Kitten pooping litterbox bathtub question....

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Over Labor Day Weekend, I adopted this kitty.

The first thing I did was show him the litter box. The first time he “went”, he appropriately went right in the litter box. For a couple weeks, no problem.

Then, one day, he pooped in the bathtub :eek:

Upon inspecting the litter box, I noticed the flap was stuck and he wasn’t able to get into the box if he had tried (I had put the lid on backwards after cleaning it).

Things back to normal. A week later, and again, poop shows up in the bathtub, right by the drain. This time, the laundry room door had been sealed shut, so he couldn’t even access the litterbox. My bad, again.

Ever since, things had been fine. Until last week. Poop shows up in bathtub on Thursday, this time with no explanation (litterbox was clean too). Then on Friday. Saturday twice, and yesterday twice again (he’s 7/8 months now, eats and poops alot).

I’ve shown him the litter box, to no avail. Thought about putting an inch or two of water in the tub to keep him out of there, but hey, at least he’s going in the tub and not under the bed or in the closet or on the carpet somewhere.

Should I try the thin layer of water in the tub and risk a poop-mess somewhere else that won’t be easy to clean? Any other ideas? Maybe keep the bathroom door closed. Amazing that this just occurs to me, but my apartment has people over, the door will open/close and he’ll still get in.

The interesting thing is that even after it’s cleaned up - he goes into the tub and scrapes the bottom and the sides in a “cover it up” style action.

Thoughts?

2

An inch of water should do the trick. I love the photos!

3

What did you clean it with? It is possible that your cat can still smell where it went, even though you cannont. Using bleach will make the smell go away and deter your cat from going there again. If he can still smell it, he may think that’s where he’s supposed to go.

Also, our cat went outside the box a few times when we first got him. We called the shelter where we got him and asked if this had been a problem before, and they said he never used a covered litter box before, and probably hated it. So we took the cover off, and it never happened again. We also threw away the rug he pooped on (small bathroom rug, so no big loss). Also, we had a door on the litterbox (before we got rid of the cover completely), and both our cats were a bit weirded out by it, so we removed it. It’s possible your cat just doesn’t like the box itself.

4

Did you use a cleaning product like Nature’s Miracle (that is designed to get rid of pet-accident odors) to get rid of the smell? Cats have a better sense of smell than humans do, and if he still smells the poo (which sounds plausible from his attempts to cover it up), he could think that’s where he’s supposed to go.

5

A few things:

  1. He’s adorable.

  2. He might have gotten scared by something around the litter box (maybe take the cover off, the flap might make him skittish).

  3. The litter isn’t near his food, is it? They hate that.

  4. Cats often poo in unusual places when they’ve got health issues (mine had an irritated anal gland and pooped behind the recliner). Get thee to a vet if he keeps it up.

He seems to be uncomfortable with his box in some way. I’d leave the bathtub as a backup for him until you figure out what’s bothering him. So you don’t have a bunch of poo spots on the carpet.

6

Don’t throw away the mistakes. Put them in the litterbox.

Most cats hate citrus, so wipe the tub with either a lemon scented cleaner or actual citrus juice.

7

I don’t really have anything helpful to say that hasn’t already been said. But I just had to say that is one gorgeous cat. Oh, and one time I discovered poop stuck to the outside of the bathtub. So, my cats are more talented than yours. Don’t worry, though. He’s young, so there’s still time.