So I have a 7-year-old cat who poops on the floor sometimes. It’s extremely unpredictable. Sometimes she poops in the litter box. She ALWAYS pees in the litter box. But sometimes she’ll get it into her walnut-sized brain that she’s going to poop on the floor no matter what. She’ll do it for days at a time, then suddenly go back to the box.
I’ve taken her to the vet several times. No apparent medical cause.
We’ve tried to retrain her many times in a large cage with a litter box in it. She’ll poop in the box as long as she’s in the cage, then poop on the floor when we take her back upstairs.
Little motherfucker. It’s maddening. My wife is livid. She’s wanting to make her an outdoor cat, but 1) I don’t believe in outdoor cats. It’s bad for the cat and bad for the local fauna, and 2) she’s so fucking stupid she’d probably walk into a pit bull’s jaws.
The other day, the Roomba ran over a pile of cat shit.
:mad::mad::mad:
I’m going to throttle this little idiot and mount her on my wall if I can’t break her of the habit.
Cats are teh wierd. My first suggestion is to add another litterbox. Some cats don’t like to poop where they pee. I don’t know why, but sometimes that’s all it takes. Or maybe a different litter. Maybe the litter is too deep and she likes to lower her butt enough that it gets stuck to her fur?
If its not a physical problem…which has been ruled out…its a litterbox problem.
She has two other cats who share boxes with her, and they have two boxes. Those boxes are cleaned out every other day, approximately.
We thought it was a neatness issue, then we thought maybe one of the other cats was fucking up the works by peeing in the poop box or vice versa, but it doesn’t appear to be the case.
I’d really hate to beat her to death with a marlinespike, but she may yet force me to.
3 cats with 2 litterboxes? I think you need more, like 4. Cats are terrible picky about their litterboxes. Are your boxes covered? If so, take the cover off. She might want to be able to look around in case the other cats might want to hassle her. Uncovered? When you buy the new boxes, get a covered box.
I’m not saying that the other cats do harass her, just that she might be worried that they will do so while she is occupied.
I scoop my boxes daily and every week end, I dump them then fill them with water and bleach, let them soak and then air dry. Its a routine that seems to work for us.
Oh…and do you give her people food or change out her diet? That could be the problem as well.
It would be helpful if you gave as many details as possible.
When that cat poops on the floor, is it always the same place, or random? If the same place, is that place near the box, or does it have some other distinguishing feature? (bathmat, rug, etc.) If the poops are randomly located, do they tend to share some commonalities? (corner, under table, etc.)
Was anything in the cat’s diet or environment changed when this behavior began?
Did you do something mean to the cat to cause it to seek revenge? (Only half kidding!)
Flatlined’s advice is solid. The rule of thumb is one box per cat plus one. So three cats should have 4 boxes. And scoop them every single day. Generally uncovered is preferred by the cats while covered might be preferred by the people. I prefer to do what will make the cats happier, which ultimately makes me happier.
I scoop four boxes every day. It takes all of a few minutes. To make it the easiest on myself, I have a scoop hanging in each location, and I use doggy poop bags to make collecting easy, no-mess, and easy. Yes I meant to say that twice. I then use a diaper pail for the collected bags so they don’t stink up the regular trash and take that out every few days. Easy-peasy.
More details as to the location of the poops when outside the box can be helpful. Where the boxes are located and where the poop is in relation to the boxes can be a relevant message she might be trying to send that you’re not getting. You must tell us so the cat interpreters on the board might give some insight as to what she’s trying to say.
I have a friend who is a feline behaviorist, she does consultations for a fee (sorry don’t know what the fee is), I can give you her info and find out her fees if you’re interested, just PM me.
One of our cats used to poop on the floor. We got one of those auto litter boxes, and scooped the other boxes more often. It seems to work.
I’d suggest getting at least one more box, maybe put it in a different location, and trying to scoop every single day. It’s worth trying a different kind of litter in the new box, too.
Cats seem to use their poop as their own little message writing system. The cat is unhappy about something and is letting you know, in no uncertain terms, that there’s an upset in her world and would you please do something about it now and thank you, let me end that with a big poopy exclamation point.
Our neighbor’s cat was spoiled with love and attention by the older teen daughter for several years. It was all love and all good. Until the neighbor grew up, had a baby, and the baby took the kitty’s place. What’s a kitty to do? Poop on the neighbor’s pillow. Nowhere else in the entire house. Just the one pillow. “Get rid of that baby please” “!”
We’ve had a similar issue when introducing new cats to the house. “Get rid of the new cats please.” “!”
If you can figure out what the cat’s trying to tell you, it may help. It may be, as people have suggested, just a case of too many cats, not enough litterboxes. “!”
But the litter brand hasn’t changed in years! And we’ve been living here for 6 years, and the cats have always, until the last two years or so, been fine with the litter arrangements.
And unfortunately, we have ZERO extra space for another litter box. We live in a smallish house currently filled to the brim with toddler. There’s no space for another box, let alone the recommended two.
And if her stupid little furry ass is trying to object to the presence of my son, she’s going to come out on the losing end of that deal.
More details and answered questions later. Must work.
7 cats = 8-9 boxes done daily??? We would need to hire help.
Inside at night, outside during the day cats. Have claws to defend from wild & not so wild critters & to have spats amongst them selves.
But at new place we are fixing them their own new house with much cat friendliness. Yes, we are building a cat house. Bawahahahaha
Sorry. No offense intended. It just seemed like you hadn’t read the rest of it. And it certainly hasn’t been a constant thing in those two and a half years, either. It’s been one or two fairly long stretches a year of floor-pooping, then back to normal, with extremely unpredictable occasional relapses.
It does sound like a protest issue. We used to have a cat that pooped under the dining room table if she didn’t get enough attention.
I suggest keeping a poop calendar to see if you can find the triggering incident that sets the cat off. Does it start on a Monday when everyone goes off to work or daycare? Does it start on a weekend when everyone sleeps in? Does he hate loud events in the house like loud TV? Mark the condition of the litter box on the calendar too. It might be something as simple as he likes to poop in the southwest corner of litter box A and someone else already has. Maybe he hates a clean litter box so you can leave one poop clump in one box. My guess would be the first day he’s mad about something and it takes him a while to get over it.
If you can find the reason you can fix it or try offering extra attention to the cat at these times.
The cat may indeed be objecting to the toddler. If the cat is pooping directly outside the box, it is likely that the box needs a good scrub or replacement. If the cat is pooping elsewhere (perhaps near a toddler toy or right in the path where you walk), it is an attention issue.
I have three cats and three boxes. They are usually in rotation for scrubbing and drying and the cats are okay with 2 as long as I keep them scooped frequently. They are definiitely happier with a third box on the floor though. One of the cats occasionally pees elsewhere in the basement, especially after rainwater/snowmelt leaks inside. Per my vet, he smells something there that makes him want to mark territory. Another cat occasionally leaves poops on the rug but it appears to be due to his long hair, not behavior.
With either case, I use Feliway spray to discourage either of them from using that particular spot again. Feliway is expensive, but it works well for my needs.
