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- Jun 24, 2020
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So for the past four days, I've found cat poop outside the litter box. I'm almost certain it's my oldest cat, Reggie (7). I also have two younger kittens (about 7 months). It's about two months since they finished introductions and began living together fully.
Some general facts first:
And my own speculations:
Some general facts first:
- I don't think it has to do with litter box cleanliness. This has happened just after the box was cleaned, and in the five years I owned Reggie prior to this, he's not had litter box issues, even when his box has been quite messy, for example when friends looked after him when I've been out of town.
- In each of these cases he pooped about a foot away from a particular litter box. We have four litter boxes, but this one is by far his favorite to use - the kittens will use whichever box is closest, but Reggie will use this one box nearly exclusively.
- After one case, I tried to move the box to where he had pooped, and he still pooped about a foot away from its new location.
- It didn't look like he made any attempt to bury his poop (he didn't pull litter out of the box and onto the carpet or anything).
- He seems to still be peeing in the litter boxes as usual, it's just poop that is ending up on the carpet. As near as I can guess, this is every poop he's done in the past four days.
- In the past he's had issues with dehydration leading to constipation, but he hasn't shown any symptoms of that recently, and his poop has been moist, so he doesn't seem to be having issues with that right now.
- He gets along generally well with the kittens, but doesn't like when they try to 'roughhouse' with him. One of the kittens in particular loves to play-fight, and Reggie gets agitated. Reggie will usually be the one to back down and run off after a minute or two. This happens once or twice per day - most of the time, though, they coexist peacefully and Reggie will even groom them or run around with them.
- I've been cleaning with an enzymatic cleaner. I'm going to borrow a carpet shampooer as well on Monday so I can get a deeper clean.
And my own speculations:
- Perhaps something occurred to cause an aversion to that box (like being "attacked" in play while trying to poop)?
- Could it be a territorial thing, to make the area smell more like "his"?