twice a day.

When a cat is using a place in the house other than the litterpan to urinate or defecate, the opposite is also true. You want to make these spots unattractive. Cleaning the area with an enzymatic cleaner so the cat is not drawn back to the same site helps. Putting plastic or aluminum foil over the area, if possible, can be very helpful. Putting the litterpan at the site the cat prefers, then very gradually moving it to a site you like can be helpful.

[Grace]

I seem to recall hearing at one point - if a cat poops outside the box, it is behavioral; if it pees outside, it is medical.

Twice I have had cats that pooped outside the box, and both times it was a behavior problem - not medical.

[catnapper]

I'd really investigate what might have upset him. Be careful, as we all know, the slightest thing could have set him off..... the sound of a new alarm clock, the existence of a new area rug, etc.

Allen will go outside the box on several occasions. 1) whenever we have a change in the family, like my son going back to college or returning home on breaks. 2) when he considers the litter level too low or not clean enough 3) when he feels "trapped" by the other cats.

I can't control #1 - my son has to come and go ;)
I can control #2 but occasionally I lapse and then slap myself when he does it, because I know better
and #3: I have two boxes next to each other (uncovered) so that he can escape easily and use whichever box he happens to feel safer in at that moment.

Oh, and I swear by Cat Attract litter

[krazyaboutkatz]

Starr used to poop outside of the box and at first I thought it was a behavioral problem due to stress. I later found out that it really was a medical problem. He began having severe diarrhea and he just couldn't make it to the box in time.:(

After I had some peeing issues as well, I added 3 more boxes and I also bought some cat attract litter and added this on top of the old litter. It's been working out great. Now I don't have to use the cat attract but I'm still using the feliway plugins. I don't know if these will help a cat that poops outside of the box though. I now have 6 uncovered boxes and only 2 covered boxes. Most of my cats now prefer the uncovered boxes. I hope that something will work for Oskar and hopefully it's not a medical problem.

[Killearn Kitties]

My mum's cat started doing this when he was diagnosed with diabetis. I have no idea whether it was directly related to his mounting health problems, or he was just trying to tell her he wasn't happy, or what the story was. So I'm afraid I don't have any helpful advice.

[persianmom]

Thanks Deb for starting this thread. I going to try to get the attract stuff. Also I need to take the kittens to the vet so Oscar will go to. Get everyone checked out. Hopefully I can get this under control. He doesn't do all the time. So I think it is behavioral. I'll keep checking for more ideas.
Love ya Sis
Carol :)

[Catlady711]

I seem to recall hearing at one point - if a cat poops outside the box, it is behavioral; if it pees outside, it is medical.


Not true.

There are several medical issues that can cause pooping outside the box, including a very nasty problem called Megacolon. My Jack has this problem and requires pumpkin in his food, regular cat laxitive, and another laxitive daily called Enulose, as well as occasional enemas. Jack blames his litterbox for the pain when he poops so he tends to find other places when he starts having a bad flare up.

We just admitted a cat to the hospital today that has a mild form of Megacolon and is severely constipated now and had been pooping outside the box prior to being totally constipated. We gave it 4 enemas today alone.

[jazzcat]

Ripley started doing that back in May. He would always wait to go out in the garage on the floor about a foot away from his two litter boxes. After a couple of weeks of that it turned to diarrhea. I spoke to the vet and she suggested a food change to Pro Plan for Sensitive Stomachs and almost immedaitely the diarrhea ended and he went back to going in the boxes. It's been that way for over two months now. For Ripley it was definitely a matter of him telling me his was sick.

[Sevaede]

Thanks for starting this thread!

Our visitor cat has been here for a few weeks now. He has started pooping outside of the litter box over the past couple of days. He only seems to be doing it once per day. The poops are pretty solid with a little bit of... "extra liquid".

It's all been in my dining area (which is being used to just store stuff that I've gathered and have no place to put or no use for).

The first couple of times it was on a trash bag that has a blanket in it. I didn't find the poop for a couple of days (I never smelled anything, it had to have happened some time while we've been out.). I picked it all up and disposed of it. This was 2-3 days ago. Just now, I found a poop inside a box of recipes, letters, cards, etc.

I am just hoping to find a way to curb this behaviour quickly. What I've done so far is crated him, cleaned the litter box TOTALLY, and went back to clay litter. What I plan to do is isolate him in the bathroom (where the litterbox stays), there was one more thing but I forgot what it was.

Any suggestions would be immensely appreciated!