My 16 year old cat Buster is driving me nuts as he has taken to pooping in random locations. At night I close off the living room and that seemed to help, though the last two nights he makes his poo in the box, then finishes outside the box in the hall, and last night, IN MY bedroom. The smell is a killer, and works like an alarm clock!
I took him to the vet a few months ago but there wasn't anything wrong that he could determine at that time without a lot of expensive tests. I did bring a poo sample which was fine. He was given a cortisone shot which seemed to help for a few weeks. What I notice is that he goes in the box –and then he still continues to go outside the box to finish up in another room. This appears to happen only at night. I catch him sometimes and put him back in the box while he is squeezing, and then he doesn't go in the box and runs off like a frisky kitten, its quite funny! But, in all honesty I am very concerned about this behavior. It should be noted that when this started a few months ago I bought two 2 new litter boxes with all new clumping litter (the kind they seem to like best). I clean the litter boxes every morning, and this week I have also been cleaning it before we go to bed. I am a slave to these litter boxes! I thought MAYBE he couldn't find the box at night so that is why I closed off the living room- which at least is saving my beautiful rug in there. He is finding the box at night, but not completing the task at hand. I have two cats, and this is only a problem with Buster. I have Feliway plug-ins in two rooms to lower his anxiety (he has it bad!) and I live in a small one bedroom apartment so that is the most I can use. It does calm him down a lot, I couldnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t live without them. He is constantly sniffing everything -- so I think he smells other animals that must show up on my shoes so when I come home he smells it. Anyhow, DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY OTHER THOUGHTS OR IDEAS??? He's been to the vet, has new litter boxes (2) in location away from his food-- he goes poo twice a day- box is cleaned twice a day—honestly, I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t know what else to do but spend the money for the tests. My cats are my kids—love them so much and it is difficult to consider that this could simply be an old age thing—I hope it can be resolved and soon!
I took him to the vet a few months ago but there wasn't anything wrong that he could determine at that time without a lot of expensive tests. I did bring a poo sample which was fine. He was given a cortisone shot which seemed to help for a few weeks. What I notice is that he goes in the box –and then he still continues to go outside the box to finish up in another room. This appears to happen only at night. I catch him sometimes and put him back in the box while he is squeezing, and then he doesn't go in the box and runs off like a frisky kitten, its quite funny! But, in all honesty I am very concerned about this behavior. It should be noted that when this started a few months ago I bought two 2 new litter boxes with all new clumping litter (the kind they seem to like best). I clean the litter boxes every morning, and this week I have also been cleaning it before we go to bed. I am a slave to these litter boxes! I thought MAYBE he couldn't find the box at night so that is why I closed off the living room- which at least is saving my beautiful rug in there. He is finding the box at night, but not completing the task at hand. I have two cats, and this is only a problem with Buster. I have Feliway plug-ins in two rooms to lower his anxiety (he has it bad!) and I live in a small one bedroom apartment so that is the most I can use. It does calm him down a lot, I couldnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t live without them. He is constantly sniffing everything -- so I think he smells other animals that must show up on my shoes so when I come home he smells it. Anyhow, DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY OTHER THOUGHTS OR IDEAS??? He's been to the vet, has new litter boxes (2) in location away from his food-- he goes poo twice a day- box is cleaned twice a day—honestly, I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t know what else to do but spend the money for the tests. My cats are my kids—love them so much and it is difficult to consider that this could simply be an old age thing—I hope it can be resolved and soon!