13 Year Old Cat Suddenly Pooping On Carpet By Front Door???

I'm kinda at the end of my rope here.  My cat is 13 years old and has never once had litter box issues.  Now he suddenly has started to randomly poop on the carpet by the front door.  He has done it 3 times in the last month and there doesn't seem to be any method to his madness.  I'm using the same litter, nothing has changed in the apartment, litter box is kept clean. In fact I just replaced the bag and added brand new litter last night then I wake up this morning to a mess in the same spot.  One time he got on the counter and knocked my out going mail onto the floor then left one little tiny turd right on the envelope!!  He checked out perfect at the vet they even did blood work and all that testing everything which cost me $180.  The first two times it was while I was gone but last night it was while I was asleep.  Today I got a carpet extracter and cleaned the carpet in that area really really good then soaked it with Natures Miracle.  He doesn't pee on anything either but has been acting "different" than he used to.  More weird and kind of mean biting my legs when I go anywhere especially when I'm going to bed and he's meowing way more than he used to.  I don't know what else to do but I can't live with a cat that poops on my carpet it's disgusting and I refuse to be one of those cat people that has a house that smells like cat pee and poop with disgusting stained carpets.  I saved his life when he was a kitten and he has had a great 13 years with me and been spoiled rotten with the best food etc etc but I will have no other option than to have him put to sleep if this continues.  The pound or humane society are not options either he has been alone with me for all these years and all that would do is stress him out and pass the problem along to somebody else which isn't in his best intrests.  Might seem cruel to some of you what I'm considering but it is what it is.  Any other ideas for me or something I'm missing???  He can't become an outdoor cat as he has no front claws, not my doing, and the apts. I live in don't allow outside cats anyway.

Please don't put your cat to sleep!! You have many options here

First of all, even though he's not peeing outside the box, check out some of the answers in this thread. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/9563/inappropriate-peeing-problems-answered

So when did you take him to the vet? It was, in fact, since he started going outside the box? And he was fine? Did you mention his new aggressiveness?

Unfortunately, the fact that he is declawed is probably a contributor to this problem. I know you didn't do it to him, but declawed cats are known to have litterbox issues, especially in old age when they start to get arthritis. Scraping in the litter can really hurt their paws when they're declawed. 13 isn't exactly ancient, especially to people on this site, but he isn't a spring chicken, either. Perhaps you could ask your vet about arthritis treatments?

Even though you have kept the same litter, the company might have changed the formula slightly without your knowledge, and so it smells or feels different to him. Some cats are really particular about what litter they will and won't use. Maybe you can try a new litter, especially an unscented one.

Try a Feliway diffuser. It emits a synthetic pheromone that basically tells your cat to chill out and be happy. Humans can't smell it at all. People here have used it to solve all kinds of behavior problems.

Finally, if none of these work, ask your vet about antidepressants or behavior medicines for your cat. They might be the answer to your problems.

And in the meantime, if he poops in the exact same spot every time, try putting a paper towel down there to make cleanup easier if he does poop on it.

Good luck, and keep us updated. More people will be around shortly with more advice.

Dune Rat said:

I saved his life when he was a kitten and he has had a great 13 years with me and been spoiled rotten with the best food 

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What food does he eat (wet? dry? flavour? etc)?

Is the poop hard or soft? Sometimes cats that are constipated or have diarrhea will poop outside the box (and that sort of thing wouldn't necessarily show up in blood work at the vet). Did he have a urinalysis done?

The other issue to consider is arthritis. Somewhere around 80-90% of cats over the age of 12 have some degree of arthritis, and cats that have been declawed are guaranteed to have it even worse. You might have to get a larger litter box with lower sides, like an under-the-bed storage box. Keeping the litter a bit on the shallow side, like no more than an inch or 2 deep, could also help.

I would also start giving your kitty some glucosamine like Cosequin or Dasaquin. Might take a month or so to have any effect but there is no risk in giving it to him and it could help.

Good luck! Please don't give up on your boy yet, he really needs you now more than ever.  

Oh, forgot to add that you could also try some Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract litter: Precious Cat   In my experience, it works quite well. 

Ok sorry it took me so long to get back it's been a busy few days.  Ok I think I've figured out what is going on here thanks to your suggestions.  I believe he is indeed constipated and am thinking it may be due to the food he is eating.  He was fed Chicken Soup brand food for years but then one day just up and decided he didn't like it anymore and stopped eating completely.  After a couple days I took him to the vet and had all those test done I mentioned before with blood work and yes they did a UA also and everything checked out perfect.  The vet reccomened trying a canned food so I bought several different kinds.  Well he wont touch any of the canned foods that are in the Pate' form but would eat the Iam's canned food that was in little chunks.  I fed him that for a few days then tried out some of that Purina One Beyond dry food just to see what would happen and he loved it.  Gained his weight back and everything was great.  Well Wal-Mart ran out of the Beyond a couple months ago but had a 20 lbs bag of this other food called Evolve that looked like it also had good ingrediants so I bought it.  Well he has never really liked it as much as the Purina One Beyond and then this all started a couple weeks ago so I have a feeling that is the issue.  I gave him some of the Iams's Canned food this morning because he hadn't pooped since his accident on my carpet on Saturday morning.  Sometime while I was at work he managed to get two very tiny turds out, In his litter box thank god, but they were very dry and hard looking and his pile on Saturday morning was HUGE and appeared to be much more than he normally would.  After work I stopped by Wal-Mart and got another bag of the Purina One Beyond and some of the I believe it's called Miralax for humans that I read on here can work good in small doses to help soften his stools up for now until I can hopefully get things back to normal. I was going to try sprinkling a tiny bit of that on some canned food and see if that helps at all.  I read something on here about no more than 1/8 a teaspoon of that per day does that sound about right??  Thanks for all your help!!

Also sorry for all the spelling errors in that last novel of a post!!!!

It certainly sounds as if that might be the cause of the problem. When a cat suddenly starts something like that, he is not doing it to annoy you but there is definitely something wrong with him. But it can be so hard to figure out what it is, and you have done the right thing in working through any possible changes in his life. Good luck, let us know if it works.

it sounds like your issue may be solved if your kitty was just constipated. something you might try insofar as litter is using cats's pride - the one with the pink cap, not the "complete" which has a red cap. the pink cap is very soft and is almost like a heavy powder. it's a bit dusty so you have to hold the scooper low to try and reduce the dust. when you pour in new litter just try to keep the jug low to the box. i have three cats that are declawed (not by me) and others that aren't. i mistakenly bought the "complete" and instantly noticed the difference. also, the regular is very easy to scoop because it's so light, and it also clumps well.

My cat has the same constipation problem. Other tips is buying a water drinking fountain, buying wet food( my cats prefer the ones with gravy) and even canned pumpkin, although some cats won't eat the pumpkin. Also I give my cat mineral oil occasionally. It acts like a lubricant, helping things move along. My cats love it they would eat the bottle if they could, also if your cat likes it you can mix it with the dry food. Or you can buy hairball stuff such as petromalt, it also acts as a lubricant.

If he's been de-clawed, it means it is painful for him to scrape the litter with his front paws - see the vet for alternative litter material. He may be inconvenient to you, but declawing was more than inconvenient to him. Give him a break!

Buy an upright shampoo vacuum cleaner and clean up twice a day until you figure it out. Can you do that instead of killing your cat for going to the bathroom and "inconveniencing" you? Un- frickin- real

I know That is where I am too   we have a few cats but only 1 with this issue and ours is an 8 year old female ! we are at wits end ! they all eat mainly wet with a dry food garnish We clean the huge litter boxes every day We take them to the vet when ill or in pain We are perplexed as you and not wanting to live with cat smells in my home 

dune rat said:

I saved his life when he was a kitten and he has had a great 13 years with me and been spoiled rotten with the best food etc etc but I will have no other option than to have him put to sleep if this continues.

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Wow so you were going to euthanize this cat that you lived with for 13 years all because he didn't like his food anymore and you got him some food that made him constipated. I just can't believe I'm reading this thread