We have three cats: two females that were born July 2021 and that we acquired as kittens in September 2021. Both are spayed and have had all vaccines/boosters. They were litter box trained before we got them.
We also have a male that we got around Halloween of 2022 and is now about 4 1/2 months old. He learned the litter box within a few days (he had no litter box experience before we got him).
All 3 cats have been strictly indoor cats since we adopted them.
Recently we’ve been finding piles of poop in corners, behind the toilet, and under beds. Every once in a while I’ll find something that one of the cats had found and urinated on: a piece of clothing that missed the hamper or a towel that slpped of the towel bar in the kitchen. Borh my wife and my son have found similar spots and my son found a corner of his room that had several piles deposited. We didnt knkw which one was the cluprit but made a point to be extea vigilant in keeping the bedrooms closed, any stray laundry off the floor, and the lotterbox clean.
Today I caught one of the females in the act: happily squatting and peeing on a kitchen towel that had either fallen off the towel bar or had been deliberately pulled off.
We scoop the litter box 2-3 times a day and do a full clean-out with a good scub (soap and hot water) and fresh litter twice a week. All three cats have had no problems using the litter box until 2 or 3 weeks ago. Now suddenly at least one refuses to use it – maybe more. My wife says she suspecred this particular female was the culprit all along.
Now I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to simply throw her/them outside and hope for the best but I absolutely cannot have them continually messing on the carpet and any other soft things they find.
My only other thought is, maybe cleaning the box with soap and water twice a week is too much. They want to do their business in a place that smells like their business (up to a point).
The general rule of thumb is that you should have one per cat plus one, although most people find that one per cat works. If you only have one, period, for three cats, then they may be competing for it or bullying each other out of it or it may just be too heavily trafficked an area for a cat who prefers a little privacy (from the other cats) or any number of things. First thing I would do (apart from a vet visit, especially if you have any other reason to believe she has a UTI) would be to get at least one more litterbox, preferably more.
Soaps and cat litters often contain perfume, which is usually offensive to cats. Avoid it. Also, avoid terpenes generally around litter boxes. Terpenes are a chemical family that usually smell nice to humans but very bad to cats, such as citrus and pine.
There may be an alien cat involved. Not necessarily in your home – a cat visiting your front door from the outside, or hanging around the outside of your windows, perhaps.
Your cat(s) could be protesting something they dislike, such as a change in home routine or human visitors they don’t approve of.
This is not to say you shouldn’t have a vet check things out. You should, as the top priority.
-Add more litter boxes, and have them in various locations. Maybe try a covered one or put one in a hidden ‘safe’ spot.
-Clean but don’t overclean the boxes.
-Try a different litter or litters: granule size, no scent vs scent, maybe even pine pellets.
-This can also be a stress response, so you could try Feliway diffusers, or a calming collar (though I can’t stand the smell of them, so god knows what the cat wearing it thinks!), or maybe talk to your vet about kitty-prozac. They can make a gel/lotion that you rub on an ear, no pills necessary.
Good luck, this is such a frustrating problem with no clear lines anywhere
It’s good news that you caught the suspect in the act, since now you have an idea of which kitty may be sick. The UTI is definitely the very first thing to rule out. All the advice in the thread is good, but that’s the one that bears repeated repeating.
How well do the ladies get along with the new male?
If she checks out ok at the vet, one other possibility is that your boy kitty is intimidating her. I had this happen. My boy cat was ambushing the girls as they came out of the litter box. Multiple litter boxes in different locations avoided any problem elimination.
Thanks for the replies, everyone. You’ve all given me some ideas, which I didn’t have before.
I didn’t even consider it could be an infection. I’ll call the vet today and try to get her in ASAP. Would a UTI also explain her pooping outside the litter box?
We use blue dawn dish soap to scrub the litter box but we do use Pine-Sol to wipe down the bathroom and scrub the floor. I’ll look for a cleaner that doesn’t have that particular chemical.
Splendidly (the boy is the grey tabby, the likely peeing culprit is on the far right):
No but he will be, he’s scheduled to get snipped on Feb. 15.
As far as the additional litter boxes go, we have limited space so putting another litter box may be problematic. We may have to transition them to spending significant time outside. We live in a quiet neighborhood so I’m not too concerned with them being outdoor cats. Regardless, if one of them has a physical ailment that is causing this behavior obviously that needs to get addressed now.
I don’t know if it’s a perfume issue or some other ingredient, but I can’t handle being in the room when Dawn is in use. I find it extremely irritating to airways. Plus, it’s designed to cut grease, which really isn’t important in cat litter. And, yes, I’d think Pine-Sol would bother them a great deal. I scrub mine with water and I think that’s plenty, I don’t think you need anything else. But if you want something more, I’d suggest plain ammonia solution (not lemon scented or anything), or occasionally some muriatic acid (dilute hydrochloric acid) to dissolve the white mineral residue (but neutralize them, don’t just send them down the drain).
Also, it looks like you have Torties. They have a reputation for sometimes being difficult.
I wonder if some pheromone treatment (Feliway or similar) would help?
I use Simple Green, with very thorough rinsing. I do also spray with Lysol, which does not seem to bother either of mine. They do get unscented litter. I like Cat’s Pride (green jug) since it clumps harder and is less dusty than some brands. I once saw litter for sale that was CITRUS-scented. Had anyone involved in that decision ever bothered to learn anything about cats, let alone actually met one? Cats (generally) HATE the smell of citrus.
We only have room for one box, but my two share civilly enough.
