Male Kitty Acting Different

My cat, Lupin, is about to be 10 months old. He is neutuered with all his shots and tests done and okay. He's always been a pretty normal cat but just this week, he's not been eating his dry or wet food? And then he keeps pacing the house meowing SO loudly. He's also been trying to get into stuff- like our cabinets, not to cause trouble, just to sit there. Sometimes he wants to be super lovey and other times he's just hiding somewhere. Today, I noticed he pooped right outside his litter box even though it was clean. What is going on? Does he not like his food? We play and cuddle with him everyday and he is an indoor cat.

It could be a medical issue. You may want to contact your vet and possibly take him in to get checked out. I don't like that he is not eating, pacing and meowing and when a cat doesn't use his litter box it often is because of something going on like pain. Was he declawed?

It also could be territorial. Could he have been scared by any cats outside? Or possibly any animals that might have gotten inside? Were there any new people in the house like workers etc? It could be possible that he saw a cat outside that he feels threatened by or another animal. A Tom could be marking by a window or door.

Has his play remained the same? Or does he play less now? Do you play then give him a treat or food? Is he going to the same areas of the house to rest or sleep or is he avoided any areas of the house he previously hung out in?

Something is going on and it seems likely it is one of the two mentioned above. I would get him checked out by the vet just to rule anything medical out just to be safe. There is enough there to make me wonder if something is going on.

Good luck and please let us know how things go. If things are alright at the vets we can try to figure out what else might be going on (like outside cats). 

He has not been declawed. He was just seen at the vet last week for a follow-up from an ear infection he had. The vet said he had cleared. He was also given all of his vaccines last month and his bloodwork was negative for any disease/infection.

He doesn't go outside without being on a leash and with me. We do have two strays in our neighborhood but they've never come near him when we're outside. I supposed they could be tormenting him (lol) by marking by a window.

His play is normal, sleep is normal, I just attempted to give him a treat and he ate it. Everything is normal except for the not eating his food, the pacing/meowing more often than normal, and the going outside the litter box today.

I gave him a clean bowl with his dry food today and he didn't touch it all day. I eventually sat down and took a few pieces out of the bowl and placed them on the floor and he ate them that way for a while. Then I tried to show him the bowl again but he was not interested. Mind you, I've tried three different bowls seeing if that was the issue too. Then I cleaned his bowl and put his wet food in there and he wouldn't eat it unless again, I spooned it onto the floor. But then he only ate like four spoonfuls before walking away?

I am going to get ahold of the vet tomorrow (they are closed now) and ask them what they think. But I feel like it must be something else because we were just there last Friday and his check-up was all normal. Then again, he didn't have these issues until Sunday.

Did anything that you can think of happen on Sunday? Any visitors (human or animal)?

Is his food dish by an outside door or window? Was the food dish moved at all?

Has there been any anxiety among the humans? Anything that changed recently?

Normal sleep and play yet not normal eating and pacing and meowing and going outside the litter box. How many times has he not used his litter box? Usually not using the litter box is associated with pain especially if it is just outside the litter box. If it is by a door or window it could be marking/territorial.

It could be something making him anxious like an outside cat that he can smell especially because he was recently neutered and my experience is they tend to be more fearful of intact males after that.  I am leaning towards this as possibly the explanation. Is he afraid to go around certain areas of the house that he wasn't afraid of before? Especially near doors or windows? Are the strays in your area intact males? Is it possible to TNR them?

Maybe try a different flavor of wet food and see if it might be that. Keep playing with him, loving him. Is he still going high (up on cat trees etc) like normal? Is he walking around confidently like he used to?

It is something, good to hear you can talk to the vet and we'll try to rule other things out and get to what is going on.