Over Thanksgiving weekend I had a few cat-sitting appointments with 2 different sets of cats: a 17-year-old calico sweetheart named Bill (yes, Bill), and 2 gigantic brown tabbies named Lokie (male) and Samara (female).
Brian, who had Thursday and Friday off, came along with me and did litter box duty, which I really appreciated. Everything went smoothly both with the cat clients and our own 4, until we came home Saturday morning after feeding Bill her breakfast.
Hopper had pooped on my side desk. I was fortunate enough not to see this — Brian was the one who discovered the evidence. Although we didn’t actually see her do it, we know it was her because she’s the only one who ever poops out of the box. Luckily, this isn’t a regular thing, though it’s happened maybe 6 or 7 times since Hee Seop first joined us in September 2003, so obviously it’s a protest.
Certainly we aren’t going to get rid of her because of this. I’m just not sure what to do. Nature’s Miracle and Simple Solution don’t really make a difference because she hasn’t done it in the same place twice:
- the corner behind Brian’s desk
- the corner near my desk
- by the back door
- the bathtub
- my side desk
Those are the places I can recall, anyway. I’m currently reading: Cat vs. Cat. Hopefully, I’ll find some good suggestions, but so far I haven’t. If anyone out there has any ideas, I’d love to hear them.
When kitties go outside the box it could be for one of four reasons.. and you should rule these out in this order.
1) Medical Condition – I now have two diabetic cats the first symptoms they showed was peeing in an obvous place.. seriousl its’ the only way the communicate. Take your kitty to the vet to rule out any diabetes, thyroid problems, etc.
2)Perception – I have an old, fat cat that kept peeing outside the box because he didn’t realize that he was at the edge. I just simply laid a piece of stiff plastic around the edge of the box so that when he’d back into the edge it would let him know to stop.
3) Competition – Indoor cats do not understand that cats they see outside their window are not invating their territory. There are some (expensive) scented oil that mimick the calm scent a cat emits when they are comfortable. It has worked wonders for my indoor cats.
4) Attitude – this is the conclusion people usually jump to FIRST and it should really be the last. you’d have to talk to your animal behavioralist about this.
I hope these help, good luck!
Well, that I know of, most of the time when cats repeatedly poop outside of their litterbox, it usually means that they want to be an outside cat. I don’t know if that’s an option up there though. My mom lives out in the sticks, where no dog could hurt our babies.
Is it possible she’s being faced down now and then by one of your other cats? Sometimes if two familiar cats get in a pissing match, and one cat gets backed into a corner or on something high, the trapped cat voids her bowels. A few months ago I discovered poop in corners and high places in my cat facility, and it turned out Plushy was backing another cat down, and that particular cat’s reaction was to poop. It wasn’t a cat fight; just a face-down. I also had it happen when a strange cat confronted my pet cat Rastus on our porch (many moons ago). Rastus just pooped his britches.
That might explain the infrequency of your findings.
well, she hasn’t peed anywhere, thank God. she does, however, have poor aim but fortunately that’s confined to the litter boxes.
she’s only pooped outside the box, which started after Hee Seop moved in. not immediately after–more like once Hee Seop gained some confidence.
i have no doubt that he messes with her, because i see him do it. he doesn’t pick fights; he just “touches” her, the way an annoying younger brother does to any older sister.
the book mainly addresses inappropriate urination, and like you’ve all said, it could be a medical problem. i’m fairly certain it isn’t, but she’s due to go to the vet soon. Johnson-Bennett also suggested using Feliway, which comes in a plug-in version. i’ll try that.
if anyone else has tried it, i’d love to hear your opinions.
[...] i happened to look in Hopper’s direction, and she was taking a dump on the side desk. wha–? she’s pooped outside the box before (on this occasion and this other occasion among others), but never so blatantly in front of us. i mean, she was in the middle of the act when i saw her. she got a time out in the bathroom, which she’s never had before. i’m not sure how that went because Brian was the disciplinarian this time. i was frozen where i sat, in disbelief, in dismay, and absolutely mortified. [...]