Cat poops on same piece of furniture every time.

prospitian · Oct 6, 2015

We just adopted a sweet little cat and have had him for just over a month now. When we got him, we kept him confined to a room for a week with his food and and litter and toys and gradually increased his access to the house as he got more comfortable with his surroundings and as he adjusted to his litter box. Once he had free roam, he would slip from the first floor up to our third floor and then poop/pee on the futon belonging to his primary caretaker, and never anywhere else in the house. Initially we thought this was because he got lost and became afraid but we've ruled this out. So we changed the litter, reconfined him to his room, and reintroduced him to the house once more. The pooping persisted, even though he does happily use his litter box as well. We even moved the futon to a new place and he still pooped on it. Finally we had to trash the futon because it became so fouled. After getting rid of it, the problem ceased for a whole week and a half. Just when we thought it was over, he pooped on the second futon today that he had been ignoring. He's never really alone in the house for more than a few hours, his littler is cleaned twice daily, and he is given plenty of love. Why is he so committed to this futon on the third floor? We would like to avoid a litter box up there as it's very hot and the temperature could make feces up there smell truly miserable.

stephenq · Oct 6, 2015

prospitian said:
We just adopted a sweet little cat and have had him for just over a month now. When we got him, we kept him confined to a room for a week with his food and and litter and toys and gradually increased his access to the house as he got more comfortable with his surroundings and as he adjusted to his litter box. Once he had free roam, he would slip from the first floor up to our third floor and then poop/pee on the futon belonging to his primary caretaker, and never anywhere else in the house. Initially we thought this was because he got lost and became afraid but we've ruled this out. So we changed the litter, reconfined him to his room, and reintroduced him to the house once more. The pooping persisted, even though he does happily use his litter box as well. We even moved the futon to a new place and he still pooped on it. Finally we had to trash the futon because it became so fouled. After getting rid of it, the problem ceased for a whole week and a half. Just when we thought it was over, he pooped on the second futon today that he had been ignoring. He's never really alone in the house for more than a few hours, his littler is cleaned twice daily, and he is given plenty of love. Why is he so committed to this futon on the third floor? We would like to avoid a litter box up there as it's very hot and the temperature could make feces up there smell truly miserable.

I don't think you are going to solve this without introducing a litter box up there very close to the futon. You're making the cat work too hard to get to his box when he needs to go (imagine you had a 3 year old child and the only toilet was in the basement and his room was in the attic), but if you clean this new box regularly and use a high quality litter you won't have the smell. And what's worse, the smell of poop buried under high quality odor absorbing litter, or fresh poop on your sofa?

Another thought is to deny him access to that floor, but that could be harder and less satisfying.

Columbine · Oct 7, 2015

I agree with

stephenq . A litter box by the futon is by far the best solution to this problem. I would always far rather scoop an extra box than clean up 'accidents'. Buried poop shouldn't stink the room out - remember that boxes should be scooped at least twice a day anyway. I keep a scoop and bags by each litterbox. That way, it's really easy to scoop as soon as you see it's been used. It only takes a minute.

Also, be sure to use an enzymatic cleaner when cleaning the futon. Nothing else will remove the smell to your boy's sensitive nose, and any lingering smell will serve as a marker telling him that that's the right place to go.

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Cat poops on same piece of furniture every time.

prospitian

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stephenq

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Columbine

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