Random poop on the floor

[pcm2a]

Good morning all! I am at the last straw with my short hair tabby cat, but before I send her to the shelter I thought I would check soem forums and see if there are any ideas that I have missed.

First, I have 3 cats: male american 2yrs, female hymilayan 4rs, female tabby 5 yrs, and I have a 1.5 yr male chihuahua. All of the animals get along fine together and even play together. The house we are living in is 2700 sqft so space isnt an issue.

For the past 10-12months the tabby cat has randomly started pooping on the floor (once every 1-2 weeks) and less randomly peeing on the floor (once every month).

Here is what we have tried:
Adding an additional litter box downstairs (now have 2). Litter boxes are cleaned daily.
Adding a litter box upstairs (unacceptable,but worth a try).
Switching food and having two types of food down.
Switching litter and having two types of litter down.
Taking her to the vet for a checkup, no physical problems like worms or anything.
Smashing her face in the poo/pee and beatings.

Any other sugguestions to keeping her from dropping the deuce on my floor?

Thanks!

 

[valanhb]

Originally Posted by pcm2a

Here is what we have tried:
Adding an additional litter box downstairs (now have 2). Litter boxes are cleaned daily.
Adding a litter box upstairs (unacceptable,but worth a try).
Switching food and having two types of food down.
Switching litter and having two types of litter down.
Taking her to the vet for a checkup, no physical problems like worms or anything.
Smashing her face in the poo/pee and beatings.

Any other sugguestions to keeping her from dropping the deuce on my floor?

Thanks!

Your cat is trying to tell you that something is wrong in her world. She's not going outside of the box for the fun of it. It's up to you to be the detective and figure out what it is that's wrong.

Let's go through your list of what you've tried...

The rule of thumb for number of litterboxes is one per cat plus one, so you should have 4, and of those 4 you should have at least one on every floor of the house. Some cats are very particular about having one for pee and one for poo, and some cats are very particular about using a dirty (to their minds) litterbox.

Switching food...haven't heard of that being an issue, but worth a shot.

Switching litter - good idea. Did she show any preference?

Taking her to the vet - best idea. Did you talk with your vet about her inappropriate elimination? Did you have them run blood and urine tests, or just a fecal and overall checkup? Many times inappropriate elimination is rooted in a Urinary Tract Infection, which a fecal wouldn't show.

Rubbing her nose in it and "beatings" - not only just plain unacceptable, but that won't teach her ANYTHING except to fear you. Cats don't learn with negative reinforcement, period. They just don't. The trick to training a cat is to give them positive reinforcement when they do what you want them to do, although in this case it's a matter of her trying desperately to tell YOU something.

 

[shakadaka]

Well valanhb said it all I feel. I do not have any other advice too add, however I also have too re-itterate, beating and rubbing a cat's face in their toilet is pointless, cruel and absolutely unacceptable. However I commend you for trying lots of different methods and I can understand your despair. This kind of treatment will only make your kitty worse, not better. I wish you the best in helping your kittie, and if you DO rehome her, I hope it is a loving home that she can spend the rest of her days, happy and content. Be well

 

[beandip]

Are all of the cats spayed/neutered?

I agree that 2 litterboxes isn't enough. With 2700 sq feet I think you can find discreet locations for 2 more boxes.

Uncovered litterboxes are best, especially for a cat who with elimination issues. Unscented litter would also be a good idea. Think of the boxes from her point of view and try to make it attractive for her.

I'd like to second everything that valanhb said.

Out of all the possible reasons for her behavior, my gut feeling is that adding more boxes will make a big improvement.

 

[mschauer]

I would try confining him to a single room with a litter box. See if him consistantly uses the box that way. If not, there is something he doesn't like about the box. If he does, he may just need easier access to a box when he needs it. Try adding more boxs around the house as others have suggested.

If he won't use the box you might try Cat Attract litter in brand new box. I've never used that litter but others have had great success with it.

If you confine him to a room be sure to go in and play with him or even just sit and read so he doesn't get upset about being closed up.

At the time this behavior started, did anything in the house change? Anything at all?

 

[pcm2a]

Thanks for all the replies so far, I appretiate it. I have two littler boxes downstairs and the one addition upstairs for a total of 3. I made a type on one my cats ages too, my youngest is 3 and not 2.

For 3 years all three cats have gone in the two litter boxes we had. Before the newest cat (3 years ago) we only had one litter box.

None of the cats seemed to care either way for different brand litter. The only new addition was our puppy 1.5 years ago, but it was a good 6 months after we got the puppy that this behavior began. Puppy is penned in the kitchen during the day, and does not block access to any litter boxes. In the evenings the puppy is by our side and doest aggitate the cats much at all.

We have a sun room where we tried placing the cat and for a couple week stint in the sunroom she always went in the box. Keeping her out there indefinitly is no good cause she looks in 24 hours a day and all our other animals look out. She tries to get in of course when I go out to water the plants.

The vet did not do a blood or urine check that I saw, just a feces test and a regular exam. I could take her back and try to get these other things done to see if it is a health issue. The fact that she goes in the box most of the time leads me to believe it is not health related.

I am definitly willing to give a 4th litter box a shot. It saddens me to have to put another one upstairs but it's worth a try.

 

[natalie_ca]

Originally Posted by pcm2a

Smashing her face in the poo/pee and beatings.

That's animal abuse!

If that's how you treat your animals then I do suggest taking her to the shelter where she can get a home where people aren't going to rub her face in poo and beat her up.

All abusing a cat does is turn the cat against you and make it afraid of you. It does NOTHING to correct behaviour. Cats learn by repetition and habbit. If something is nice, soft, yummy, fun.... they will repeat actions to get the reward.

Add another litter box
Don't put the litter box in a corner. Leave all 4 sides free.
Try a different cat litter.

But for God's sake stop abusing that poor cat!

 

[laureen227]

one of min, Chip, occasionally poops on my bed, for no reason i can tell. he's healthy, too. i switched to the Cat Attract litter to help train a former feral kitten i took in. he LOVES it! i now use the additive to their regular litter, & he hasn't done it since i've been using it. i definitely recommend it.
BTW - if you take her to a shelter, & they know she has this behavioral problem, you're basically giving her a death sentence. almost no one is going to adopt a cat with a known litterbox aversion.
the Cat Attract comes with a 'retraining' plan, which i also suggest you follow.

 

[pcm2a]

The fact that she goes in the litter box 13 out of 14 days and the fact that she goes in it consistently if I contain her in a room with it tells me that using litter additive isnt going to coax her in there.

Adding a 4th litter box sounds like a good plan and getting her blood urine checked sounds pretty good too. Blood/urine seems unlikely also due to the fact that she goes consistently if locked in the room with the box. If she was "sick" then she would go outside the box no matter where she was.

I hate to see her get put down at the shelter, which is what I am sure will happen with a 5 year old, bland looking cat, not very friendly, will scratch, with a poop problem. I haven't decided if the shelter would be better or if I should just let her be an outside cat. She's no declawed and winters arent too bad here in Tennessee, but most likely the winters would kill her.

 

[renovia]

Originally Posted by pcm2a

Here is what we have tried:
Adding an additional litter box downstairs (now have 2). Litter boxes are cleaned daily.
Adding a litter box upstairs (unacceptable,but worth a try).
Switching food and having two types of food down.
Switching litter and having two types of litter down.
Taking her to the vet for a checkup, no physical problems like worms or anything.
Smashing her face in the poo/pee and beatings.

Any other sugguestions to keeping her from dropping the deuce on my floor?

Thanks!

add additional boxes, that almost ALWAYS helps, but it doesn't work overnight. they need positive reinforcement too.

cat attract has worked really well for me and would recommend it to anyone having a litter box problem

get the blood/urine samples done so you know that she's COMPLETELY healthy. That will rule out health as the culprit.

please don't beat your cat or smash her face in her feces. it won't help. i wouldn't recommend this at all for any animal though you might think it would have helped because some people do this to their dogs - but it DOESN"T work on cats period.

Originally Posted by beandip

Are all of the cats spayed/neutered?

I agree that 2 litterboxes isn't enough. With 2700 sq feet I think you can find discreet locations for 2 more boxes.

Out of all the possible reasons for her behavior, my gut feeling is that adding more boxes will make a big improvement.

yeah that!

Originally Posted by mschauer

If he won't use the box you might try Cat Attract litter in brand new box. I've never used that litter but others have had great success with it.

again, yeah that!

Originally Posted by laureen227

i switched to the Cat Attract litter to help train a former feral kitten i took in. he LOVES it! i now use the additive to their regular litter, & he hasn't done it since i've been using it. i definitely recommend it.
BTW - if you take her to a shelter, & they know she has this behavioral problem, you're basically giving her a death sentence. almost no one is going to adopt a cat with a known litterbox aversion.
the Cat Attract comes with a 'retraining' plan, which i also suggest you follow.

yeah that and don't forget that you'll have to live with yourself knowing that you gave her a death sentence. This behavior is a relatively easy one to make progress on and eventually fix. Don't let her die because she poops on the floor a couple of times a month. Regular poop is so easy to clean, diarrhea is much more difficult to clean, but if she has that then she needs to be seen by a vet.

i hate it when my cat luxor poops on the floor next to his box when day after day he uses the box. I purchased an enzymatic cleaner to clean the spots with and it has helped tremendously. your cat may be still smelling those spots if it is the same couple of spots she goes on. After i cleaned the spots luxor's habit has 99% broken. I can deal with the 1%.

luxor got used to getting a treat after he'd use the box and he got to the point where he'd come and find us to get one, even at 2am with a poopy butt.

Originally Posted by pcm2a

The fact that she goes in the litter box 13 out of 14 days and the fact that she goes in it consistently if I contain her in a room with it tells me that using litter additive isnt going to coax her in there.

Adding a 4th litter box sounds like a good plan and getting her blood urine checked sounds pretty good too. Blood/urine seems unlikely also due to the fact that she goes consistently if locked in the room with the box. If she was "sick" then she would go outside the box no matter where she was.

I hate to see her get put down at the shelter, which is what I am sure will happen with a 5 year old, bland looking cat, not very friendly, will scratch, with a poop problem. I haven't decided if the shelter would be better or if I should just let her be an outside cat. She's no declawed and winters arent too bad here in Tennessee, but most likely the winters would kill her.

please don't let her be an outdoor cat. if she's been indoors for her whole life adjusting to outdoor life is going to be scary for her. She's not going to know what's safe and what's not. I read a sad sad story on this board about an owner who let her cat out one time and he got run over that day.

you can do this! we can help! (home depot)

 

[laureen227]

Originally Posted by pcm2a

The fact that she goes in the litter box 13 out of 14 days and the fact that she goes in it consistently if I contain her in a room with it tells me that using litter additive isnt going to coax her in there.

i'm sorry, but you're wrong. Chip wasn't pooping on the bed everytime he needed to go, just every once in a while. it's been almost 2 months since he's done it, now. he was doing it every 3-4 weeks.

 

[tickytat]

Originally Posted by pcm2a

Smashing her face in the poo/pee and beatings.

This made me tear up. Thanks a lot.

Unlike dogs, cat's don't understand discipline (although I don't condone beating dogs either).

My cat was randomly pooping on the floor... but turns out she was constipated. She would go in the box but it wouldn't come all the way out (even thought she thought it had) and when she got out, the poop would fall in random places or on my bed. So beating a cat for a medical condition (or any reason) is absolutely unacceptable.

I feel bad for your animals......

 

[howtoholdacat]

I once cared for (I'm a pet sitter) a cat who would randomly poop outside of his box. The owners tried everything. We finally decided (I'm actually quite proud that I figured this out) that his feces were very, very dry and potentially caused him discomfort. Pain while eliminating is a common reason cats will use a box sometimes and not others. By adding some canned food to his diet, his stools softened and he has returned to his box without further incident. It might be to your advantage to collect a stool sample (make sure it's the right cat!) and take it to your vet. He or she may find something that he'd otherwise miss. Good luck. I hope you'll stay encouraged. Often these sorts of problems can be solved if you are willing to invest time and creativity. Good luck!

 

[princess0924]

Beating the cat isnt gonna help, sending her outside isnt gonna help and neither is sendingg her away. When yyou get an animal something may always come along with it, some kind of problem. I have a cat who always pee's on the floor, carpet anything he can. And i've had him for 10 years, it gets annoying sometimes but i work with him. Hes been to the vet never had any problems been on medicine but its something i deal with because hes my cat and i wouldnt trade him for the world. Things go wrong but you need to find out whats causing it. Could be something emotional thats what the vet thinks is wrong with my cat. I have 3 cats but hes always been kind of the outcast my other cats dont bond with him much never have, we've tried 2 get them close but they chose 2 stay away so it could be anything. If hyou dont want to take the time to work with hmi and care for him then maybe giving him away is the best. But i look at my cats as kids, if i had a kid who had a problem wouldnt make me love them any different or look to find an easy way out. It may take time but you can get threw any problem.

 

[jellybella]

The fact that she will consistently use the box when she's confined in a room wtih it and no other cats points to a problem with the cat dynamic in my opinion. Even if the cats got along previously, there's nothing to say that another cat hasn't started guarding litterboxes or bullying her.

The dog may not be a problem in your eyes, but something in the cat dynamic changed when you added a new household member.

I also cannot let this go without saying that I hope you understand now that beating a cat or rubbing it's face in feces does nothing.

 

[renovia]

I understand everyone is really really upset about the original poster's tactics, but let's not forget that the OP came to this great site to get help. That's GREAT! Let's keep giving her support that she'll be able to work this out. Flaming her isn't going to have any newbie come back for more help. Some people just don't know the stuff this site takes for common knowledge.

we all got our point across, 10 out of 10 people at the cat site disagree that spanking and putting a pet's face in their poop does no good. That's a pretty good percentage right?

 

[yosemite]

Originally Posted by Renovia

we all got our point across, 10 out of 10 people at the cat site disagree that spanking and putting a pet's face in their poop does no good. That's a pretty good percentage right?

I'm hoping you meant 10 out of 10 people AGREE that spanking and putting . . . . .

 

[jellybella]

Originally Posted by Renovia

we all got our point across, 10 out of 10 people at the cat site disagree that spanking and putting a pet's face in their poop does no good. That's a pretty good percentage right?

I agree (that spanking and putting a pet's face in their poop does no good). Cooler heads should prevail here. Everyone looking for help should be welcome here.

I just felt a pang in the pit of my stomach when I read that part

I have a thing about protecting the helpless, be they human or animal.

 

[renovia]

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I'm hoping you meant 10 out of 10 people AGREE that spanking and putting . . . . .

um, yeah! oops!

 

[flyer744]

Hello and first of all...PLZ tell me you didn't beat your cat? Good lawd!!!! If you did then plz give it up to a non-kill shelter!!! REALLY!

Our 8 Y.O. Himalayan male started doing this 2 mths after we moved to a new state. ALWAYS used our backyard (fenced in/cat proofed) or his box until a couple of months ago; he now prefers our (no furniture yet) DR area. We have a female Himalayan as well. They get along great and we adopted them together from a rescue vet center. We've tried different litter, new additional box, putting plastic/foil in the DR offending area, took him to the vet with a clean bill of health, etc. They both were declawed about ten months ago but we never had any issues until recently. The vet did give him some pills for possible parasites just in case but we've all noticed nothing to the sort. SO...I am baffled why he is doing this? We keep the boxes VERY clean as well. No kids, dogs, strangers in the home but we did have another male climb the fence into our yard a couple of times and start a cat fight. We intervened quickly as the cats are supervised when they're out. This is the only variable we can think of? Both our cats love to sit on our back porch still and roam the yard. Even after the other tom cat showed up. When we catch him in the act, he looks at us like he knows he's wrong and runs off with his crazy meows and ears down. 

Anyone have this issue? We are getting purchasing a nice DR suite soon and need this to stop! THX!