Cats Pooping & Urinating in strange areas

Hi there, first time poster.

I've read over the posts regarding cats pooping and urinating outside the litterbox before typing this, and have a thing or two to try, but thought I would post anyway.

We currently have 3 cats. 4, 3 & 1 would be my best guess at their ages.
All 3 cats are indoor cats, we let them out on regular occasions to play.
They don't come back for a few hours and we worry, but they do come back.

We've had issues in previous homes with our cats urinating all over the carpet, which cost us a lot of money in a rental home when we left, and now we're in our own home. The house has a small 4-5 metre'squared area on the outside, going into the laundry, completely surrounded by security screens, and we've installed a cat door going into the laundry. So the room gets very good breeze and good air, and is fabulous for keeping our cats indoors.

We did not used to empty the kitty litter often enough in the old house, and the larger male cat started to use the laundry sink. This became a habit real fast. At the new house, we're emptying much more reguarly, and scooping as often as possible, but the larger male cat will still use the sinks in the house.

We are at the point where we've had to shut all the bathroom doors 24/7 so that he can't use them, but we can't shut the laundry door because they need access to it to get into the outdoor area.

On this same note, even with fresh litter, he will still not really use it. Maybe immediately once it's been dropped in and all 3 cats want to use it, but after that he will not touch it.

I should note that he also urinates in the sinks too.
It's very frustrating on myself and my wife.

We've thought about putting like a mesh over the laundry sink to stop him using that, but I don't think that forcing him to use the litter is going to help. I need to find the root of the problem and fix that.

My opinion is that he's now used to doing it and he just continues to do it.

One other thing to note is that we have 2 kitty litter trays next to each other, so they have the choice on which to use. 2 between 3 cats that is.

Another thing to note is that even when the kitty litter is empty and the laundry sink is full of poop, he will STILL use it... so it's not like he's afraid of being around his own poop.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me? It's beyond frustrating now.

It could be a few things.... Best to eliminate the possibilities one by one.... the first one that pops out at me is that he is bigger than the other two....

IF your roguepooper is larger than the other two he may find the sink a more suitable size so you could try a 3rd box that is larger and deeper first.... no need to go out and buy a new box right away, you can test run this solution with a bin liner in a very large cardboard box and see if it works...

If your rouguepooper is more finicky than the other two (one of mine is) keeping the litter very clean + a fresh sprinkle of new litter over the top every few days MAY entice him to use the box...

are you using a clumping litter?

It might help putting a third litter box in a completely different location than the others two. Maybe place a board over the sink, and a litter box on top it until he gets into the habit of using the box?

He is neutered, right?

I think you're able to purchase Feliway in Australia. Feliway is a synthetic hormone that mimics the "friendly" markers in cats' cheeks. It was designed to help people whose cats had a behavioral problem peeing or pooping out of the box. Basically the idea is that cats mark their territories in various ways. Cats use urine, poop and scratching (scent glands in paw pads) to mark "this is my territory," and they use their heads and cheeks to mark "this is my home." Heads/cheeks are "friendly" markers, and the smell is all wrong for peeing, pooping or scratching.

It comes in a diffuser and in a spray. I would NOT recommend the diffuser for this situation.

What I would do if I were you is combine the above advice with the use of Feliway spray. I would temporarily cover the sinks (other than the laundry room sink) with a board, and I'd spray the Feliway on those boards and in the room (spray it on the walls at cat head height - it doesn't stain).

I would add another litter box - a larger one. I'd cover the laundry room sink with a board, use bookworm's advice, and as per zazi's advice, I'd put the larger litter box on the board. If he uses that box regularly, I'd put it on the floor next to the sink, and start spraying the board over that sink with Feliway.

The alternative is to see if using a scent cats almost always hate placed in the sinks prevents him using them. Don't know if you saw in the inappropriate pooping thread, but Oil of Olbas is a scent (most) cats hate. Put a few drops on a damp tea bag, and so it doesn't stain the sink, set it on a small plate in the sink.

But I think zazi hit the nail on the head - he probably needs a (potentally much) larger sized litter box.

One other product you can try, if it's available for purchase in Australia is the "Cat Attract additive." There is a litter as well, but both products are expensive, and the litter doesn't clump that well. The additive, on the other hand, can be used in smaller amounts than recommended. We sprinkle a layer over the top of the litter and mix it in a little bit, and the cats really seem to like it. Given that we did a combination of things to get our cat that was peeing outside of the box I can't say it was definitively the cat attract additive, but it definitely didn't hurt!

Good luck,

Laurie

Thankyou for the help & ideas.

To point out a few things. There are 2 boys and 1 girl. All are de-sexed/neutered.
The girl is small and is no trouble at all.

The cat in question here is the troublemaker, or the more aggressive "This is my home" type cat.
The other male is still quite a large cat, but he's very placid & cuddly.

I forgot to mention that the cat in question also uses the bath as a kitty litter tray if the option is there.
But we can keep the door closed 99% of the time for that.

I'll look into finding him a bigger litterbox, money isn't an issue.
If it works it works, if it doesn't then that's ok.

In terms of litter, we use 2 seperate types. 1 clumping/soaking more expensive type at the bottom for urine, and a more stony type litter over the top for weight that so it's harder for them to flick it 3 metres across the room when they're trying to cover it up. We've tried many ways but find this the best, I guess more for us and not the cats, when it comes to cleaning the litter out reguarly.

I'll go through the few things from this thread and then try moving things around a bit. Appreciate the help

Cover the water nosel, since they drip. Then try putting a litter under that laundry sink that is his poop haunt, maybe that can acclimate him to pooping in litter. After a while move the litter real close to the laundry sink, but not there and see if he adjusts.

But that could end up in a worse case scenario of the other cats pooping there in that sink.

Hi. I'm new here but not new to cats.
One of my cats regularly uses the kitchen or laundry sink. I don't mind a bit as it's so easy to run some water to clean it.

It is easy to clean, agreed... but very unhygienic.
Not to mention that when you want to wash some dishes you need to scoop out a turd first.

Anything working yet?