Cat pooping outside box

[LittleblackMorgan]

Tried everything you can think of and he won’t stop.
We had a baby a month ago but this started before that and periodically pops up but stops.
My basement is shit central now. No matter what chemical, deterent, box I try he won’t stop.

Suggestions? I’ve not changed litter, we clean the boxes daily (he uses the box too but craps in the area if the box which is why we put one there), tried natures miracle feli away, spray deterrent bleach, alcohol, vinegar, cayenne pepper lemon pepper and barricading the area. He just shits in another near spot.

This has happened a few times over the years with no cause and usually of we put some object there, he will go back to the box.
And he’s the tough cat so no one is blocking his usage and we have 3 boxes.

[skykingismybaby1]

My male cat was pooping outside his box for no good reason I could figure out.

He is a large boy (half Maine Coon) and I put a second larger box right next to his original box and now he poops in one box and pees in the other without fail. And has never pooped inappropriatly again. He just likes to seperate his poop and pee.

[Bacardi1]

We have one who has NEVER used a litterbox. I also have tried everything I can think of - different litters, covered boxes, uncovered boxes, more boxes, different box locations - but NOTHING has worked. He does however, do his “stuff” right outside one particular box & nowhere else - not near the other boxes, & thankfully nowhere else in the house - so, since we do love the little b*astard, my husband picked up a cheap large vinyl linoleum remnant from Lowe’s, & that’s where Gizmo’s favorite box sits. Yes, it’s a PIA to clean it every day, but it works.

[JumpQH]

Ahhhhhhh, a VERY familiar problem! I’ve been living with this same issue for years now. My oldest cat, who is 13 now, started doing this when I had tile removed and replaced in my home. It was a VERY stressful week for all of us in the house, and she decided to poop outside the box from then on. She poops right outside one of three particular boxes (I have 5 cats, and about 7 boxes!), mainly outside of one. I live with it, thankful that it’s not pee. Recently, I tiled the room where I have half my litterboxes, and it’s been HEAVEN! So easy to clean up! I use doggie bags to pick up her poop, and now, I just spray with disinfectant, and wipe clean! I LOVE it!

I have tried everything, from different styles, sizes, shapes, and you-name-it of litterboxes, various litters, various locations, numerous vet visits, and nothing has helped. As I said, I just live with it, and move forward.

[MunchingonHay]

I have a male (neutered) that does NOT Like to get his paws dirty. He will balance on the edge and face the wrong direction and poop. He faces the correct direction for peeing (thank god). What I do, is I divide the litter into 2 sides of the box. The middle will be clear of litter. I have a box with a lid (to keep out the dog) so cat jumps into the box, lands in the middle where there is no litter. It does not matter which way he faces since there is litter in the front and the back. He goes and jumps back out.

It took me ages to figure this out.

So give this a try before you pull all your hair out.

[oliverreed]

I have an elderly Persian who won’t poop in a box. Thank God she will pee in the box. I’ve tried everything and have just given up - she has 3 main places she likes to poop. I just go on a search daily and clean it up. It’s getting VERY old but I love her. She also has some dementia.

[LittleblackMorgan]

This guy is only 6. So he can’t blame age!
Yesterday I woke up to find a huge poo in the tub drain! That’s new.

I spent a long time speaking to a girl at the pet store who suggested l things I tried.
He also bit my mother in law on the arm the other day. She was sitting on the sofa feeding the baby and he was laying on the other side of her and just bit her arm out of no where. He nibbles when you pet him but has never just bit. Wasn’t hard but shocked her. She wasn’t touching him at all.

I think he is having issues with a baby in the house. I think I new home is in order…with no babies…I can’t have biting or crapping my tub.

[Jax]

Bringing this thread back up in the hope someone has some suggestions.

I’ve got a one year old girl who just insists on pooing outside the box… on the expensive persian carpet of course.
This has been going on and off for a few months. First she insisted on pooing right outside the box. Then she moved to a carpet several rooms away. We took that carpet away, and she went back to her box for a couple of months. Then she started on a new carpet and just won’t stop. This carpet can’t be moved, and I’m afraid she’d move onto an even newer and more expensive carpet anyway.
She waits until I’m not in that end of the house, and often until I’m gone altogether. Sometimes I can corner her in the box and she’ll go, but only if I’m kind of mean about it…

She’s totally healthy, and we buy the best (non-smelly, bio-friendly, etc) litter possible. She’s never pee’d outside the box, though she does stand very awkwardly when she uses it.
It’s a major problem, and my mom has just about had it with this…
ANY suggestions would be appreciated!

[alto]

@Jax;6626158

I’ve got a one year old girl who just insists on pooing outside the box… .
She waits until I’m not in that end of the house, and often until I’m gone altogether. Sometimes I can corner her in the box and she’ll go, but only if I’m kind of mean about it…

Don’t do this :no:

• it will only create more stress for her & you are directly associating the increased stress with the very place you want her to do her business

Instead clicker train her to the litter box area, then for entering the litter box, then major jackpot for actually using the litter box; while you’re working on this, don’t acknowledge her litter habits elsewhere, just clean quietly.

You do need your whole family to be OK with the process & then OK with future lapses (which are likely to happen).

[MunchingonHay]

[QUOTE=Jax;6626158]
Bringing this thread back up in the hope someone has some suggestions.

I’ve got a one year old girl who just insists on pooing outside the box… on the expensive persian carpet of course.
This has been going on and off for a few months. First she insisted on pooing right outside the box. Then she moved to a carpet several rooms away. We took that carpet away, and she went back to her box for a couple of months. Then she started on a new carpet and just won’t stop. This carpet can’t be moved, and I’m afraid she’d move onto an even newer and more expensive carpet anyway.
She waits until I’m not in that end of the house, and often until I’m gone altogether. Sometimes I can corner her in the box and she’ll go, but only if I’m kind of mean about it…

She’s totally healthy, and we buy the best (non-smelly, bio-friendly, etc) litter possible. She’s never pee’d outside the box, though she does stand very awkwardly when she uses it.
It’s a major problem, and my mom has just about had it with this…
ANY suggestions would be appreciated![/QUOTE]

just because you like the litter does not mean that she likes the litter, if she stands awkwardly while peeing in the box this would suggest that she does not like the way it feels under her pads. I would get a ‘softer’ litter.

Also, please see my above post about having litter on the left and right sides of the box (in the box) and a middle where cat can step where there is no litter. It took me YEARS to figure out that Tristan does NOT like to get his feet dirty.

Cats do not need much, just a bit of sand to scratch in. Should I take a picture to show you what I mean?

Let me know.

[wendy]

you could also try training the cat to use the toilet instead of the litterbox, if it’s a persistent litter box problem.

list of common reasons why cats don’t use litter boxes:
UTIs/bladder stones (peeing issues)
constipation (poop issues)
they don’t like the box
they don’t like the box’s location
they don’t like the litter
Not enough litterboxes or not cleaned often enough
declawed (pain issue)
arthritis (pain issue)

cats can be weird- sometimes, a single painful pooping episode from constipation can convince a cat the litter box is “out to get me”, so the cat won’t poop in that box ever again- cats who suddenly start pooping near boxes might have had one of these experiences.

stress is often blamed for causing cat potty problems, but often stress triggers real health problems, like UTIs or painful pooping episodes, that are probably the “direct” cause of the problem.

[ryansgirl]

Is he declawed?? If so maybe it’s because the kitty litter hurts his paws?? I’ve heard of that being the cause in a few cats. They just needed a much softer kitty litter then the problem was solved. Just a thought :).

[Lauren12]

I just have to chime in on this one. I’m a vet student, and I was having this problem in my house with my cats. NOTHING is physically wrong with the cats, trust me, we get a little hypochondriac-by-proxy learning about all the things that can go wrong with animals in vet school, so mine get regular checkups…like monthly.

What fixed the problem in my house was getting a BIG rubbermaid container (like tack-trunk sized), and cutting a small “door” in the front of the container, leaving about 6 inches of plastic at the bottom to keep litter in. Then I filled it up with litter (about 5 inches - its really important for cats to be able to bury their poo), and just clean it every day. With 4 cats in the house, all of which I suspect were pooping or peeing outside the box at one point or another, we have not had a single accident in months.

I also only use Dr. Elsey’s litter. It is FANTASTIC - unscented, no dust, clumps great. At the beginning I used the “Cat Attract” kind, but I’m not convinced that did anything more than the regular Dr. Elsey litter, and is much more expensive. The Dr. Elsey litter is a few dollars more for a 40lb bag, but I highly recommend it.

The cats LOVE the big box, and they have plenty of privacy. It is also SO, SO, SO much easier to just clean the one big litter box than cleaning 5 small ones.

[CVPeg]

[QUOTE=MunchingonHay;6573671]
I have a male (neutered) that does NOT Like to get his paws dirty. What I do, is I divide the litter into 2 sides of the box. The middle will be clear of litter. I have a box with a lid (to keep out the dog) so cat jumps into the box, lands in the middle where there is no litter. It does not matter which way he faces since there is litter in the front and the back. He goes and jumps back out.

It took me ages to figure this out.

So give this a try before you pull all your hair out.[/QUOTE]

My neutered guy also does NOT like to have to squat in the litter itself. I picked this tip up by searching the web when I started having issues with him a few months after getting him. So I always try to keep one end of the litter box free from litter. When I discovered this solution it was a huge relief!

He is also fussy about his litter. I’ve tried a few brands to save money, but it’s back to the dusty, sickening sweet smelly stuff he prefers. I don’t argue! :lol:

[Wayside]

My cats are also of the “poop in one box, pee in the other” that one of the PP mentioned. I have one regular sized litter box right next to a huge rubbermaid “litter box” which I think was actually supposed to be an underbed storage container. They both like to pee in the little one, and then poop in the big one. They also have another litter box on the first floor, that’s a semi-circle with a ramp that I got when my old kitty got too old to hop in and out easily.

I also make sure not to put fresh litter in all of the boxes at the same time. My cats dislike both dust and perfumes, but will use any litter after it’s had a few days to air out and let the dust settle.

Many years ago I also had a cat that would poop on the floor if the other cat was playing on the stairs. Neurotic grumpy cat did not want to go past compulsive stair fetching cat. And compulsive fetching cat would play fetch with his ball on the stairs by batting it down them, charging down the stairs after it (sounding like a herd of elephants), and then grabbing it and bringing it back up to the top, growling like a maniac, to repeat the cycle over and over again for hours on end. Which meant that eventually grumpy cat would just find a quiet corner to void into. Hence the need for multiple litter boxes on different floors.

[Jax]

Interesting.
I guess I should clarify a few things:
Cat is not declawed, nor in any kind of pain, we’ve checked…extensively. There’s also no other animals in the house, and we’re a pretty quiet family.
Cat has never had a bad “experience” that I know of…
The litter isn’t just my preference, it was recommended to me by the woman I got her from, and it seems to be the cat’s favourite (we’ve tried others and she clearly dislikes them even more, I can even tell by the way she kicks off her paws when she leaves).
I tried leaving a strip of clean space down the middle of the litter today. Made no difference (not that I’m assuming it would work immediately, but she’s really inconsistent about it so you never know). I’ll maybe try an entire clean end next week.

I’m interested that some people say to put very little litter down, while others are suggesting quite a lot. Any reasons for this? I’m used to boys who would always bury their business, but she won’t touch it once she’s done.

Also, clicker training a cat eh? I’ve never heard of it, though admittedly I’ve always ignored the idea of doing it with my horse. I’ll obviously go look it up online some, but how many people really do this? Is it practical, especially when you’re not home half the day?

As I said (though obviously not well) in my previous post, she rarely does it when she knows I’m home. My version of bullying her is probably not what it sounds like at all. I’ll just pick her up, put her next to the box and stand there for a minute or two. Maybe say her name once. Half the time she’ll pop right in, but only if it’s around her usual time of day.

[411]

I have a cat who has been missing the box recently. She doesn’t seem to get far enough into the box to have proper aim. I buy large puppy pee pads and use them under my litter boxes so is she misses I can spare myself having to clean the floor. Just throw away the pad and I’m done with it.

[Hippolyta]

my cat pooped outside of the box b/c he had constipation issues. Pooping was difficult & painful, so he associated the pain with the box. Even when he wasn’t in pain, he still didn’t necessarily want to poop in the box.

He picked a spot that he liked. I put the box in that spot & slowly moved it back to where it was. that worked, but if he had a poop issue, we would have to start all over again.

Mostly I was glad it was poop & not pee.

[baxtersmom]

[QUOTE=411;6647419]
I have a cat who has been missing the box recently. She doesn’t seem to get far enough into the box to have proper aim. I buy large puppy pee pads and use them under my litter boxes so is she misses I can spare myself having to clean the floor. Just throw away the pad and I’m done with it.[/QUOTE]

This can work great (as long as they don’t scratch at the pads ). I used this for a year or so when my elderly, arthritic guys was having trouble with squatting and stairs. We were both much happier.