Front paws in litter tray, back paws (and poop) out

Hi,
I have two seven-month old kittens who have been perfect about pooping in their litter trays since day one...until recently.
One of them has started putting his front paws in the litter tray and then proceeding to pee/poop all over the floor!!
It's so frustrating - he doesn't always do it and nothing has changed in his environment to warrant this change in behaviour. I keep the litter trays very clean and haven't moved them or changed anything in the house to upset or stress him. Plus the vet says there's nothing physically wrong with him so I'm at a bit of a loss to explain what his problem is.
Is he just being a stroppy teenager?!! If anyone has any suggestions as to how I can break this habit I'd be really grateful.

Maybe the box is too small? I use 55lt plastic storage tubs.

Originally Posted by missymotus

Maybe the box is too small? I use 55lt plastic storage tubs.

Click to expand...

I would look at the size of the box. I use 18 gal rubbermaid totes, or the larger rubbermaid totes than that.

Maybe try a clevercat litter box.

What is a clevercat littertray?
I am quite grumpy at him today as he has moved his poop to about a metre from the tray (off the newspaper I put down to safeguard against incidents like this).
I think he might just be very, very fussy about how clean the litter is as when I replaced it earlier this week he went to the toilet in there no problem.

A Clevercat Litter Box is one with the opening in the lid, as opposed to on the side. He wouldn't be able to hang his back end out of the box.

Or one of those big Rubbermaid tubs. He'll have to jump over the side to get in, which means hanging the back end out would be a real feat of acrobatics!

Today he didn't even bother to get in...just pooped right there on the floor. Grrrr...

At the shelter I volunteer at (no-kill, and the cats run free in the rooms), they have got some puppy housetraining pads next to the litter boxes for the cats that don't aim right. At least that'd keep it off your floor, in a pinch.

Tried switching litter? maybe he hates the smell or something.

How many litter boxes do you have? The rule of thumb is one for each cat plus one. That would be three or your two.
I always think about how much I hate going into a bathroom that hasn't been cleaned in days. Cat have a much keener sense of smell than we do.......

Im with them, try a bigger litter box. Mine normally pee or poop outside the box when they're telling me something is wrong, but if your vet says there isn't that rules that out! I guess the bigger litter box might help....

I say get another box, and make sure the ones that you have are tall enough to make it difficult to balance.

Also, I don't recall anyone mentioning cleaning the spot he's soiling very well with an enzyme cleanser. The smell on the floor may be drawing him back to the same spot.

When we first got Stan he didn't want to use the litterbox, turns out he likes one for each kind of business and he's very picky about where they are...

Thank you...the litter is completely new and clean today so he is back to being a good boy and pooping where he should.
We're now trying to train him and his brother to poop outside which promises to be a whole different ball game!!