Cat Has Been Pooping On The Stairs For 4 Months

[lynxx]

This will be long- so thank you in advance to anyone who reads this and any advice given.
First of all- health issues are ruled out.
We have 2 cats. The cat that's been pooping, Ray, we adopted 4 years ago from a shelter that was wayyyy overcrowded. They admitted he had basically lived in the cage he was in since he was brought to them as a kitten, and when we adopted him he was 2 years old. Because of this he has some quirks, like he's not a very good jumper or climber, like our other cat BB. BB can get to places in the house he can only dream of getting to. Sometimes I think she rubs it in his face, shows off. But anyways they've always gotten along despite this. Until...
We moved 6 months ago to a 2 story condo. Prior to this my cats have always lived in a one story home. When we moved we put the litter boxes in the garage. Everything was fine for the first 2 months. They used the boxes as they always have. Then all of a sudden Ray poops on the stairs. Which is weird because both cats have always used their boxes no problems at all. I figure I hadn't cleaned the boxes in a while and cleaned them. But that didn't work. Then he proceeded to continue to poop on the stairs, practically everyday since then. I noticed he and BB were chasing each other throughout the house kind of aggressively. They seem to have these stand-offs and chase each other up and down the stairs. I figured well, it's a territorial thing- and we've never lived in a house with stairs before so maybe they are just figuring things out and he wants to "claim" the stairs. But I don't know how to fix this.
Like I said, before this they've always gotten along fine. And they don't hiss or try to kill each other- they just chase each other. Sometimes tails get poofed. Sometimes the chase ends with BB jumping somewhere he can't reach. He probably gets pissed off about that.
Anyways, any "solution" I've come up with has worked for 3 days at best.
Unfortunately, in the midst of him starting to do this, I had a baby. Bad timing I know. Baby was in the hospital for 2 weeks and I wasn't home at all . Every day that husband came home there was poop on the stairs and he just cleaned it up. When we got home, I was so distracted by other things I also just cleaned up the poop every day and moved on. I'm afraid I've let this go on for too long and he's just used to pooping on the stairs now. I hate cleaning up poop almost every day. I'm losing my mind and I literally want to cry every time I see a pile of crap on my staircase. I know I'm not supposed to punish him and I'm supposed to be nice but damn that's hard.

Here's what I've done so far-
I bought new bigger boxes. Worked for 2 days.
Changed the location of the boxes - all around the garage. Nope.
I put a box behind a chair in our living room- this worked for a few days. But it was a pain in the ass to move the heavy chair anytime I needed to clean it and I didn't like having a box in our only living space. Our condo is not big. The upstairs is just our bedroom and babys room. Our master bathroom is too small for a litter box. Our closet is huge, but when I put a box in there he finds the nearest piece of clothing, drags it into the box (or sometimes just near the box), and poops on it. Plus he gets litter alllll over the carpet. So garage is only option.
I sprayed the carpet with strong essential oils of scents cats are supposed to hate- didn't work.
I put 'deterrents' on the stairs. At first it was only the first 4 stairs. So on these stairs I put stuff. Like boxes, foil, random stuff. This worked for 3 days. Then he pooped on the 5th stair. Then he pooped at the top of the stairs. And it got annoying to try to carry a baby down the stairs without dying.
I tried a litter box retraining- I put him in the box and just petted him for like 5 minutes. Anytime I had time to during the day I did this. I also gave him treats for being in the box. This worked for a day. So I could theoretically just do this every single day. Which would be fun to do (not).
I tried playing with him in the garage.
I tried feeding him on the stairs. Didn't work at all. He once pooped right next to his food bowl on the stairs. He doesn't care.
Now I know-baby and moving is all major life changes. But when we first moved everything was fine. And he seems to care less about the baby. He still gets the same amount of attention, since he doesn't really come to me for cuddles but is obsessed with my husband.
The stairs are the central point of the house- right in the middle. I think it's territorial and has something to do with these crazy chases he has with BB. He also has seen other cats outside- I read this could cause pooping outside the box.

But then you'd think he'd be pooping near the window where he sees these other cats? At our other apartment there were plently of cats that roamed around outside that he saw out the window and he never pooped outside the box.
I know about the pheromone plug in but I honestly have no idea where I would put it..there isnt an outlet near the stairs so it would have to be upstairs...and I don't really like the idea of needing to spend $30 a month to 'drug' my cat to get him to stop pooping on the stairs.
I'm losing my mind here and I reallllllly don't want poop on the stairs when my baby can start to crawl around.
I can't imagine giving him to a shelter.. I could try to convince someone I know to take him but I just feel so bad. Everything was fine for the first 2 months

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to The Cat Site. I read through your whole post. Congrats on the new baby, btw.

Does Ray *ever* poop in the litter box? Or always on the stairs?

I'm sure you've already tried anything I could suggest, so until some other members reply, here's a TCS article that may be helpful:
How To Solve Litterbox Problems In Cats: The Ultimate Guide

 

[maggiedemi]

Hi. I think he wants a litterbox inside the house, more out in the open, not hidden in a closet or in the garage. Do you have a corner you could put it in? Another reason for going outside the box could be constipation. Does his poop look really hard? You could try hairball treats every other day.

 

[Timmer]

Maggiedemi has a good point -- how does the stool look? Is it dry and hard? Sometimes when cats don't feel well that's the only way they have to tell us -- by their litter box habits changing.

I've had two cats who were on a low dose of prozac for benavior issues and they cleared it up, then after several months I weaned them off it. If he has anxiety, that might work. And the dose is so low it does not make them goofy acting. You could try it for say, six months and see if it works.

I do think it has something to do wtih the box being in the garage. The car might frighten him. Or do you suppose your other cat won't let him go poop? Maybe that's what the fight is about???

 

[kissthisangel]

Hi Welcome to TCS congratulations on your baby.

I don't think your cat likes the stairs, I think he feels threatened by your more agile cat who is able to reach higher spaces and I think this is putting him off going on the low level because he's not experienced that and he's uncomfortable. Try a litterbox on your upper floor now, before your baby is crawling and if it is a success, you can pen it off and use a safety collar recognizing cat-flap to allow him free access to it but not your child.

To make him more confident with higher up spaces, put up a couple of shelves that are purely for raising his confidence and get him to climb up them with treats or toys, If you can raise him from being a shy floor cat to a high climbing tree cat I think this will build his confidence. More than this more "cat spaces" should help to keep the chase down as each cat will have more area to find as their own but growing his confidence alongside this is really important.

I'm basing this off the history that he was a long standing shelter cat, he didn't have much space to call his own, and he grew up with that. Now he might feel a little overwhelmed because "his" territory is on two floors and he doesn't seem a fan of heights, so he might be a bit put off by the stairs, especially if the stairs are open.

If this technique doesn't work, you might try keeping him in one room with a litterbox and his food and comfy bed. When he routinely uses the litter in that room, slowly expand his available space, but take him back a notch if he stops using the box.