Cat question

In My Humble Opinion
1

Maybe TMI for the squeamish?

Years ago I started pet sitting for a client who had two cats. I’ll call them Tom and Dick.
They were nice but shy cats. Usually I never saw them but the food was gone and the litter was dirty so all was well
Several years later they moved to a nicer, bigger house and Tom and Dick were doing well.
Their house backs up to a park and after a while Harry (a stray) started coming to their house to visit and eventually they took him in.
Harry is fairly nice, he did nip me once, and he is friendly. By this time Tom and Dick were getting older and Harry was barely past kittenhood.

Everything was okay for a few months, then Dick stopped using the litter box. He will still pee in the box but he (no other way to put it) shits all over the house.
The clients called me and I gave them my list.

Take the cat to the vet to rule out any physical causes.
There should be at least 4 litter boxes for 3 cats.
Try a different litter in one of the boxes.
If the boxes are uncovered, cover 1 or 2.
If the boxes are covered, uncover 1 or 2.
Try putting a box in a more private location.
Keep the litter boxes very clean.
Put a box on each floor as he is getting older and the stairs may be a problem.
Put aluminum foil where he likes to go to discourage him.
And of course the final, shut him in a small room with his food, water and box until he retrains himself to use the box. I think that is a bit insulting for an older cat but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

They did all this and he got better for a while.

In the meantime, Tom died several years ago (old age) so now there are only two cats in the house. Dick would still not use the box at times but it wasn’t so awful.
Then it got bad again.
They have tried different herbal remedies and pheromone diffusers and they don’t work.

I watched the cats last week and it is bad.

There are 3 litter boxes and he - well lets just say I had a lot of little messes to clean up.
The part I am concerned about and this may be the TMI part.
They have taken him to the vet and the vet says there is nothing wrong, but his feces don’t look normal to me.
They are long, stringy, runny and he makes little coils all over the place. It wouldn’t be unusual for me to have 8 or 10 of them to clean up each day, as well as a bunch of drippy spots. I thought it might be emotional because it got progressively worse through the week but my client says he has been doing this for the last 6 months and nothing seems to be working.

They don’t blame me for the mess, I cleaned it up best I could but no matter what they have to shampoo the carpets whenever they come back home

It used to be maybe one or two little pieces to pick up in the basement. Now it’s all over the house, on the stairs, on carpeting, on hardwood, on tile and on all floors.

I still feel like this is something he can’t help doing but the vet insists there is nothing physically wrong with him.

Any ideas?

2

He is older now, so they could try again the same things they did before. Perhaps now he doesn’t like the type of litter? Perhaps now that he is even older, he has problems getting into the litterbox/needs another type of litterbox? I am guessing the litterboxes are kept immaculately clean (as much as that can be), and scooping and washing is done on a regular basis, right (since this happened once before)?

I’d also go re-check the cat. Make sure he gets a good fecal sample. Make sure a complete bloodwork is done, if it hasn’t been done. Make sure they check for joint pain/arthritis.

3

Poor kitty :frowning:
How about trying a box with a very low side on one end so it’s easier for him to step into? Maybe he’s having trouble getting over the side of the boxes if he’s getting arthritic.

4

Given what you’ve said about what comes out the back end, have they tried something different to go into the front end?

I once cohabitated with a cat who developed an intolerance to the food he’d been eating for several years and got a constant case of the dribbling shits. A change in food cleared that up and he lived to be an old, happy cat.

It would be worth a try anyway.

5

Dietary issues is a good point. An older cat would likely do better on an all canned diet. It’s also not unusual for older cats to develop IBD which can manifest most obviously in loose stools. Mild pancreatitis or hyperthyroidism or cancer can also be factors.

It sounds from your description this kitty is over 10? Your instinct could be spot on, that even though this guy has a litter box problem, he’s got something else going on now, too, with the loose and frequent stools. He needs a full fecal float/smear/stain if the vet hasn’t already done that, and sometimes it’s not a bad idea to give a kitty a course of treatment with a drug called metronidazole to see if it helps, because a negative fecal doesn’t mean there isn’t something going on.

An older kitty also needs a Senior Panel which should include CBC, Chemistry, T4, Free T4 and Urinalysis. Due to the loose stools (especially if a course of treatment with metronidazole didn’t have good results), he should also get a GI Panel, which includes TLI, PLI, cobalamin and folate levels; these rule in/out pancreatitis, IBD, and malabsorptive disorders that could be factoring in the loose stools. Most labs send the GI Panel out to Texas A&M, and can take a week to ten days for complete results.

Anyway, as a tech who works with a feline specialist, these are things I’ve done with my own cats, one of which had IBD and the other one we thought she was starting IBD symptoms, had low folate, but ended up having cancer spotted on an xray. A third we couldn’t figure out what was going in with him (seriously, called ADR - Ain’t Doin’ Right) and turned out he had pancreatitis that had come on slowly and remained chronic for a year and a half.

6

I’m betting either diet related (possibly compounded by underlying medical something or other) or stress related. Have they tried kitty Prozac? You can get it compounded as a topical that’s rubbed in an ear, and it can really help with stress related box issues.

My first guess is medical/diet, but stress may be aggravating everything.

Poor ol’ kitty :frowning:

7

I had a cat whose poop resembled your description. I was using PineSol to clean the floor and it turns out lots of cats are sensitive to this type of cleaner. I stopped using it and he stopped shitting loose stools everyplace. So maybe try changing the cleaning products? Also maybe try a different vet?