Cat Pooping Outside Of Litter Box

[MeghanHW]

I have a 1.5 year old neutered male cat who urinates in the litter box but poops only on the floor around the litter box. The cat often has some red blood in his feces. I have taken him to the vet twice for this. He's been treated for it with antibiotics and de-wormer, but neither helped. Our vet said she wasn't concerned about it and didn't think it was a problem. I told her about his bathroom behavior and again she was not concerned.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with their cat? I would really like him to use the litter box, but I'm more concerned with his health. He seems healthy otherwise.
Other pertinent information: I have three litter boxes, one for each cat in the house. I clean them daily. I have tried moving the boxes to different locations to see if that would help this cat and it didn't work...he still pooped where he always does on the floor. I have also tried different litters to see if that would help and it didn't.
Thank you for any advice/help you can offer.

 

[catsknowme]

Welcome to TCS! You will probably be getting more advice as many members here have cats with intestinal and behavioral issues.

Have you tried unscented litter? Is his food free of corn and wheat? These are two of the most common reasons for discomfort when pooping in the box and both can cause the cat to associate the box with the discomfort when pooping.
Some cats prefer two separate boxes - 1 for pee and one for poop. The reason is that the ammonia in the urine makes the poop smell more and in the wilds that would alert predators to the cat's territory.
Please let us know how your kitty is doing & don't forget that we at TCS love pictures

 

[MeghanHW]

Welcome to TCS! You will probably be getting more advice as many members here have cats with intestinal and behavioral issues.

Have you tried unscented litter? Is his food free of corn and wheat? These are two of the most common reasons for discomfort when pooping in the box and both can cause the cat to associate the box with the discomfort when pooping.
Some cats prefer two separate boxes - 1 for pee and one for poop. The reason is that the ammonia in the urine makes the poop smell more and in the wilds that would alert predators to the cat's territory.
Please let us know how your kitty is doing & don't forget that we at TCS love pictures

Thank you very much for the advice. I will get some wheat/corn free food today and see if that helps. Here's a photo of him with his favorite person

 

[Kieka]

I'd get a second opinion from a cat specialist vet. Blood in poop on a regular basis isn't normal. I can see a one off being okay because it happens sometimes but any regularity would be more indicative of a problem. Combined with the potty outside the box makes me think it hurts to poop which is also not normal.

 

[catsknowme]

Squeeeee...what an adorable pic!! I love orange tiger cats!! even the Garfield movies Thank you for the picture!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Another vet (not in the same group of vets) needs to be consulted. Any vet that tells you routine blood in a cat's stool is of no concern is the last vet I would take my cat to. Or, you want to stay with that vet, ask them to perform a fecal PCR test, to help confirm/rule out potential issues. I am not sure if you can collect a sample yourself for a fecal PCR test, so ask about that. If you can, you can take a sample yourself to the vet's for testing, and not have to physically take your cat to the vet again until the results are back - if they show there is a health issue that needs to be treated.

I would do the fecal testing first, before changing his food.

Once you get to the bottom of the blood issue, your litterbox issues just might resolve themselves.

 

[MeghanHW]

I'd get a second opinion from a cat specialist vet. Blood in poop on a regular basis isn't normal. I can see a one off being okay because it happens sometimes but any regularity would be more indicative of a problem. Combined with the potty outside the box makes me think it hurts to poop which is also not normal.

Another vet (not in the same group of vets) needs to be consulted. Any vet that tells you routine blood in a cat's stool is of no concern is the last vet I would take my cat to. Or, you want to stay with that vet, ask them to perform a fecal PCR test, to help confirm/rule out potential issues. I am not sure if you can collect a sample yourself for a fecal PCR test, so ask about that. If you can, you can take a sample yourself to the vet's for testing, and not have to physically take your cat to the vet again until the results are back - if they show there is a health issue that needs to be treated.

I would do the fecal testing first, before changing his food.

Once you get to the bottom of the blood issue, your litterbox issues just might resolve themselves.

Ok, thank you. I will call the vet about a PCR test.

 

[RejoiceErb]

I would definitely talk to a different vet. My cat had a little blood in his poop a while ago and it was from tapeworms.
If he’s pooping outside the box that could be because he doesn’t like the kind of litter or maybe the litter box itself.

 

[MeghanHW]

Update: I took kitty to a different vet who said a little blood in stool isn't necessarily a big deal, even if it happens regularly. He's been treated for worms and with antibiotics. The vet checked for polyps and couldn't feel any...although she said there could be some further up. She said her best guess is IBS and she prescribed some Tylan powder for his food. Of course, he won't touch any food that has the powder in it...no matter how cleverly I try to conceal it. I changed his food to a corn/wheat free variety and I haven't seen blood since. (Even thought the new vet said she didn't think it would make a difference.) I just wanted to let everyone know that kitty is doing well. He is still pooping outside the litter box, though. I have tried every single suggestion I've come across on how to correct this problem and none have worked for us. I guess I'll just have to live with it lol.

 

[RejoiceErb]

Does he poop in the same spot every time?

 

[Bel]

This is gonna sound really stupid but one of my cats had a really bad habit of pooping right in front of his litter box. So I got another one put it a foot away and it stopped. Nothing else had worked up to that point he just liked having two litter boxes side by side.

It seems odd but some cats just like having multiple litters. I only have 2 cats but I've got 4 litter boxes set up and our living space isn't that big but even at three litter boxes they were still missing.

The other thing is try using a different enzymatic cleaner to clean the poop maybe the he can still smell the poop (or remembers) where he's been going.

I know it can be frustrating I dealt with this for 2 months before my cat stopped. Then he developed allergies and when he has flare ups he still sometimes misses so I totally get it. Best of luck

 

[maggiedemi]

My cat poops outside the litterbox when she's constipated.