Young cats pooping all over my house

Hi all!

        I have 3 female cats (Norah - 4 years) and 2 kittens (almost 7 months old) Luna and Lillie.  Norah is Luna & Lillie's mother.  Luna & Lillie are not yet spayed but will probably be in the next 2-3 months I would say.  We're in the process of moving to my hometown and I LOVE the vet there (he was my vet for all my childhood pets) so I'm waiting to have him do their procedures.  Any other relevant information about them.. they are small for their age, but extremely healthy.  My mama cat Norah is tiny as well so I never expect them to get over 10lbs.  Norah is about 7lbs.  They were an accidental litter with a stray in our area when Norah got out the front the door by accident (please save me the lecture - I learned my lesson, found the others great, loving homes, and got Luna and Lillie out of the deal so what happened happened . ).  

        Now the issue is - these kittens are INSANE.  I love them to death but they are driving us crazy.  Norah is playful and likes to run about some but she's always been a very well behaved cat. I've had her since she was 7 weeks old and while she was a bit small and sickly as a kitten she came right out of it and has been the best cat I've ever had.  She never had accidents (unless influenced by another cat - my old roommates cat caused her some issues once), doesn't scratch on furniture, is all around just a sweet cat.  

        The kittens seem... feral.  They run around like maniacs, scratch EVERYTHING, and just tear things apart.  They're friendly but only when they want to come to you.  Now these things I'm contributing to their age.  They're definitely in their wild phase and "testing the waters" so to speak.  I figure they'll grow out of their wildness a bit and I'll just have to use glue on claw covers until they learn not to scratch furniture (that's what I did with Norah - worked like a charm!  I don't believe in declawing so that is not an option).  Here is the main problem:

They poop EVERYWHERE. They pee in the litterbox just fine but when it comes to pooping? Nope. Not by the litterbox, not under it, behind it, nowhere near it.  Instead they poop behind the couch, behind the bookshelf, under the couch, behind the TV.  Basically anywhere they think they're being sneaky.  It's awful.  It smells bad and I'm constantly chasing them around picking up poop.  We are very busy and gone all day for work so it's very frustrating to come home and have to pick up 5+ little hidden piles of kitten poop.  The worst part is they seem to be rubbing off on Norah since she is now doing it too!  This has honestly been an on going problem but has gotten worse the last 2 months.  My husband wants them GONE but has agreed to give them a shot in the new home when we move since it will be brand new everything (and hard floors - yay!) and they won't be able to smell where they've gone before.  

My question is - how can I correct this?  Is it even possible?  Does anyone have any experience with this and tips for me?  My mom says it's unfixable - that if cat's don't have that instinct they just won't have it.  But I love them dearly and would hate to have to give them to a farm (no one would want them inside pooping everywhere).  They've been inside their whole lives so I just don't think they would fair well as outdoor cats.  Plus I would miss them so much.  

Thanks for any help in advance

Julia

First welcome to the site

How many litter boxes do you have ? You mention a litter box, but with 3 cats you need a minimum of 4 litter boxes.

Some cats will not pee and poop in the same box. Some cats will not use a litter box that has already been used and is not clean.

The trick is to scoop as often as possible to keep the litter boxes clean. If you are at busy or at work and unable to do this in the day time. Then you need to supply more boxes to compensate for this.

Thank you Glad to be here! 

Wow 4! I would have never thought that many.  We have 2 currently.  And one no one seems to want to use so they typically try to all use the main one.  They seem to disagree on hood vs no hood so maybe I should just get rid of the one they don't like and buy 3 more then.  2 without hoods and 2 with.  We try to scoop as much as possible - once in the morning and once at night but they don't even seem to attempt to use the litterbox.  My main fear is I'll get all these litterboxes set up and they won't even try using them.  I hope they aren't too stuck in their ways of pooping all over :/.

Rule for litter boxes is one for each cat plus one

Yeah that would be my concern that this has become a habit, if this has been going on for too long.

If so, this would mean going back to basics with them. Which would mean confining them to one room with litter boxes to start the whole process of litter training them all over again.

I would try adding more litter boxes first - see if there is an improvement.
If not then I'm afraid the only way to break the habit, would be going back to basics and start litter training them all over again. It can be done but it will be hard work and you will feel like a meany by confining them. But it would be for their own good in the long run

I should just add that you would only need to confine them until they are using the litter boxes. You then gradually start very slowly giving them access to other rooms one by one. If they poop out the box then you go back a step, starting again with less space until they are using the box again. Then increasing space again and again until they have the run of the house again and are using litter trays all the time.

Thank you for the re-assurance!  That's actually what we were planning on doing in the new home, confining them to the family room in the basement (it's finished, don't worry.  I'm not locking them in a dark scary basement ) until they get used to using the litter box and get used to the new house.  Then we were going to try to slowly let them into the rest of the house.  However, many people have told me that it's impossible and you "Cannot train a cat - either they do it or they don't." So I was beginning to wonder if it is even worth it.  I'll be the meany if I have to to make sure they get to stay with us forever