Not using litter box sometimes

[Country gal]

My cat is a male tabby and is 6 1/2 years old. I keep his litter box in good order and he always urinates in his litter box, but find he does #2 on the carpet at times in our spare bedroom!
He's a good boy that loves to play, loves us and loves attention. He is also a talker and talks to us . This issue has been going on for over a year. At times he may not do anything outside of the litter box for several months and then he start doing it again. Once I caught him in the process and said bad boy and showed him his litter box and it stopped for a long time. I'm not sure what to do about it. So glad he always urinated in his litter box. Any ideas what to
do?
Country gal

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Sonce he isn't doing it all the time, my only guess is that he is either a tad bit constipated, or maybe has a hairball he is passing. You can check the stool when this happens to see about the hair content, and to see if the stool is a bit harder than normal. It could have to to do with certain foods/treats he eats, if he isn't always given the same thing. You'd have to make a chart to be able to identify foods/treats that result in him going outside the box. Maybe a visitor or other household member sneaks him something to eat that his system is not sued to?

It could be on a rare occasion that he already has debris in his litter box that you have yet to clean out before he wants to poo. If he is used to an immaculate box, he may be a bit reluctant to use it when it is less than stellar. It is amazing how cats can end up with certain expectations. If he only has one litter box, you could add a second one and see if that helps any.

Hopefully other members will come along with some ideas, but tbh, if he is healthy otherwise and there are no eating/drinking issues going on at the time of these incidents, it doesn't sound like something you can correct - unless you can tie it to something specific.

 

[Alldara]

Have you taken his poo for parasite testing at the vet?

 

[Country gal]

To FeebysOwner and Alidara,

I so appreciate both your responses. I will look at his stools closer to watch if changes in stool if harder due to foods, treats that could change his stools or due to hairballs. He cleans himself a lot, could see that hairballs happening too and keep an even closer watch on the litter pan.
Checking his stools for parasites is a good idea too. I actually take him outside on a lead for some outside time as we live by a very busy country road and could see him picking up something as he like to eat grass and roll around.
Thanks so much for your responses. Both your responses really helped me be aware of other things that could be causing this for Pepper.
Thanks again!
Country gal

 

[neely]

Welcome to TCS! Another suggestion would be to have two litter boxes since he may not want to poop in the same one he urinates in. It's usually recommended to have one more litter box than the number of cats, e.g. one cat = two litter boxes, two cats = three litter boxes, etc. I thought these Articles may have some helpful information for you:
16 Experts Reveal The Most Common Litterbox Mistakes (and How To Avoid Them) - TheCatSite
The 10 Most Common Litter Box Mistakes Cat Owners Make - TheCatSite

 

[Country gal]

neely,

Thank you so much for your suggestion of using 2 litter boxes instead of just one and placing them conveniently for our kitty to get to easily. We have one litter box and is in the basement. So will defiantly look into 2 litter boxes instead of one. Really enjoyed the articles too, they did have helpful information in them too.
Thanks so much for your response. Your response has helped me realize a second litter box could be the answer.
Thanks again!
Country gal

 

[orangie]

We find that Orange skips the box when he's not feeling great (usually constipation-related). It doesn't happen often, but when it does I know it's a clear sign that I need to be checking in with him to see what's going on.
And while we have two boxes, there is a definite preference on his part as to which one he will use and what time a day he prefers which box. So maybe watching for those preferences as well would help???

Cats...whatcha gonna do? lol

 

[Country gal]

orangie,

Thanks so much for your response! I will watch more closely to see if Pepper is having constipation issues. He loves his dry food and drinks water, but doesn't like canned food, but wonder if canned food might soften his stools if hard. I've tried several kinds of canned, but he turns his nose up at it. I may try again!
I'm trying to watch his litter pan habits more closely now too. Thanks again, I really appreciate your response!

Country gal

 

[Country gal]

orangie,

Thanks so much for your response! I will watch more closely to see if Pepper is having constipation issues. He loves his dry food and drinks water, but doesn't like canned food, but wonder if canned food might soften his stools if hard. I've tried several kinds of canned, but he turns his nose up at it. I may try again!
I'm trying to watch his litter pan habits more closely now too. Thanks again, I really appreciate your response!

Country gal

Hi!
Pepper is still leaving stools in our spare bedroom. I was able to check the consistency of his stools tho and can see that his stools are hard. They actually seem to have both soft and hard parts to his stools.

I'm not really sure what to do about the hard stools and don't completely understand why he doesn't use his litterbox when he is having the hard stools.

I want to figure out how to help him with the constipation and help to get him back where he will use his litterbox for his stools again.

But he always uses his litterbox when he urinates! Not a problem there which I'm so glad!

Any ideas hiw to help him with his constipation.

Thank you! Country gal

 

[Alldara]

If he associates the litter box with feeling bad, he wont use it when things are normal either (called litter box adversion). This can happen for just poos, just pees or both.

Do you have a box in the room where he goes?