Cat recently adapted to Unacceptable pooping behavior

I'm starting to feel a little angry and frustrated with my cat's pooping behavior.
Even after 3 years of havin my cat, I still feel like I have a lot to learn regarding cat behavior, training, health and nutrition.
We have her little box outside but we cover it to keep the flies from laying their eggs (trust me you DON'T want flies laying eggs in poop because worms start coming out and it's not a pretty picture!) My cat always stands by the door and meows when she "has to go". Well recently she has gotten the habit to poop in my room and in the living room, but mostly in my room. I will admit this is my fault. Last week I had a couple job interviews, was "hired" on a Wednesday, got called in to work the next day (only worked that day and never heard from them again but that's a different story lol), and this week we had heavy rain for a couple days so of course my cat refused to go out those days. Now My cat is mostly a morning pooper, if not a mid-day pooper & on some occasions a night pooper. Last week, before heading out for the interviews I would take her out but sometimes she would jump out of the box and run back inside. So I would just leave but when I would come home the first thing to greet me was the smell of poop. & this week same thing. I'm assuming my room is her new toilet and. Now she doesn't alert me when she has to do her business outside. She just poops in my room. When she does not do her business during the day, Sometimes i wake up in the middle of the night to the smell of her poop. My parents and I had already gotten in to an argument, but it's not like i can justify it because I understand, and I agree that defecating inside the house is unacceptable. Yes, I do take her to her box even if she doesn't notify that she wants to go and she does do her business. but sometimes she doesnt, and thats when she ends up pooping in my room. This morning I was going to take her to her box but before, I went to the bathroom real quick, when I came out the first thing I noticed was the smell of poop. I'm already frustrated, and I don't know how to get her to "alert" again when she has to go. It was much easier when she would stand by the door. that was her que. What should I do?

Why not put a litter box inside for her? It doesn't sound like the accidents are happening for any other reason than your cat cannot or will not go outside to use the box there.

I honestly believe that by giving her access to a box inside will fix the problem.

May I ask how old your cat is? As cats get older, it can become more difficult for them to "hold it" and they need full and unobstructed access to the box. It's also possible that she needed to go at least once, when you weren't around and pooped in your bedroom once. Once she found the "solution", she repeated it and it became a habit.

I agree with @CatPack. I think you should bring the litter box inside, or at least have one for her inside, in addition to the one outside. 

You can read more about litter box issues here - 

Litterbox Problems in Cats - The Ultimate Guide

Anne said:

May I ask how old your cat is? As cats get older, it can become more difficult for them to "hold it" and they need full and unobstructed access to the box. It's also possible that she needed to go at least once, when you weren't around and pooped in your bedroom once. Once she found the "solution", she repeated it and it became a habit.

I agree with @CatPack
. I think you should bring the litter box inside, or at least have one for her inside, in addition to the one outside. 

You can read more about litter box issues here - 
Litterbox Problems in Cats - The Ultimate Guide

Click to expand...

Anne she just turned 3 years old in October. Thank you for the article. I could really use any guide right now because this is already frustrating me. I need to find a solution I break this habit!

I'm sure it is very frustrating! The good news is that you probably have an easy solution on your hands. Get her a litterbox inside and make sure it's setup properly and there's an excellent chance she'll use it. Let us know how it's going!

Anne said:

I'm sure it is very frustrating! The good news is that you probably have an easy solution on your hands. Get her a litterbox inside and make sure it's setup properly and there's an excellent chance she'll use it. Let us know how it's going!

Click to expand...

Anne said:

May I ask how old your cat is? As cats get older, it can become more difficult for them to "hold it" and they need full and unobstructed access to the box. It's also possible that she needed to go at least once, when you weren't around and pooped in your bedroom once. Once she found the "solution", she repeated it and it became a habit.

I agree with @CatPack
. I think you should bring the litter box inside, or at least have one for her inside, in addition to the one outside. 

You can read more about litter box issues here - 
Litterbox Problems in Cats - The Ultimate Guide

Click to expand...

I would place the box inside but there is no room for a little box. Not even in the bathroom. My house is too small. Basically the living room and kitchen are in the same place, and then there's a door that leads to the bathroom which is very small and there are no spaces available for a little box. Just picture the toilet, shower, and sink all closely next to each other, not even our small trash can bin fits! The only way was to leave the box outside, which my cat was already used to. I clean her box when it's full and change it. This all started happening those few days when I went out and now it's really hard to break this habit. I now feel like I can not leave the house without having to worry about her poopin in every corner. It's so frustrating I want to rip my hair out and cry! LOL

I live in a small house myself, so I can relate. What we did when our house was even smaller was to place a cat flap in one of the walls and set up an enclosure on the other side of the wall. That way the cat had full access to a safe enclosure where the litterbox was. Here's what it looked like before we put the litterbox there. Of course, this was under a covered porch with a roof, so it was always dry.


It took one weekend to plan and put together and it meant the litterbox could be outside yet always accessible to the cat. We had a door on the side of the enclosure which we could open to clean the box. 

I really can't see any other way around it. A cat must always have access to a litterbox, day or night, whether you're there or not.

Anne that's really lovely. Did you make the enclosure bigger? The cat looks so big lol Before we moved to our new *current* house she would also do her business outside. It was sort of a routine she had, and when we moved *here* adapting her to the same routine was easy!

She learned it's easier and more comfortable to go in your house then going outside.

Even if it's an inconvenience try sticking the litter box next to the door inside and once she's using it regularly again try to retrain her to go back outside to do her business.

Why don't you put a litterbox in the corner of your bedroom where she's already pooping? Keep it scooped, and you'll have a lot less odor and mess than you do at the moment.

I agree 100% with jcat. Imagine if you were allowed to use the toilet once a day? Animals have the same needs as us. Give it a try :-)

ReiKitty said:

 
She learned it's easier and more comfortable to go in your house then going outside.

Even if it's an inconvenience try sticking the litter box next to the door inside and once she's using it regularly again try to retrain her to go back outside to do her business.

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@ReiKitty the cat can only go outside when she meows at the door and is let out.  And if the OP goes out she wants the cat to go before they go out.

So the cat doesn't have her own access to a litterbox outside.

I can imagine how frustrating that can be!

She’s pooping inside of the house because she can’t reach the litter box or you’re not around to open the door for her as you said you were busy with the interview. She needs a litter box inside of the house in case she had to go and you weren’t around.

@lallorona -- i'm with the thought that an indoor litter box would be the best solution. though i really like @Anne's solution of an outdoor enclosure that's not going to get rained into and that has a litter box in it and access for kitty from indoors at all times.

for an indoor litter box -- how about either purchasing or constructing a litter box cover? the kind that is wooden and nice looking, and has an entry (to get to the litter box). that way the litter box is indoors but not visible -- though you'd need to make sure to scoop the litter box at least 1-2 times per day, to keep it clean so no odors would be there to "offend" people as well as to help encourage kitty to use the litter box (a nice fresh clean litter box is very important for cats).

lallorona said:

@Anne that's really lovely. Did you make the enclosure bigger? The cat looks so big lol Before we moved to our new *current* house she would also do her business outside. It was sort of a routine she had, and when we moved *here* adapting her to the same routine was easy!

Click to expand...

The cats had full reign inside, so a small enclosure was enough. We built it so that we'd have a place for the litterbox (we had a baby crawling inside at the time and a tiny home). It's warm through out the year where we live, and the enclosure was secure from rain or winds, so the cats loved going in and out and enjoyed a whiff of the outdoors, while we enjoyed fewer whiffs of the litterbox