Pooping question

I have taken in a cat that has been living in our garden for 2 and a half years now. She was a feral and I tamed her enough to be friendly and let me pet her. She also got to know my indoor cat through the mesh door all this time, they are pretty friendly.

Now she had a bad eye infection as described here and I had to take her in last Thursday night and then took her to the vet on Friday. The treatment is working well and her eyes are much better.

Now, I got her a separate toilet in case she does not want to share with my other cat and she started to pee in there the next night after peeing on a blanket once before, but I put catnip on it and she got excited. She has been using the toilet to pee 3 times since.

She is sitting on a chair under the table most of the day, but come out to eat and I get her on the sofa as well and pet her, she purrs and likes it, but still spends most of the day on the chair where she can see the living room but is somewhat protected by the backrest and the table.

I have been worried about her pooping, because she didn't do any so far and I was worried about a constipation. When she was outside she mostly had dry food, but when I got her inside I switched to wet food so that she gets enough water and also eats more, she likes the cans I give her, so she has been eating quite a lot since Friday.

Now what I did tonight was giving her some cat treats and I usually lore her on the couch which is covered with a fleece blanket, so that I can pet her and make her feel good. She was there for a while, purring and rubbing against me and the treat bag. I scratched her and also rubbed her belly to stimulate bowl movement. All of a sudden I noticed she was making a round back and I know what was coming, and rightly so, she pooped on the blanket and me

Oh well, I am a pragmatist, so I did not do anything, because I found it more important that she got rid of the poop than to safe the blanket or my shirt. So she did quite a lot, consistency was not hard as I expected, but well formed, yet wet on the outside and slimey, so not the typical hard constipated poop.

Well, I cleaned up and threw the blanket and the shirt in the washer, but I am now wondering.

Was this an accident, that happened because she all of a sudden had it coming and couldn't spend the intellectual capacity to associate the toilet she used for peeing as a better solution, or should I be worried now that this is some behavioral problem and she might repeat it? I did not get angry at her because I did not want her to get scared of pooping per se. She was a bit aggravated later, because I had to shoo her away from the garden door to get back inside after I took the blanket outside, but I reassured her and gave her treats and she calmed down.

So any idea what I should make out of this?

Thanks in advance

I don't think you can take one misplaced poop as evidence of a behavioural issue. I can't offer any insight as to why it happened. All I can think is that she has some sort of digestive issue - certainly, slimy poop is most likely mucous coated, and pooping mucous is a sign of an irritated digestive tract.

You could try having a 3rd litter box available - some cats like to pee and poop in different places. I don't believe that was the root of the 'accident', but it's generally good practice to have one more box than the number of cats in the house (having said this, I have 2 cats and 2 boxes, and have previously had no issues with just one box for 2 cats...but every situation is different). I'm only giving you the ideal scenario - as long as your setup works for you and your cats it's fine

Hopefully someone else will be able to shed more light on the accident. If it continues, get her checked by a vet to be sure nothing sinister is going on.

Well she did her business in the cat toilet today, so all is well.

I was amazed about the transition of this little cat which has never been inside the house and in not even a week she seems to be perfectly well adjusted.

I have to keep her inside for another week or so to finish the antibiotic treatment, I wish she would want to stay inside after that time, but I'm not sure she will, I will probably offer her to go outside. I just hope she wont have forgotten her territory i the garden and gets lost or so

Great news that she's back to using the litter box.

If she seems happy inside (and you are happy to have two indoor cats, of course) why not try keeping her inside? It would mean you'd have to do proper introductions with your existing cat, but that shouldn't be too hard if they already know each other a bit. She'd certainly be safer inside, and it is possible to transition a semi feral to an inside only cat. shadowsrescue @Ondine @Norachan can tell you more about this than I can.

Thank you for helping this sweet one.  First off do you know if she is spayed?  If not and you are letting her back outside, she is sure to be pregnant soon.  I hope that she is spayed.

Doing cat to cat intros takes some time and patience.  Yet this one seems so happy and content inside.  Lots of us here can help you with intros.  I will post one article for you to read.  I have lots more and a video too.  She seems so tame to be let back outside.

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/the-ultimate-yet-simplified-guide-to-introducing-cats

Thanks,

introduction is not a problem, they have known each other through the mesh door for over 2 years now and they are now inside together without problems. The new one demands more attention but I make sure to give the older one attention too so she does not feel left out. Both have health issues, the old one seems to have allergies which I must treat constantly and this one here, after the infection is healed, still has drooling eyes, sometimes with slimy discharge. She had that before the infection and I was hoping the antibiotics would heal that but not. I may take her back to the vet now that the infection is gone so that he gets a clear view of her eyes.

She was spayed when I took her to the doc the first time, last year. They shaved her belly and that was not sitting well with her, she disappeared for two weeks. the doc said she had a scar from surgery on  the belly and she never got pregnant the two years she was outside. I just wonder why her ear was not clipped, somebody must have spayed her at an early age and then set back out, but the earmark wasn't there.

She is doing pretty well and I am trying to keep her inside, her commotion by the door has gone down dramatically. The only tough sell will be my wife, but I try to keep it under the flag of a temporary affair right now and then just see where it leads to

Some other thing made me wonder, do cats learn to clean themselves from their mother? Because this one here does not really brush  herself and also doesnt clean the face very well, whereas my other cat cleans herself a lot. So i was wondering, if this is a learned behavior or something that comes natural?

The reason we've mentioned introductions is that it's a game changer when an outdoor cat is brought in. Even if they were fine before, actually bringing her into the heart of your indoor cat's territory can alter their relationship.

With grooming, bear in mind that cats who are ill, stressed or depressed will groom less or even stop grooming altogether (unless a stressed/depressed cat takes up obsessive overgrooming is a form of self soothing). Hopefully, as she gets better she'll start taking more care of herself.

She never cleaned herself, I never really observed her doing this outside and she was always quite dirty when she came out of the bushes, I have a shedding tool that works well, I just wondered why she doesn't seem to be cleaning herself up, perhaps she didn't learn it when she was little