Cat going outside litter pan

[yomamab]

Does anyone know what could cause our 7-year-old cat to start pooping on the floor right outside the litter pan? He's been doing this for a week now. Otherwise, he acts normal. He eats and drinks and continues to go outside with his brother on his daily walks for a couple hours a day. Every morning when we come downstairs and go into the laundry room where the litter pan is, we can always expect a "present" on the floor and phew does it stink! I'm assuming...hopefully I'm right...that this isn't an emergency situation, since Dean isn't acting distressed and it's been going on for a week. I know that it's difficult to get pets into the vet these days because of covid. It is around here in central PA anyway, so I'm hoping that it's not a real big deal for now, but I know that it's not normal either. Oh, and Dean is a few pounds overweight, but we're working on that. Any insight into this to help my furbaby would be appreciated.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I gather Dean is using the litter box for peeing, correct? It's hard to say, but given that at his age he is overweight, he could be experiencing some arthritis and the position he holds to poop in the litter box is bugging him. Cats tend to 'blame' their litterboxes - not their bodies - for any discomfort.

It is also possible that the first time was an accident, and the odor remains so it is like an invitation to go there again and again. Enzymatic cleaners might be able to thoroughly remove any leftover smell.

The other thing to consider is adding another litterbox nearby. Some cats change their preferences and don't want to pee and poop in the same box. You might also consider adding yet another box in a different location too - perhaps one closer to where Dean tends to hang out.

Food changes could make his poop smellier than it used to be. But, if his poop is of normal consistency, the smell might not be anything to worry about if you can get him back to using the litter box(es).

 

[yomamab]

I gather Dean is using the litter box for peeing, correct? It's hard to say, but given that at his age he is overweight, he could be experiencing some arthritis and the position he holds to poop in the litter box is bugging him. Cats tend to 'blame' their litterboxes - not their bodies - for any discomfort.

It is also possible that the first time was an accident, and the odor remains so it is like an invitation to go there again and again. Enzymatic cleaners might be able to thoroughly remove any leftover smell.

The other thing to consider is adding another litterbox nearby. Some cats change their preferences and don't want to pee and poop in the same box. You might also consider adding yet another box in a different location too - perhaps one closer to where Dean tends to hang out.

Food changes could make his poop smellier than it used to be. But, if his poop is of normal consistency, the smell might not be anything to worry about if you can get him back to using the litter box(es).

Hmmm...those are very good comments and suggestions. By "enzymatic cleaners", would you mean something like the Simple Green spray that we've been spraying where he's been going or do you mean something else? I'm not sure if the smell would still be there or not, if what we've been spraying might not be good enough to totally take away the smell.

I blame myself for his being overweight. I wasn't in a very good place mentally or physically the past two years and have been giving in to the cats' demands even if it meant overfeeding them and thus making them overweight (more Dean than Sam...I don't think Sam is considered to be overweight). I was basically feeding them every time they annoyed me, which the way I felt, it happened a lot. Bad on me. I am really trying to remedy that situation by learning to ignore them. Left on their own and a bucket of food, I think that thing would be empty by the end of the day.

Being that we have two cats, I know that technically we should have three litter pans in the house, BUT we only have the one. My daughter and husband got tired of dumping and cleaning the litter pans once a week, so they downsized to just the one litter pan. Sam & Dean have been okay with it being that way for the past seven years, so I don't know if Dean is now deciding that he wants his own litter pan or not. That's certainly something to consider and I will run that by the other two people of the house.

His poop doesn't seem any different than it normally does. I don't know if just because it's lying on the floor instead of being partially masked by the litter if that would be why it seems smellier than usual or not. I don't normally inspect Dean's poop, but from all appearances to me it looks normal, no strange color, not runnier than normal, not smaller or bigger or anything else that would be different. Nothing crawling around in it...ewww....just what I'd call normal.

 

[yomamab]

Oh, I forgot to answer your question about Dean's peeing. Yes, he uses the box for that.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I don't know much about Simple Green...however, any of the items in these articles ought to work on poop just as well as they do pee.
How To Get Cat Urine Smell Out Of Carpet: Effective, Non-toxic Solutions – TheCatSite Articles
How To Get Cat Pee Smell Out Of Clothes And Linens – TheCatSite Articles