I am having an issue with my cat and would appreciate some advice.
Here are a lot of facts. Our 7 year old, mixed breed cat started defecating throughout the house but will not do so in his litter box. He seems to urinate *only* in his litter box. This started 5 weeks or so ago. He has had hair ball issues previously, but it does not seem associated with this issue (I asked the vet). We had 2 cats until 3 weeks ago. The second, younger cat died for no apparent reason (the vet did a thorough job of investigating), but the older cat's misbehavior had been occurring prior to the younger cat's death. I change the litter every 4 or 5 days which might not have been enough when we had 2 cats. We have not changed the box itself for a couple of years. However, I wash it with detergent when cleaning it. The detergent itself may be a factor. The age of the box itself may be a factor in that my definition of clean may not be clean enough even with washing. We have a new born (7 months old) which may be a jealousy factor, but I have been lavishing the cat with attention in case that was the issue; seemingly to no avail. Also, he seems to love the baby and plays with her. One other potential factor is that we have excluded him from our bedroom which was previously part of his domain (in fact that is where he slept most nights). That room is upstairs while all misbehavior has occurred down stairs with one exception. All misbehavior previously has occurred in early AM (4-6AM). I caught him in the act for the first time this evening at 9pm. I frequently fall asleep downstairs and only go upstairs before his misbehavior.
Any help, advice, etc. which you can offer would be very very much appreciated.
Kindest regards,
--RWE
Here are a lot of facts. Our 7 year old, mixed breed cat started defecating throughout the house but will not do so in his litter box. He seems to urinate *only* in his litter box. This started 5 weeks or so ago. He has had hair ball issues previously, but it does not seem associated with this issue (I asked the vet). We had 2 cats until 3 weeks ago. The second, younger cat died for no apparent reason (the vet did a thorough job of investigating), but the older cat's misbehavior had been occurring prior to the younger cat's death. I change the litter every 4 or 5 days which might not have been enough when we had 2 cats. We have not changed the box itself for a couple of years. However, I wash it with detergent when cleaning it. The detergent itself may be a factor. The age of the box itself may be a factor in that my definition of clean may not be clean enough even with washing. We have a new born (7 months old) which may be a jealousy factor, but I have been lavishing the cat with attention in case that was the issue; seemingly to no avail. Also, he seems to love the baby and plays with her. One other potential factor is that we have excluded him from our bedroom which was previously part of his domain (in fact that is where he slept most nights). That room is upstairs while all misbehavior has occurred down stairs with one exception. All misbehavior previously has occurred in early AM (4-6AM). I caught him in the act for the first time this evening at 9pm. I frequently fall asleep downstairs and only go upstairs before his misbehavior.
Any help, advice, etc. which you can offer would be very very much appreciated.
Kindest regards,
--RWE