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HELP ME HELP ME maine coon who poops in the floor but pees in the potty

post #1 of 12
9/30/10 at 8:17pm
Thread Starter 
I have a tomcat, who pees in the potty but gets out and poops in the floor beside the potty,, I have 2 cats samson the one im talking about and penny and now I have given them both their own potty, they have the litter they both love the potty is in a quite private spot but not too alone either and he is a main coon she is a tabby and yes i got a huge potty just for him and i clean the potty every day in both potties what do i do? I do not want to get rid of samson he is fixed and only 7 months old had him since this past june and had penny all her life she is 3 yrs
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post #2 of 12
9/30/10 at 9:30pm
Of course you don't want to get rid of Samson! There could be a couple things going on. It may be you don't have enough litter boxes. Many cats prefer to pee in one and poop in another. Even kept clean, a cat may still want to poop in one and pee in another. So add a box or two.

However, there could be a health issue, such as constipation. If it hurts him to poop, or he is having difficulty pooping, he will blame the litter box and avoid it.

What are you feeding him? Do you brush him every day?

PS I'm glad he's neutered, but he is no longer a tom cat. He is a neutered male cat.
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post #3 of 12
10/1/10 at 9:46am
First, get another, different litterbox and put it in a different location. If you have an uncovered one, get a covered one, and vice versa.

Also, try to get a peek at him while he's making poo, if you see any straining, grunting, meowing then you need to take him to the vet.

When you find his potty on the floor, pick it up and place it in his litterbox. If you catch him in the act (and witness no straining whatsoever) immediately pick him up and place him in the box.


If all else fails you may have to completely retrain him to use the box.

There is a reason that he now fears pooing in his box. If he's not straining now, then he may have gotten over a bit of constipation, but the memory of the pain is still there and the cat assumes that the box itself caused the pain.
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post #4 of 12
10/1/10 at 9:46am
Perhaps there is something about the litter boxes that the cat doesn't like for pooping in. For example, maybe you have a covered litter box and the cat prefers an open one. Or maybe you don't have enough litter in the box or maybe you have too much. Perhaps the sides are too high or curve inwards. Maybe the box isn't as big as you think. Cats can be very picky about their litter boxes.

I have a cat who kept pooping outside her pink litter box. As it turns out, she didn't like the litter in the gray litter box. Once I changed the litter in the gray litter box, she stopped pooping outside the litter box. It certainly was a strange way to tell me she didn't like the litter, but then that cat is strange herself.
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post #5 of 12
10/1/10 at 9:58am
Usually, the main reason for pooping outside of the box is litterbox aversion - that can be aversion from the box, box location, and litter.

Is the box covered, uncovered? if covered, remove the cover
Where is it located? if in a closet, put it outside. Do not put the box in a laundry room either. good places are in the end of hallways or in the back corners of a quiet room, where the kitty can have the privacy, but can watch the whole room while using the box - gives the sense of safety.
What litter are you using? unscented clumping litter are best for these cases - if you are using pine, that can be a problem. Try using Cat Attract Litter - that can help you a whole lot.
How many boxes per cat do you have? with 2 cats you should have 3 boxes.
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post #6 of 12
10/1/10 at 4:39pm
I have a large male maine coon, 3 yrs old, and not so long ago I was here posting asking for help for almost the same problem, however mine would poop in the box faithfully, but choose to pee on my rugs! With the excellent advice I got here I bought a larger box and some Cat Attract Litter (Ijust have the one cat, and two littler boxes), took up all the rugs, my house has hardwood floors). When I brought in the new litter box, he jumped in and checked it out and within 5 min of my filling it with litter, he got in it and peed! and he hasn't peed anywhere else since then. Might be worth a shot in your case. I do love the Maine Coon Kitties, very handsome and very intelligent.
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post #7 of 12
10/1/10 at 7:30pm
Thread Starter 
he doesnt have no problems when he poops and when i clean it up i put it back in his litter pan and i have 2 pans and i had one with a lid he used it but his head stuck out so i thought that was the problem... i think I just found the problem when i got him the litter pan was covered then i took it off well i justt put the cover back on it and sit him in it but he waited a min then came out so ill see if this stops the pooping... fingers crossed I pray this works cause i hate for my babies to be upset over their potties lol and i really dont have no where else to put the 3rd potty unless it is in the laundry room cause the only other place is in the parrots room and that is game/parrot room and when we are gone i close that door so the cats dont get a chance to explore while we are gone
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post #8 of 12
10/2/10 at 10:30pm
Thread Starter 
just wanting to let u all know I put the cover back on the other potty and Samson is in it and pooping in it and peeing in the uncovered one lol oh well what ever makes my babies happy.. I sure hated to see him upset bout his potty problems and so so happy i just have to clean litter and not the floor no more.. keep fingers crossed that he stays this way lol but thanks for all the advice it sure did help me to find out what he was trying to tell me and u know it was near this covered potty he was pooping on the floor at then i covered it and sit him in it and turned the open away from the living room and he makes that potty rock now lmao it is plenty big enough for him it is a really high back high cover type of potty and the other is a long rubber maid under the bed storage container
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post #9 of 12
10/2/10 at 10:52pm
Ah HA! So he likes the covered one for pooping and the open one for peeing. Interesting...I wonder if he leans on the sides of the covered one to support himself when pooping.

Hurray for you for listening to him and figuring out what he wanted!
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post #10 of 12
10/2/10 at 10:53pm
Try changing your litter to Cat attract litter just to make sure... It will help you a whole lot...
Glad he is pooping and peeing in now! Some cats do pee and poopin different boxes - just the way they like it!
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post #11 of 12
10/3/10 at 12:03am
Thread Starter 
he has only used the floor one time since I put the cover back on one of the potties.. so I am going to get some of that litter u all are talking about to help him out even more... but this time he pooped and meowed just a normal meow enough to get my attention and when I looked at him he rubbed the floor and walked off... so what is it now? I am using the non clumping kind cause the clumping kind stuck to him and he went around with it all in his fur and hated it... he looked like a porcipine cat tree of somekind lol but he is pooping normal.. and i put it back in his potty when i clean it up.. my tabby penny she dont care what potty she uses never has made no big deal... but ill find out what else is buggin ole sam
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post #12 of 12
10/3/10 at 6:57am
I really think you ought to consider that he is having constipation problems, especially if poop is sticking to him. When he can't poop, or it hurts to poop, he blames the box.

When you put the lid back on he perhaps "thought" hey new box maybe this one won't hurt me, and so used it. finding that he had the same problem with the "new" box, he went back to the floor.

Forgive me if you've already said, but how often do you groom him and what are you feeding him? Do you treat for hairballs?

It may be time for a vet check up and/or diet change.
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