My cat is an 8 - 9 year old female orange tabby, fixed, and in a single-cat home. My step sister rescued her as a kitten from a gas station where the owner was planning on drowning them. I didn’t live with her during her kitten years, but when she was 2 or 3, she moved in with myself, and my mother and step father. We had two dogs for about 5 of those years, but they paid her no attention.
She will use the litter box to urinate and maybe one poop, but after that will poop on the floor outside the box. She has been doing this behaviour since day one. She doesn’t like other cats, but she lived with a male cat for a period of 7 months.
She has lived with me for the last 4 years, alone. The litter box is at the basement landing, and its cleaned once a day. I use Tidy Cat litter, and the litter is replaced entirely and the box cleaned with Dawn dish soap. She is fed 1/4 cup of Crave cat food twice a day. She has been on this food for a little over a year, and before that it was Friskies, fed at the same amount.
To be honest, she isn’t the nicest cat in the world - I remember holding her as a kitten, and she was tucked up to my chest, growling. She likes to be near you, but not touching, I can pet her head and neck, but any farther will result in a bite, and I can hold her, but only for about a minute. She has to be burritoed to have her nails clipped, and vet visits require a tech restraining her wearing leather gloves.
Urine crystals have been ruled out, she isn’t constipated, the poop is normal consistency and size, and has no strange odour. She is healthy in every other way. At her age, correcting the behaviour is probably impossible, but does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix the problem?
