New Rescue Cat with Poop Issues...

[laureen]

Peaches is a roughly 9-11 year old cat, who I just got from a rescue. He has had issues in the past, essentially had a surgery to have most (if not all) of his colon removed about 2 years ago. At the rescue, because he was with sooooo many other special needs cats and needed to be separated from their food, he was in a cage for a few years, so it seemed that his poop problems were under control. After his surgery he was still becoming impacted, so he is on a strict diet of Hill's prescription W/D wet food with Miralax.

He's been with me almost two weeks ago now, and he's awesome. He has a great personality and is very smart. **He was however, having major diarrhea issues. In the box, out of the box...basically every time i walked into the room where he is, i was cleaning up poop. He even had a couple of diarrhea explosions while i was there. Poor guy.  I adjusted the litter, added a second box to his room, been to the vet, did a fecal analysis. Urinating seems ok, outside of two incidents outside the box, which one was early on, and the second was after the vet visit so im OK with chalking that up to stress from the visit, vaccines, and nail clipping.

Anyways, the vet recommended we reduce the miralax and see how we do. So its a few days later, and he seems WAAAAY better with the diarrhea. But still, on occasion, will poop outside the box. On furniture. And its not diarrhea which was totally unintentional, this seems intentional. He is wearing a pheromone collar to reduce stress. He is meowing like crazy before i get to him to feed him in the mornings, and wonder if thats whats happening. I clean out the box every night before i go to sleep and throughout the day. I have another cat in the house, a 14 year old girl who just moved in about 3 months ago, and she's very timid, free feeds dry food in addition to her wet (which he needs to be separated from), so for now, i have to take this introduction very slowly and he is kept in a room of his own. I work from home, and intentionally spend a good amount of time each day and night in the room with him, again, to reduce stress.

Does anybody have any thoughts on how and if i might be able to reduce or eliminate this out of the box pooping? I'm kind of afraid once he is in the rest of the house, that i will be finding poop everywhere including in y bed! Sorry for so much info, but I figured best you know it all, as i try to determine to what extent this could be behaviour/stress related vs his condition which seemed that it had been resolved with his special diet.

 

[anne3007]

First of all, very nice to hear you adopted a rescue cat

I have no experience with this problem, but I regularly go to lectures about cat behavior, as also problems like urinating / pooping outside the litter box.

First, a medical cause should be excluded. Did they check his blood levels recently? And his poo? For example, on giardiasis?

If he is medically healthy, then you can start looking at behavioral problems.

In any case, following things are important for cats that use litter boxes:

* A litter box is often too small. Actually, a litter box should be 1.5 times as large as the cat, in the length.
* Personally, I prefer to use open litter boxes. Many cats dislike the flap. If you have a litter box with a flap, it's better to remove it.
* Do not use litter bags. They make an annoying sound every time the cat is using the litter box. Some cats will associate the litter box with something annoying.
* Choose the right cat litter. Choose cat litter that is gentle on the paws. Silicate grit is not pleasant for the paws. I use a type of sand (nullodor)
* The location of the litter box is very important. Put the litter box not next to a door. Also not in a place where everyone walks by.  Make sure the cat has a little privacy! And the cat is not being chased by another cat in the household while using the litter box. This might have happened or might still happen and this of course makes the cat scared to use the litter box.

* A general rule : Number of cats in household + 1 litter box. So two cats means three litter boxes (minimum) 

Anyways, I'd first make sure he is healthy.. Also an urine check is important! If it seems a behavioral problem, I'd try to change these things like above, or otherwise, contact a cat behaviorist. This may be very helpful in many situations!

Hope things will get better soon

Also, I found this url:  http://www.stclairanimalshelter.org/7-reasons-your-cat-doesnt-use-the-litterbox

 

[anne3007]

Oh, and I forgot.. . Because he is older, he may have osteoarthritis. Many cats over 8 years have osteoarthritis. It is important that the litterbox step is low so he can easily step into the box. Sorry for my bad English btw, It isn't my native language, but hope u understand me

 

[mani]

I always work on the basis of 'when in doubt, add another box'

  I have two cats and four boxes and that works well... some cats won't wee where they poo. some won't go where another cat has gone, some won't go in enclosed boxes, some in open boxes, and on it goes. 

You know, of course, to clean any place where he's gone really, really thoroughly with an enzyme cleaner?

I really recommend you look through this:  Litterbox Problems in Cats - The Ultimate Guide

 

[laureen]

Wow, thanks for all the info :-)

So let me start here. First, we've been to the vet and done a fecal, and everything came back ok. Right now he is in one small room himself, and he has two litter boxes in there with him. Which did seem to help, but not perfect. One is super big with high sides, and the other is XL, but normal sides. Both are open, and i dont use any litter bags in them. I scoop them out as much as possible, several times a day. Ive tried a few different litters, and it seems the only one he likes is what he was using at the rescue, which is the "Yesterday's News" newspaper pellets. Switching to that also changed osme, but not perfect. And finally, thats interesting about the osteoarthritis, and im gonna keep that in mind in the future for both cats. However at this point in the gave, he is super active, playful, and mobile, so i doubt thats the case.

I'm gonna read through that guide as well, and see what i can come up with. It's a tough one because even those very familiar with his colon situation still tend to lean toward this being a behavioral issue at this point. Thank you!!!

 

[mani]

Let us know how you get on..