The Curious Case of the Poop in the Night-Time

So I have three kitties - Apollo, Storm and our newest addition, Romeo. They are all a year apart in age. Thanks to the awesome advice of the folks here in the forum, I was able to successfully integrate little Romeo carefully with the rest of the furry family. Prior to this, I kept Romeo in a closed off area with food, water, scratching post, toys, and of course his litter box. Being a formerly feral kitty, I wasn't sure if he would get the hang of the litter box, but he used it like a champ. No accidents.

After everyone was successfully introduced and getting along, I moved his litter box out of that room and with the others, but still separate from them. Now, Romeo will use his box to pee in but he will poop in a completely other room!  He has done this for over a week now and it's driving me bonkers. He only does it at night when we're asleep so I can't catch him in the act.  My husband caught him once right after he'd done his business secretly and sprayed him with water (oops!) He (the husband) has since learned his lesson!

Here is what I've done so far --

- Got disposable cat litter boxes. Filled them all up with litter + litter attractant.

- I have 4 litter boxes (one for each cat + one extra). All three cats are using all the boxes.

- Litter hasn't changed. Cat boxes are cleaned every day.

- I have a Feliway plugged in where the litter boxes are

- Two boxes are up against a wall and the two others are across from each other.

- Romeo has been checked by the vet. Originally he had worms but I gave him the medicine to get rid of them. Everything else is fine.

- Poop does not look out of the ordinary (in other words, he doesn't seem to have diarrhea or anything).

- I have scrubbed the affected area with Nature's Miracle and steam cleaned the carpet

- I have put a little bowl of food on the affected area. He'll poop right next to it.

I've literally tried EVERYTHING! Please help me TCS! I know you guys have the BEST advice - there's got to be SOMETHING I can do. I can't permanently move the litter box back to where it was originally since that's our dining room and we have guests over from time to time. It was only temporary while getting everyone used to each other.

I will give that a try, but when the box was still in the room Romeo was separated from the others in, he had no problems using it, so I'm not sure the litter is to blame. Would it help to put him back in that room overnight (with all the stuff in there like he had previously) ? I feel like I've tried everything short of pulling up the carpet (which I can't do right now!)

Can you put a litter box directly over the spot where he's pooping, just temporarily? If he starts using the box there consistently, you can move it a few inches every day until it's where you'd like it to be. The goal is to modify his habit bit by bit without him noticing.

Molly92 said:

 
Can you put a litter box directly over the spot where he's pooping, just temporarily? If he starts using the box there consistently, you can move it a few inches every day until it's where you'd like it to be. The goal is to modify his habit bit by bit without him noticing.

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This is a good idea and should probably work.  If for some awful reason, it doesn't, furniture for cat boxes is now available.  It looks like regular furniture (for example a cabinet) but hides the box completely.  Here are some examples I pulled up in a search on amazon so you can get some idea of what's available. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...cat+box+furniture,aps,161&tag=&tag=thecatsite

This really might not be very practical, given you have guests over but perhaps you could move it when you entertained?  Just reaching for ideas, here....

I'm soooo sorry, and don't mean to laugh at your situation, but the title: comedy gold.

This is going to sound weird but, what do you do with the poop?

I once fostered a kitten named Nermal (it was so fitting) forever ago who was a total ditz, and I one day got the brilliant idea to put her displaced poop in the litterbox instead of flushing it like I normally did. Smelling her own poop, instead of just someone else's, in the box made it click for her. I only did it once with her, but some kittens have needed a second chance. Other people I've gifted this trick to had to do it at most four times (poor thing was half blind, so he was a special case).

Call me crazy, but it's genuinely worked!

(Nermal got adopted by a guy named Klark Kent who ran a comic book shop- not even joking, cross my heart. She went on to be his quirky mascot for the shop. It's the best foster cat story ever.)

Thank you For those that don't know, it's a play on the book called "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"

So, I have moved the litter box temporarily to that spot. I had previously put down aluminum foil there too since I heard cats didn't like the feel or sound of it. Romeo proved me wrong by PEEING on the foil. First time he's ever done that. *sigh*

I also tried putting the poop in the box. No luck. I did think though, that perhaps the other two cats are using all the other boxes and Romeo thinks those are "off limits"? I can't have 15 litter boxes in my house though. Aaaah!

Sparkie said:

Thank you For those that don't know, it's a play on the book called "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"

So, I have moved the litter box temporarily to that spot. I had previously put down aluminum foil there too since I heard cats didn't like the feel or sound of it. Romeo proved me wrong by PEEING on the foil. First time he's ever done that. *sigh*

I also tried putting the poop in the box. No luck. I did think though, that perhaps the other two cats are using all the other boxes and Romeo thinks those are "off limits"? I can't have 15 litter boxes in my house though. Aaaah!

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Dang, well, try it once more if you can stomach moving the poop again? I guess it was bound to fail for someone eventually. Heh.

Let me see if I can think of other tips I've heard of working:

-covered/sheltered litterboxes
-hormone sprays
-feliways
-moving a drink bowl near where they are going to discourage bathroom breaks there (but I'm not sure it works for kittens, hm...)

Sorry, I'm not coming up with anything that hasn't been suggested already. Even you tried the foil thing. [emoji]128576[/emoji]

Sparkie said:

 
Thank you For those that don't know, it's a play on the book called "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"

Click to expand...

Now what you need is a cat who doesn't poop in the night-time, just like the dog didn't bark!  

Have you tried Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract Litter? That was the last step that worked for me when my cat was having his initial litter box troubles. I had also tried moving the box, moving his food, putting him in the box after meals, etc., and finally after using the Dr. Elsey's he had one last "accident" and then never had a problem again.

As with most things cat-related, I think real solutions usually combine several different steps, but the good people here at TCS recommended Dr. Elsey's to me, and that was the final thing that clicked for my cat.

Good luck

Here's where we're at so far!

I have some of the litter attract powder that you sprinkle on the litter, that seems to help. I've been moving the box a little each day and so far, so good. It's going to be a long trek from the living room to the corner of the kitchen (we have a big kitchen that doubles as a laundry area and the boxes are in the very far corner)  buuuuut I'm hopeful!  I also got something called "World's Best Cat Litter". I heard you're supposed to mix this in with the other litter and it helps? Or do you use it by itself without mixing in the other kind?

I kind of have to use clumping litter, as I have asthma and clumping litter is a Godsend because of the lack of dust!