help with kitty tracking poo all over the house!

tnyc

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So my kitty (5 months) has never been great with the litterbox--she never learned to cover anything up... which is why I think, combined with soft stools = tracking poo all over the house!

I had her on Chicken Soup for the Kitten Lovers Soul wet originally, and she was fine. But I've been trying to start a rotation, the first one is Innova cat and kitten. I've been incrementally giving her more every meal. But ever since I started the Innova, her poo has gotten soft, and I always find it in many small pieces (is she struggling to get it all out?). I've since given her less of the Innova, and more of the original CSFTKLS, but I keep finding her with bits of poo & litter embedded in her back paws. 

I've started giving her FortiFlora. Stopped giving any Innova.

She's also recently started eating less, not finishing her bowl, which she ALWAYS finished quickly (same CSFTKLS). Probably not related?

Anyone have any suggestions? Should I take the top off of the litterbox? (She has a BIG but covered one). Does she need less or more water? Should she start eating dry? I'm not sure what to do, but I DO NOT want to keep feeding her Chicken Soup for the Kitten Lovers Soul, b/c of the grains. (Eventually I want to move on to Wellness, Ziwipeak, etc)

Or is this problem due to high quality rich food? Thanks!!!!
 

katluver4life

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The covered box could be making her too uncomfortable to bury her poo. Enclosed boxes often don't give a cat the room they want to fully bury their stuff. They also enclose the smell and some want to get out quickly to get away from it. Cats are usually extremely clean animals and don't like dirty places to do their business in. So that would be my first step. It would also give her more ways to get out of the box and maybe she'd better avoid stepping in her poo.

Food wise, there is no reason now at 5 months you can't go ahead and try the other foods you want to move on to. As long as she still gets fed frequently, like 4 times a day, a good all life stage food is fine, it doesn't have to be kitten specific. I would not introduce dry food. Wet is so much healthier. Has she been checked for worms?
 
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tnyc

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The covered box could be making her too uncomfortable to bury her poo. Enclosed boxes often don't give a cat the room they want to fully bury their stuff. They also enclose the smell and some want to get out quickly to get away from it. Cats are usually extremely clean animals and don't like dirty places to do their business in. So that would be my first step. It would also give her more ways to get out of the box and maybe she'd better avoid stepping in her poo.

Food wise, there is no reason now at 5 months you can't go ahead and try the other foods you want to move on to. As long as she still gets fed frequently, like 4 times a day, a good all life stage food is fine, it doesn't have to be kitten specific. I would not introduce dry food. Wet is so much healthier. Has she been checked for worms?
Thanks, I suspect it's also the box, but honestly she's just careless about her poo. Also, she spent all her life at the shelter using the pellets, so I'm sure she only knows to poo on top of stuff lol. No worms, she's been checked recently.

Thanks for the advice!!! Much appreciated :)
 

petcrazy76

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Does she scratch in the box after she goes? See if she does after you remove the lid. If she doesn't, try covering it up as soon as you notice it. This worked for a friend of mine. Her cat seemed to make the connection. It didn't work for my cat, she eventually started on her own. It can't hurt to try though. It works for some cats.
 

stephanietx

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Use an uncovered box for her.  She's only 5 mos old and sometimes they're still not very tidy in the litter box at that age.  Be sure to use some kind of rug (an old bath mat or even a door mat) outside the box to help get some of the litter and poop off her paws before she gets too far away from the box.
 
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