gross problem-help!!

one of my cats has been pooping on the bath mats (the litter box is in the bathroom-we also have another box downstairs and i've seen her use both)-i bought nature's miracle which is supposed to tkae out the smell and prevent them from continuing to do it, but it didn't work. i've also starting emptying the litter boxes twice a day and keeping them cleaner, but that doesn't help either.

when i 1st got her, she was a starving skinny stray, and i think street life messed her up. she used to pee on everything before i got her spayed. she sometimes will go outside the litter box when it is too full, but that's not the case right now. anyhow, i got married 3 months ago, and moved both kitties in to my husband's apartment for a month (with his cat) and then we moved into our new place 2 mo. ago, but this just started a couple weeks ago. plus, it seems like she has adjusted to the new place fine except for this, and she gets along with the other cats pretty well too.

any ideas on what else to do?? i've considered moving the litter box since maybe she is confused and thinks its ok to go anywhere in the bathroom or something, but our apt is small-there's not really anywhere else to put it. any suggestions would be great-my husband wants to get rid of her, but that is simply not an option to me.

First things first would be to take kitty to the vet to check for a medical problem. But from your post, once she is cleared of that then I would say she is reacting to the stress of her recent move and just needs time. It could be in your new house, there are old cat smells and she is just reacting to them. I would invest in a black light and shut down your lights and shine that in the room in question and I think you will surprised at how much cat pee is lit up, when you think you got it all.

thanks for your quick response! she is due for shots soon, so i figure they will check her out at the same time. I always thought that if something was wrong, that the cats would pee on stuff, and she hasn't had problems with that so far.

thanks for the idea about the black light-i didn't know you could do that. actually, the carpets here are brand new, and she is going on those carpet bath mats that you wipe your feet on out of the shower-they are brand new as well. i figure that maybe after the 1st time she did it, it still smelled like a "place to go", but we have cleaned it multiple times and multiple ways, so now I just don't know!

I've heard that some cats just like "going" on those bath mats, the fuzzy type. It must feel good on their little selves or something.

Of course, the easiest solution if that is the case is just remove the bath mat. Use a spare towel on the floor when you shower.

Some cats find wet items, like bath mats, attractive places to relieve themselves. I would clean the area throughly and take the bath mat off of the floor when you are finished using it.

How many litterboxes do you have in your house? The rule is to have a litterbox for every cat plus one.

Is your cat declawed? Declawed cats are likely to develope litterbox aversion.

Good Luck

-saf

that is too funny that they like to go on bath mats-well, not really funny when you have to clean it up...
anyway, she is not declawed. we have 2 litterboxes (1 upstairs and 1 downstairs) and 3 cats, but it was never a problem before-in fact, they seem to make a point of using both litterboxes. actually in my old apartment, i tried to give them separate boxes and they insisted on sharing the same one.
i may give that nok-out stuff a try-do they sell it in stores too, or just online?