Cat Pee/Poop Problems (Still after 1 year)

evoltix

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
6
Purraise
0
Hello. I'm new to the forums. It's kind of cool I found a forum just for cats so maybe you guys can help me out.

I have a cat called Muffin. I've had her for about 1 year. We also have two other cats that are mostly outdoor cats but they haven't been inside much because of Muffin's kittens. Ever since Muffin was a kitten she never really used the litter box. Then when she got older she would use the litter box but still pee/poop around the house. As she got even older she got really good and used the litter box always.

Now, she's peeing/pooping again on the carpet and not using her litter box as much. Today, I came in to the kitchen to find pee on the counter! She has never done this before!

She did have 3 kittens three months ago and we just gave the last one away yesterday. But she was still doing this when she had all the kittens. It just seems impossible for her to use the litter box always. We've tried everything from deterrents to giving the cats all their own litter boxes.

If you guys could help me out that would be awesome. Thanks!
 

katachtig

Moderator
Staff Member
Admin
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Messages
25,289
Purraise
2,892
Location
Colorado
Have your cat checked out by a vet. Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) often cause a cat to dislike the litter box.

After you've eliminated that possibility, then you can try other options.

Make sure that you've cleaned the spots with an enzyme cleaner like Nature's Miracle and look into a special type of litter called "Cat Attract" to retrain your cat to use the litter box.
 

cheylink

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 31, 2005
Messages
8,259
Purraise
102
Location
queens, new york
Agree with above, this seems very out of ordinary and should be treated as so. Vet check first!
 

dauntingfire

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Sep 10, 2007
Messages
348
Purraise
2
Location
Atlanta, GA
Probably because she isn't spayed.
I would get that done ASAP and get a full checkup at the vet. It may be you have to confine her to a bathroom with a big clean litter box and some Feliway. It might be a slow process of getting her into the habit of using it.

Really, having an unspayed/unneutered cat is the biggest pain in the freaking tush ever and I don't recommend it.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

evoltix

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
6
Purraise
0
Thanks guys for your help.


She has been checked by the vet and she's fine. That leaves getting her spayed. My girlfriend says that she might just be a dirty cat and there's nothing we can do about it. Is that true?
 

dauntingfire

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Sep 10, 2007
Messages
348
Purraise
2
Location
Atlanta, GA
Well generally cats are exceptionally clean creatures. They like to keep themselves and their living areas clean. This is why it's not a good idea to put their litter box close to their food and bed.

I wouldn't say that there are 'dirty cats' out there, just cats that have complex behavior issues. It's hard to tell sometimes why a cat does something but more often then not they have a reason for it.

Lets just start with the spaying and then see how she feels from there.
After she's fixed just keep her confined to her own space with a litter box. Let her get used to using it and see how she fares with her spraying problem.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #8

evoltix

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
6
Purraise
0
I know it's been a long time but I thought I might resurrect this thread to give an update.

Well, we got the cat spayed and that seemed to do the trick. She stopped urinating and pooping inappropriately. She used to poop/pee along the wall in the basement which was unfurnished and wide open. It's been 5 months since she had an accident. We cleaned the carpets and everything but I noticed this morning a small pile of dry poop along the edge of the wall. I was so disappointed!

She uses the litter box most of the time but sometimes she tends to poop/pee along the wall. She's also picked up the habit of urinating/pooping on top of the kitchen cabinets.

My girlfriend proposed that we just get rid of the cat because apparently she will never learn but I'm going to ask you guys once more to see if there's anything I can do. We've checked her out at the veterinarian and she is healthy as can be. I'm lost, please help!

Thank you so much.
 

robertm

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Dec 1, 2007
Messages
452
Purraise
3
Have you cleaned the carpet, wall, cabinets etc. with an enzymatic cleaner like katachtig recommended? Regarding the carpet, you would most likely need to soak it, perhaps several times.

Do you have multiple litter boxes set up for her, or just one? You used the phrase "the litter box" so I'm assuming that you only have one. Some cats like to urinate in one box and defecate in another. Some cats are picky about the type of litter boxes (open vs. closed) and their size. And of course cats can be very particular about the brand and type of litter. Have you experimented with any of these? I realize that she is still occasionally using the litter box, so you would think that she's not dissatisfied with any of these variables, but who knows?

How clean do you keep the box(es)?

You mentioned that she's been OK'd by the vet. But when was her last vet visit for this problem? Since she was on her best behavior for the last 5 months and only recently began eliminating outside the box again, it's possible that she is now ill.

Hopefully you'll hit on something that will do the trick, whether it's one of these ideas or something else that another member might suggest. This way you won't be tempted to "get rid of" her (I hate that expression, BTW).
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10

evoltix

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
6
Purraise
0
RobertM:

We have cleaned the carpets but not with enzymatic cleaner. We have four litter boxes set up: three normal sized and one extra large. We also have two other cats, three total. We have tried a couple of litters and all the cats seems to love them. We keep the litter boxes clean but I'm going to start cleaning them once more each day to keep them very clean to see if this helps.

Today, when I went home for lunch, I scoped out the basement and house and there weren't any accidents. I was quite happy.

I'll keep you posted on things. Thanks so much for responding!
 

cmoc

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Feb 28, 2003
Messages
75
Purraise
1
Toby and Dillon were together from kittens and they slept together and seemed happy. As they got older, Dillon started weeing, spraying, you name it (my husband suggested we separate them at night) I said no, they were happy together. Every morning for years I would take up the black plastic I had to put down all around the living room, every morning it was full of pee. The day poor Toby had to be put to sleep (aged 15) Dillon stopped. My husband had been right, it was being in the same room at night with the other cat. Something could be upsetting the cat, you have to try and work out what it is.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #12

evoltix

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
6
Purraise
0
*** Update ***

We had to give the cat away since she started to pee and poop on the carpets. She was sent off to a farm where she can pee and poop wherever she wants
. I felt bad about it but our house is more important.

Now, one of our other cats is starting to do the same thing. He's mostly an outdoor cat. I don't know why he's doing it. He used to do it when we wouldn't let him outside but we let him outside regularly. I'm afraid he's doing it when we're not home and he gets mad and pees/poops to show is frustration. We have another cat that is perfect that has never had a mistake.
 

courtney_ou

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Dec 19, 2004
Messages
534
Purraise
3
Location
oklahoma
have you tried cat attract cat litter and/or feliway? we had SERIOUS problems w/ patchy not using the box. she was pottying on my moms clean clothes in the laundry basket!

we discovered she just did not like the brand of litter we were using
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #15

evoltix

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
6
Purraise
0
Originally Posted by OGnStub

are all the litter boxes in the same room? if yes are all the openings facing each other? moving one box around the corner may help.
Yes, we have 4 litter boxes in the laundry room. One of the litter boxes is the size of 2 litter boxes. They're all open litter boxes and are next to each other.

Originally Posted by courtney_ou

have you tried cat attract cat litter and/or feliway? we had SERIOUS problems w/ patchy not using the box. she was pottying on my moms clean clothes in the laundry basket!

we discovered she just did not like the brand of litter we were usingf
I've never tried cat attract or feliway. I suppose it's a shot but the one cat that's having accidents is usually outside. He only comes in to eat or sleep
. He doesn't poop or pee on the carpet that often but it's still a problem.
 

courtney_ou

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Dec 19, 2004
Messages
534
Purraise
3
Location
oklahoma
sorry this is so long

patchy never went on the carpet, only the clothes, towels or bathroom rug. she even climbed up in the linen closet and went in between the clean sheets and towels!
we never had a problem with where the boxes were (with either cat, really) as long as it was a brand of litter patchy liked. chloe would use whatever brand we put out; shes not picky in the least.

she doesnt have UTIs so we think it may have to do with her being abandoned because she will do it with a brand new clean box if you leave her home alone. sunday we left her we 3 new, clean boxes, all alone and came home to peed on clean laundry. ironically, i'd left to do more laundry!

ive never tried cat attract but ive heard really good things. i keep meaning to look for it when i go to petco but always forget.
feliway did wonders for chloe as a kitten. she had been abused and hid then ENTIRE time. if i didnt feed her, scoop poop and pull the fridge out daily to check on her, i wouldnt have even known i had a kitten
after getting the plug in, it was almost overnite (id been trying for 10+ weeks for her to come near me) she come within about 15ft of me... then about midnight valentines day i was doing homework and she just ran in my room and jumped in my lap. it was the best vday gift id ever gotten and prolly ever will
 

darlili

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Oct 16, 2007
Messages
3,310
Purraise
14
Location
Illinois
What I've read is to not keep the litter boxes next to each other - since then, to a cat, it's just one big box and if something's off about the one box, they think all the boxes are off. Spread the boxes around a bit - I keep one in a utility room, the other in the second bedroom/office. Also, use the enzymatic cleaners (or find a professional carpet cleaner who actually does specialize in working with pet issues).

Also, I've had extremely good luck with the Cat Attract litter. There's also a supplement by Dr. Elsey you can use with other litters, if necessary. In my area, Petsmart carries Cat Attract, not Petco for so odd reason.

Good luck - I know it can be a very frustrating situation, but sometimes you can turn it around.
 

clumsy kitty

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Apr 2, 2008
Messages
81
Purraise
0
Location
North West
With your other cat starting to do it, I would definitely think it has something to do with the smell. You won't notice it, but cats do with their sensitive noses. DEFINITELY get your carpets steam cleaned. See what happens then.
How infuriating for you!
 
Top