Cat poops outside of litter box

[MondoMan]

Let me preface this by saying that, for personal privacy, I will not be revealing the name of my little furball.
A month ago, a friend of mine allowed me to have this wonderful little kitten. He’s 5 months old now. And what a sweet and confident little guy he is! Tail held high, prancing around the house, rubbing up on me and purring away. He’s great. For the past couple of weeks, however, he has been pooping outside of his litter box. First, he would go in the laundry room and bathroom in the basement (there is a litter box in the laundry room). Then I closed those doors and made sure there were two litter boxes upstairs. For a few days he was going just in those. Then I discovered that he has been going behind my treadmill, and in the past two days, on it. To be clear, he also uses the litter boxes, and when he pees, only the litter boxes. But he just has it in his head that it’s cool to go on flat surfaces in the basement.
I have taken him to the vet a few times because, lucky me, these stools have also been soft. They’ve done full deworming, stool samples, and a prescription diet. Nothing has worked. Right now he is on a high fiber diet that’s made it a little better, but it’s still soft and bright brown. The vet does not recommend blood work because he is healthy and growing.
This has been a nightmare for me. Every day I have to clean his messes off the floor.

 

[Devia Morgenstern]

Well, my recommendation would be to get more litter-boxes and place them in some of the areas he's been using. I have three cats and more then four litter boxes, and what I've discovered is that cats rarely defecate in the same place they urinate, or at least have areas where they defecate more then they urinate. So, he probably just needs extra spaces to relieve himself.
Something makes me wonder though-did anything happen in the past couple of weeks that could've upset his routine? Cat's don't do well with changes and this could be his way of acting out against something new that's happened.

 

[FeebysOwner]

How far away are the litter boxes from where he is pooping outside of them?

I tend to agree with the above, but with a twist. Two litter boxes side by side, just in case he is one of those cats that has decided he prefers to pee in one and poop in another. You could test this theory too by watching to see if there is already pee in the boxes when he poops outside of them.

 

[stephanietx]

Welcome to my world lately! I've been cleaning up soft stools for the past 6 months. Has he had the PCR diarrhea panel and the GI panel done? The PCR test is an advanced fecal test and the GI panel tests for bacteria and such going on in the GI system. I would also add s. boulardii to his wet food to help with firming stools.

My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?

 

[Draco]

Some cats prefer two boxes. One to urinate, the other to poop.
Mine poops out of the box, only because she's a chronic constipator and ingests a lot of fur (no matter how often I brush her). Her poop tend to get stuck and she'd pull it out elsewhere.
Also, I have another cat that sometimes like to pester her in the box and he doesn't give her a chance to finish her business, thus dropping poop.

 

[Alldara]

Sorry Im trying to understand your post.
At first he would go poo in the laundry room, and in the bathroom in the basement. Then you closed the basement door, moving the litter box upstairs and added a second litter box but now he's just going poo in other places away from those two boxes?

Was the poo in the laundry room near or in the litter box there? May I ask why you closed that room and moved the box? Was it just to keep him from pooing outside the box in that room?

Could it possibly be that the poos are happening on the way to the box?


Can you let us know using the poo chart what his poo was like?

 

[MondoMan]

Sorry Im trying to understand your post.
At first he would go poo in the laundry room, and in the bathroom in the basement. Then you closed the basement door, moving the litter box upstairs and added a second litter box but now he's just going poo in other places away from those two boxes?

Was the poo in the laundry room near or in the litter box there? May I ask why you closed that room and moved the box? Was it just to keep him from pooing outside the box in that room?

Could it possibly be that the poos are happening on the way to the box?


Can you let us know using the poo chart what his poo was like?

I’d say on the chart, 5 or 6.
The vet has put him through a regimen of high fiber food. This hasn’t really helped. I am taking him in for another visit tomorrow.
As for the litter, I might have it figured out: he’s okay with using the four boxes, but he’s fickle. If there’s one poop in there, he’ll have an aversion to using it. Ill probably just have to scoop more often than with my previous cat.

 

[Alldara]

Bring your phone to show the chart and show the vet. It may be that his poos are a bit too soft.

 

[Draco]

Sorry Im trying to understand your post.
At first he would go poo in the laundry room, and in the bathroom in the basement. Then you closed the basement door, moving the litter box upstairs and added a second litter box but now he's just going poo in other places away from those two boxes?

Was the poo in the laundry room near or in the litter box there? May I ask why you closed that room and moved the box? Was it just to keep him from pooing outside the box in that room?

Could it possibly be that the poos are happening on the way to the box?


Can you let us know using the poo chart what his poo was like?

Can you send me a link to the source of that photo? I want to read the difference and qualities of each. (Man I am bored at work lol)

 

[Alldara]

Sorry I never saved the link and there's a number of blogs that use it now. I'm unsure the original source.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I believe it came from this web site (see below), but there are other, very similar charts all over the place.
What your Cat's Poop Says about its Health | Meow Lifestyle

 

[CatFiles]

Can I ask what type of litter do you use, and is it the same in both boxes?
I've done a lot of cat-sitting, and it reminds me of a cat that would only poop on certain litters, and pee on other ones, but we could never find one that he would use for both.

 

[Alldara]

Personally I use Okocat. Different boxes have different levels as I have some high side boxes and some low boxes. 4 boxes for 3 cats.

 

[Emmypeps]

Bloodwork is never a bad idea despite what the vet says. My kitty Rory used the litter as normal when we first adopted her then for approximately 1.5/2 weeks had liquid poops everywhere BUT the litter box. We put her on proviable DC (paste 2/3 times per day, and a capsule sprinkled in her food once a day.) After maybe a week her poop returned to normal and she was using the litter box again. I have two cats and a very tiny house, yet we still have 4 litter boxes (may be excessive but works for us as our girls are picky) I would try adding another litter box, making sure you clean out the potty often and perhaps changing the brand of litter you use. Wishing you the best of luck

 

[Emmypeps]

Additionally, puppy wee wee pads helped a little in the mean time as cleaning up liquid poop is not fun.

 

[MondoMan]

An update:
After a GI panel, the vet says it’s almost certainly IBS. Kitty is now on a hydrolyzed protein diet and his poop already looks better after less than a week. He has an ultrasound scheduled to make sure his organs all look okay, and he’ll be getting recurring B12 shots which I’ll eventually be able to administer at home. Will keep you posted.