Introducing New Cat/Pooping Problem

So here's the deal:

Shermie has lived with cats before: when he was a kitten my cousin lived w/ me and she had a kitten too.  And then I had Luna, my older girl cat when I got Shermie and they learned to get along, though he would try to play with her and she wouldn't have it.  And then, for a time I moved in with someone w/ a dog.  That took a few months to adjust, but after a while I think they became something of friends and when one was gone, the other would look around the house. 

So...In December, I had a roommate move in with 2 cats: Bandit and Princess.  Shermie took only a week or so to adjust to the Bandit, the boy, and they started getting along and actually playing really, really fast.  He would still hiss at Princess but they mostly just avoided each other. All 3 cats used the same 2 litter boxes, ate out of the same 2 bowls and pretty much coexisted with no problems. 

Then around March, when my roommate was going to start moving out, he started getting really agitated and meowing a lot and loudly.  He would pace and do circles about the room and paw at the windows and doors.  He has never been an outdoor cat, though he goes out w/ harness and leash with supervision.  He also started clawing at the carpet by the closed door and usually he'd only do this if I was in a room that he wasn't in.  But it became anytime, even if i was with him.  

My December roommate for a while tried to put a litter box in the corner of the empty dining room, but I wasn't really into that and made her move it after a month or so.  After that, I caught both her cats pooping on the rug where the litterbox used to be.  I cleaned it with enzyme cleaner every time it happened - though it seemed to only happen when my roomie wouldn't clean her box well enough and my door was closed when were separating the cats, like at night.

Now, Sherman, when he is stressed, he will poop near the litterbox or on top of the lid.  He never had any other out-of-box pooping drama that was further away from the box.  However, when I moved to this new house (last June), he started pooping in the bathtub (which was where his litterbox was in the old place).  But, if the doors to the bathtub room were closed, he had no issues.  I switched over to cat attract litter and that seemed to solve the problem for teh time being.

My December roommie moved out in April and a new roommate moved in.  She has a corgi and a cat.  We introduced Shermie to the dog, Badger, and after an initial wariness they pretty much got used to each other as long as Shermie didn't sniff around Badger's food.  Then he would bark a little.  With the cat, Simon, we kept the two of them separate for a few days but when it became clear that Sherman hated being confined to a room, then we let them meet under supervision.  

They didn't get along and once got into a pretty shrill fight where fur actually flew.  However, they seem to be kind of adapting to each other, though Shermie is the one doing 90% of the hissing and growling and he's still howling and pacing. He howls A LOT.  AND we have also discovered that another cat, we think Shermie, is pooping in the SAME spot where the litterbox used to be.  And if he is not pooping there, he's pooping on top of the box. I know Simon has used his box a bit, but neither cat seems to be using it that frequently. And I have not found any places where either of them are spraying/peeing. 

Here is a list of the things I've been doing to try to calm the cat and encourage litterbox use:

- Enzyme cleaner where he poops on the rug

- Cat attract litter

- Feilway plug-in diffuser (right in the corner where the pooping is happening).

- calming collar

- calming treats

- vet visit - who said he might be bored or have spring fever so i've tried playing with him, but he's 7 and so not really playful.

- Outside time on harness and leash.

This has been going on for....2 months-ish for the howling and about 1-month for the pooping.  And it's kind of starting to make me crazy.  What else should I try?

Can you clarify for me how many boxes you h ave currently? And how many cats are there currently? Is it 3?

One thing you may want to try is simply adding more boxes.  I'd put one again where you had it in the dining room where they keep pooping and then, if you want it out of there, begin to move it SLOWLY to where you want it- literally an inch at a time over weeks.

What happened at the visit? Were any tests run?

Here's an update to what's going on with Shermie.

First to note: The vet ran a "standard panel" of tests and said all of them were in normal range but the kidney's were very slightly high. She said that that could've been from having eating too soon before the panel.  Getting a detailed analysis would have costed another $100 and the vet said she was not concerned or that it wasn't an outright signal of urination problems.

He is still pooping outside of the box in 3 places: In the dining room corner where the old litter box used to be, in my bathroom where his litterbox is and in the shower room (rarely) where the litter box used to be in my old house. (In an intervening time period, I had to keep his litterbox in the walk-in closet, so THANK GOD he's not pooping there now...).  His pooping doesn't seem "regular" either...In the dining room he does it at night, during the day, when I'm there, when I'm gone, when I"m *watching* him!  In the bathroom it can be when his litterbox has freshly been cleaned/changed alltogether, when it's been a few days, at night, and again he's even had the nerve to do it while I was watching him (when he did, I picked him up and put him in the box where he stayed).

I also caught him spraying the wall in the dining room where the other cats box used to be.  In that area I have put a plastic sheet with spikeys sticking up (Like those things for office chairs), cleaned it several times with Nature's Miracle, Put in a diffuser, sprayed cat repellent there and tried to blockade the area.  It has kind of worked, now he just poops next to the plastic thing and sprays the wall a little farther away.  Weirdly, his spray doesn't smell nearly as bad as the urine from his box and it's not very yellow or very much volume.  I was having a hard time figuring out he was doing it because it was not leaving any visible spots/stains just a very faint pee smell. 

I just bought a whole new batch of pee-reducing things like a gallon of Nature's Miracle, Feliway spray, more Nature's Miracle and a blacklight.  The problem is...this stuff is EXPENSIVE.  I mean...Feliway is so, so so so so expensive and for not getting really great initial results It's hard to keep justifying the monthly $30 or $50.

Other problem - neither me or my roommie want a litter box in the dining room which is why we have not put one there.  The one I use is the "CleverCat" design with the top entry, but the top has been off for months.  My roommie uses a Booda dome with the door flap.  I am thinking of trying to convince her to get the CleverCat as well...maybe it will put her cat and my cat on an equal footing if Shermie used Simon's too. 

Third problem...Our apartment is just way too small for a 3rd litterbox.  Sherman needs one w/ walls as high as the CleverCat (or covered if he'd use it) because I think he "misses" when he uses  the box normally.  And there's nowhere to put one that is not 1. right by my desk where I work from home, 2. in the living room in plain sight 3. in the dining room under the table we eat on (where the old one used to be w/o table).  And putting one there and moving it an inch/day is ridiculous too because it would literally be moving directly across the living room and down a hallway. 

Other things I've tried: I am switching to feeding him just 1 type of wet food, but am having a hard time finding one he really likes.  I am going to write a separate post about eating...I tried Rescue Remedy, Paw-Ease Gel, Calming treats...Also, now, I am trying to feed the cats at the same time in the same room.  It's working relatively well since my roomie is out of town for the holidays, but I think I need to talk to her about doing that too.

He's gotten generally calmer, but still has his yowling and pacing times. And his times he wants to escape...in fact, he's totally acting like an intact male cat but he is soooo not.  He was neutered before he was 4mos old or whatever the shelter normally does.

Poor little Shermie...I really want to help him, but I have limitations too - financial, practical, time-wise. 

Are there any other cats in the neighborhood?

Matt did the pacing and yowling at the window, and actually broke a fly screen to get out when he was younger-it turned out he was after Whiskey, my neighbor's female in heat. He was also neutered, but Oh-so-proud when he came home full of fleas after his 3hour romp with the girl cat.