why? peeing and pooing next to litter box...

i have 5 cats and one of them is peeing and pooing next to the cat box. i think it is spooky because i saw her peeing in the sink. now i find pee and poo next to the cat box. i took the lids off and she doesnt have a track infection. what should i do? and why is she doing this?

How do you know if she is sick or not? Have you taken her to the vet? That would be the first thing to do, then if she checks out okay health wise, look at how many litter pans you have, how clean it is, what is clean for us, isn't necessarily clean to a cat- what kind of stress is in the home? But first take your cat to the vet to be sure it is not sick

thanks for the reply. she was at the vet not to long ago for a cold. should i take her back and check for an infection? is that the only sign from a cat is urinating outside the box? she seems healthy.

I would take her in, pooping out of the box is one way a cat can tell us they don't feel good. We seem to listen quicker when our carpet or floor is at stake-

Seriously though, she could even have an injury that won't let her get in the box, or some sort of infection where she can't control her bowels. Cats are fastidious and they don't like to go where they can't cover it up- it leaves them vulnerable to prey

ok! thanks for the info. i will check her in to a vet.

If you only have the one box I would add at least 5 more around the house. Sometimes a pecking order gets out of hand and one kitty will go out of his or her way to make life stressful for another.

Of course this is after your vet tests the cats urine for an infection.

Definately get her a urinalysis and probably a culture too just to be safe. Zoey has a bladder infection right now and the only way I knew is I watched her go into the box like 4 times in a row every time she urinated No other symptoms. She is such a good girl that she never went outside the box so if I were not paying close attention to her litterbox behavior I might not have known and it could turn into a lot worse than just a bladder infection. Most cats will also go outside the box if they have an infection. Good luck and let us know what the vet says.

My new 3 1/2 month old kitten will pee nearby the litterbox if it is particularly dirty. Or, it may have had something to do with the older kitten tearing up the litter liners all over the place. Maybe he didn't like all the bits of plastic everywhere.

If a urine analysis checks out OK, and you follow everyone's advice about more and cleaner litter boxes and none of that helps, you might try to observe if another cat is harrassing her. Sometimes they get spooked when they are in or about to use the box by another cat and are just too afraid to try again. If that is the case, you could confine her in a small room like a bathroom with a box and see if she will use it when she has no one there to bother her. Once she is using it again reliably, you can experiment with giving her more freedom until she is back to being confident again. Becky