- Joined
- Dec 17, 2018
- Messages
- 4
- Purraise
- 9
Hey cat people. First-time poster here, and I present to you a confounding mystery worth of Purrlock Holmes. I hate myself for that pun, and I don't blame you if you do too.
I will present to you the facts as I have gathered them after years of study. This is the truth as I see it:
Subject: Hatchet
Species: Felis catus
Age: Going on 10
General Health: Good, according to vets
Freedom: Strictly indoor, is actually kind of afraid of the outdoors.
Errant Behavior: Sometimes poops in his litter box, sometimes poops in the immediate vicinity of his box.
Duration of Errant Behavior: His entire life.
Subject has both pooped outside the box and inside the box under the following conditions:
Notes:
Alright, sleuths. Wrap your brains around this one. Any help would be appreciated.
I will present to you the facts as I have gathered them after years of study. This is the truth as I see it:
Subject: Hatchet
Species: Felis catus
Age: Going on 10
General Health: Good, according to vets
Freedom: Strictly indoor, is actually kind of afraid of the outdoors.
Errant Behavior: Sometimes poops in his litter box, sometimes poops in the immediate vicinity of his box.
Duration of Errant Behavior: His entire life.
Subject has both pooped outside the box and inside the box under the following conditions:
- Clean box
- Full box
- Fresh litter
- Old litter
- Different litter
- Same litter
- Swept floor in area
- Unswept floor in area
- Food and water full
- Food and water empty
- Before a change in diet
- After a change in diet
- Myself gone from the household for upwards of a week
- Myself gone from the household for upwards of 20 minutes
- Myself in the bathroom where he cannot reach me for upwards of 20 minutes (note: the door cannot be left open while I am in the bathroom, for my housemates would not appreciate this)
Notes:
- The only condition to consistently yield a no-poop-on-the-floor scenario is me being home and accessible to him. As I require money to feed and house myself and this creature, this is not a sustainable model.
- The poop is always healthy.
- According to housemates, he gets anxious when I am not home—despite being friendly with said housemates, and seemingly able to relax around them.
- He only pees in the box. No problems there.
- The floor-poop is never more than a foot from his box, and is always on bare floor, i.e., never on an adjacent floor mat, etc.
- He grew up with dogs, one of whom would poop on the floor on occasion.
- He is excited to see me when I get home before I discover the poop, is seemingly ashamed of the poop, will try to 'bury' the spot where I clean it up from, and then is his normal affectionate self. (He's sleeping on my lap as I type this, and I cleaned up yet another incident five minutes before finding this site and writing this novel into the text field.)
- I have used enzymatic cleaners, as well as other methods of de-scenting the floor.
- Of course I don't yell at or swat Hatchet for any reason, and certainly not this. I know that creating more stress will only exacerbate the problem.
Alright, sleuths. Wrap your brains around this one. Any help would be appreciated.