I'm at my wits end here and only have a few more tricks to try.
My boyfriend's cat, Talon, has suddenly started to poop outside of her litter box(es) when we've gone to bed.
my silly little cat friends:
View media item 311478
(Talon on the RIGHT)
About the cat:
-Roughly about 1.5 years old
-spayed female
-not declawed (claws intact)
-litterbox trained
-adopted last september as a kitten from a shelter
-has a somewhat skittish, anxious personality that I've been trying to remedy.
-Awful litterbox manners. Never covers her urine or feces, since she's too busy running at full speed out of the box and out to play with our other cat.
-No previous history of this behavior. Uses her litterbox consistently during the day and evening, both pooping and peeing in them.
-Sometime around the time of the start of this pooping problem I started her on a half-wet half-dry diet. Up until this point she only ate dry food. I feed her between 7-9AM (Dry food only) when I wake up and 5-8PM at night (3oz wet food and a small amount of dry food)
-We do not punish or try to hurt our cats in any way. When she poops on the floor we don't rub her face in it or make try to make her feel stressed.
About our home:
-2 litter boxes, one in the laundry room and the other in our private office, hidden away and quiet
-2 cat household (including the cat in question, Talon)
-A small dog (~16 lbs)
-Four adults, including myself. 3 out of us 4 work/go to university, the fourth stays home.
-Up until recently we only cleaned the litterboxes every 2 or so days (yes I know this is awful and that I should clean it every day). We now clean them daily.
More about the problem/backstory:
My boyfriend, Matt, adopted Talon from a shelter last September when she was around 2 months old. She was previously litter box trained and had no problems with using her litter box. She's messy, though, and doesn't cover up her urine or poop. From the start she's been known to be skittish and anxious, constantly running away from the people she lives with and hiding under things. Always alert. There were two litterboxes available at their house (3 cats total) and she would use the one in her room (a basic pan) and the downstairs covered box.
My boyfriend moved in this May (may 2nd, to be exact) with Talon. She adjusted very well and I've been working on toning down her nervous/skittish ways. She has become extremely outgoing and affectionate and seems to be happy. She immediately took to the litter box we had been using for my cat, Benny, and, again, there were no problems.
Sometime at the end of this September we started waking up to find that she'd pooped outside of her litter box in the laundry room (the only one in the house at that time). We were really confused since she'd never done anything like that before, but we cleaned it up and forgot about it. Two days went by and she did it again. And again. And again. She pooped outside of her litterbox almost every night out of nowhere. During the day she used her litterbox like a champ, both pooping AND peeing in it. It was only when we went to bed that she left us repulsive presents outside of her bathroom in the form of feces.
What we've tried:
During that week we ran out of litter and bought some cheap kind until we could get her proper brand (which was fresh step multicat). I googled the problem and concluded that she must not like the litter, so I went and bought her normal brand. She still pooped outside the box at night.
Next we decided to buy a second litter box. I put some of her old litter in there and she would also use it, yet still pooped at night in the general vicinity of the catboxes.
Then I thought maybe that she was missing the box somehow, despite the poop being anywhere between half a foot away and 2 feet away from the box. Her covered litterbox had the front door removed since the cats didn't like it. I thought maybe she was only going half-way in and pooping on the floor behind her, so I bought -a new- litter box with a proper door. She liked this litter box even less and still pooped on the floor after we'd gone to bed.
After that disappointing experience we decided that maybe she didn't like having her litter box in the laundry room anymore (maybe she was scared/nervous), so I moved it into our office, which is very quiet and where we spend all of our time after work and school. This seemed to be a good change. A few days passed where there was no poop on the floor and we were all happy. Then she pooped again, as always, at night, outside the litter box in the laundry room.
At this point we were really confused. We talked about the problem more in detail and thought maybe we should be more adamant with cleaning the litter boxes. That night we cleaned them both thoroughly, and in the morning were met with a nice pile of poop regardless.
We noted that she ONLY did her dirty deed in the laundry room at night, so last week we started blocking her path with the recyling bin and laundry basket. She couldn't get into the room and the problem seemed to be resolved for three days, until this morning I found a present for me right outside her box in the office instead.
This morning I removed the lid to the office cat box in hopes that she'd feel less trapped/anxious in it and perhaps, gods willing, not poop on the rug again. I also ordered some more litter to try and plan on completely cleaning out her current litter box. I'm desperate at this point.
(condensed version
-Changed litter
-Changed litter box
-Bought a second litter box
-Tried cleaning the litter box more adamantly
-moved her preferred litter box to somewhere quiet
-Blocked her path to the laundry room (where she poops consistently on the floor while we're sleeping)
Yet to test:
-Removing lids from cat boxes so they're open (testing this out tonight)
-Stop feeding her wet food at night (maybe switch to the morning instead)
-Putting her away for the night (crate, bathroom, with a litterbox and food/etc). I Don't really want to do this.
-Going to the vet (not likely, but if absolutely necessary I could get her an appointment (I don't have much spare money for this kind of thing as a college student))
Our thoughts:
-The problem doesn't seem to be with USING the litter box, since she uses it all day just fine up until we go to bed.
-Maybe it's connected to being alone (when we go to bed) and she's having some sort of behavioral problem. Maybe she's stressed about something we don't know about.
-My boyfriend suggested something very interesting and coincidental: we feed her the wet food portion at night, and she only poops outside the litter box at night. Perhaps these are related? We started her on a half wet/dry diet around the time this started happening.
My questions:
At this point I'm desperate and would REALLY love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Any help would be insightful and appreciated.
-Should I stop feeding her wet food?
-Should I only feed her the wet food portion in the morning and see how it goes?
-Does this sound stress-related?
-Does this sound like a problem with the litter boxes?
-Does this sound medical-related?
-Am I missing any obvious signs or easy fixes?
Thanks everyone Sorry about making this so long; I wanted to be thorough.
TLDR; 2 year old spayed non-declawed cat is pooping outside of her litter box exclusively at night once we've gone to bed. Tried a lot of things. Have yet to try changing her diet.
It's my first time posting anything like this online so I apologize if I made any stupid mistakes haha
My boyfriend's cat, Talon, has suddenly started to poop outside of her litter box(es) when we've gone to bed.
my silly little cat friends:
View media item 311478
(Talon on the RIGHT)
About the cat:
-Roughly about 1.5 years old
-spayed female
-not declawed (claws intact)
-litterbox trained
-adopted last september as a kitten from a shelter
-has a somewhat skittish, anxious personality that I've been trying to remedy.
-Awful litterbox manners. Never covers her urine or feces, since she's too busy running at full speed out of the box and out to play with our other cat.
-No previous history of this behavior. Uses her litterbox consistently during the day and evening, both pooping and peeing in them.
-Sometime around the time of the start of this pooping problem I started her on a half-wet half-dry diet. Up until this point she only ate dry food. I feed her between 7-9AM (Dry food only) when I wake up and 5-8PM at night (3oz wet food and a small amount of dry food)
-We do not punish or try to hurt our cats in any way. When she poops on the floor we don't rub her face in it or make try to make her feel stressed.
About our home:
-2 litter boxes, one in the laundry room and the other in our private office, hidden away and quiet
-2 cat household (including the cat in question, Talon)
-A small dog (~16 lbs)
-Four adults, including myself. 3 out of us 4 work/go to university, the fourth stays home.
-Up until recently we only cleaned the litterboxes every 2 or so days (yes I know this is awful and that I should clean it every day). We now clean them daily.
More about the problem/backstory:
My boyfriend, Matt, adopted Talon from a shelter last September when she was around 2 months old. She was previously litter box trained and had no problems with using her litter box. She's messy, though, and doesn't cover up her urine or poop. From the start she's been known to be skittish and anxious, constantly running away from the people she lives with and hiding under things. Always alert. There were two litterboxes available at their house (3 cats total) and she would use the one in her room (a basic pan) and the downstairs covered box.
My boyfriend moved in this May (may 2nd, to be exact) with Talon. She adjusted very well and I've been working on toning down her nervous/skittish ways. She has become extremely outgoing and affectionate and seems to be happy. She immediately took to the litter box we had been using for my cat, Benny, and, again, there were no problems.
Sometime at the end of this September we started waking up to find that she'd pooped outside of her litter box in the laundry room (the only one in the house at that time). We were really confused since she'd never done anything like that before, but we cleaned it up and forgot about it. Two days went by and she did it again. And again. And again. She pooped outside of her litterbox almost every night out of nowhere. During the day she used her litterbox like a champ, both pooping AND peeing in it. It was only when we went to bed that she left us repulsive presents outside of her bathroom in the form of feces.
What we've tried:
During that week we ran out of litter and bought some cheap kind until we could get her proper brand (which was fresh step multicat). I googled the problem and concluded that she must not like the litter, so I went and bought her normal brand. She still pooped outside the box at night.
Next we decided to buy a second litter box. I put some of her old litter in there and she would also use it, yet still pooped at night in the general vicinity of the catboxes.
Then I thought maybe that she was missing the box somehow, despite the poop being anywhere between half a foot away and 2 feet away from the box. Her covered litterbox had the front door removed since the cats didn't like it. I thought maybe she was only going half-way in and pooping on the floor behind her, so I bought -a new- litter box with a proper door. She liked this litter box even less and still pooped on the floor after we'd gone to bed.
After that disappointing experience we decided that maybe she didn't like having her litter box in the laundry room anymore (maybe she was scared/nervous), so I moved it into our office, which is very quiet and where we spend all of our time after work and school. This seemed to be a good change. A few days passed where there was no poop on the floor and we were all happy. Then she pooped again, as always, at night, outside the litter box in the laundry room.
At this point we were really confused. We talked about the problem more in detail and thought maybe we should be more adamant with cleaning the litter boxes. That night we cleaned them both thoroughly, and in the morning were met with a nice pile of poop regardless.
We noted that she ONLY did her dirty deed in the laundry room at night, so last week we started blocking her path with the recyling bin and laundry basket. She couldn't get into the room and the problem seemed to be resolved for three days, until this morning I found a present for me right outside her box in the office instead.
This morning I removed the lid to the office cat box in hopes that she'd feel less trapped/anxious in it and perhaps, gods willing, not poop on the rug again. I also ordered some more litter to try and plan on completely cleaning out her current litter box. I'm desperate at this point.
(condensed version
-Changed litter
-Changed litter box
-Bought a second litter box
-Tried cleaning the litter box more adamantly
-moved her preferred litter box to somewhere quiet
-Blocked her path to the laundry room (where she poops consistently on the floor while we're sleeping)
Yet to test:
-Removing lids from cat boxes so they're open (testing this out tonight)
-Stop feeding her wet food at night (maybe switch to the morning instead)
-Putting her away for the night (crate, bathroom, with a litterbox and food/etc). I Don't really want to do this.
-Going to the vet (not likely, but if absolutely necessary I could get her an appointment (I don't have much spare money for this kind of thing as a college student))
Our thoughts:
-The problem doesn't seem to be with USING the litter box, since she uses it all day just fine up until we go to bed.
-Maybe it's connected to being alone (when we go to bed) and she's having some sort of behavioral problem. Maybe she's stressed about something we don't know about.
-My boyfriend suggested something very interesting and coincidental: we feed her the wet food portion at night, and she only poops outside the litter box at night. Perhaps these are related? We started her on a half wet/dry diet around the time this started happening.
My questions:
At this point I'm desperate and would REALLY love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Any help would be insightful and appreciated.
-Should I stop feeding her wet food?
-Should I only feed her the wet food portion in the morning and see how it goes?
-Does this sound stress-related?
-Does this sound like a problem with the litter boxes?
-Does this sound medical-related?
-Am I missing any obvious signs or easy fixes?
Thanks everyone
Sorry about making this so long; I wanted to be thorough.TLDR; 2 year old spayed non-declawed cat is pooping outside of her litter box exclusively at night once we've gone to bed. Tried a lot of things. Have yet to try changing her diet.
It's my first time posting anything like this online so I apologize if I made any stupid mistakes haha
Last edited by a moderator:
