HELP!! cat is pooping & peeing on dining room carpet

[love my cats]

Here's the background on our cat. We have two. Both were adopted about 11 months ago at the same time from the same shelter. They are both females. They get along great. One is a regular calico (the one I am having problems with) and the other is a dilute calico. Callie (the problem cat right now LOL) is roughly about 2 years old. She is an AWESOME cat!!! She has not given us any problems at all until now and even this is such a non-consistent problem but just very unlike her. About a month and a half ago I found poop in my dining room along with a tiny stream of urine. I cleaned it up really well and a few days later, she did it again. I didn't know if she was picking up a scent from our previous cats because before our 14 year male died, he did have a few accidents in our dining room. I thought I scrubbed it good but I've read that cats can pick up odors so easily. Anyways, she has been declawed (with no issues...still used the box fine over the past 10 months) and she was spayed when she was still at the shelter. Anyways, I cleaned it up really good...used a mixture that I found online with hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, baking soda & orange dish soap. Then I covered it with aluminum foil. After about 4 days, she was playing with the foil! haha But still not accidents. So I bought that heavy plastic that people use in offices to put on carpet so that their chairs will roll on it. I flipped it so the bumpy side was up...and it does hurt if you step on it!! It's been there for probably about 3 weeks and we've had NO problems....until Sunday night. I heard her meowing and she was very restless and then I went in the dining room and she apparently climbed right onto the plastic, moved it over a little and pooped on the carpet!! Like I said, this is after using the box for over a month now with no problems. We have three boxes downstairs for two cats and the location/litter has not been a problem. We have not changed the litter or the location. There have been no recent changes in our house...so I am just floored as to why she is doing this??? Then Sunday night she was very restless...scratching at the hallway closet door and meowing a lot. Then I woke up Monday morning and there was a puddle of pee right on the bumpy plastic in the EXACT same spot where the poop was the night before. It is below a window where we have an air condition unit in the window and I'm wondering if she is smelling a cat outside? There is one neighbor who has an outdoor cat and INSISTS on letting it roam wherever it wants. Then I googled all kinds of things and I read that sometimes a cat that has been spayed can still show symptoms of being in heat and I'm wondering if that's it???? And now my husband got up for work at 5 am today and we just found another pile of poop and pee on the plastic again!! She was also taken to the vet over a month ago and a stool sample was tested and she was examined....the vet said she appears to be very healthy. Last night I ordered a ScatMat for $50 on eBay but now I think that will be a waste of money because unless I line my whole whole floor with it, a 48x20 mat is only going to protect that one little area!!

She is such a lovable cat...she is PERFECT with our daughter and all her friends. I always say she is like a dog stuck inside a cats body because she wants to be around everyone all the time. She is very affectionate and I just don't have any idea why she is doing this...and why it's so random like this. I am so upset and frustrated that I could cry. I love this cat SO much but I also can not continue to allow her to use my upstairs carpet as a litter box!! Please HELP!!!

 

[ritz]

Welcome to The Cat Site, sorry it's under these circumstances.

You're right in that cats have an extraordinary ability to hear mice outdoors and to sniff out the tiny piece of food you dropped on the kitchen floor.  And, to where they pooped once upon a time.  Or, now, several times. 

I would try an enzyme cleaner; the cleaner you've used may not be working.  Nature's Miracle gets good reviews, I linked the one to urine although the all purpose one works well, too. 

have you tried Cat Attract litter that you place in the litter box.  I haven't used it, but I hear it works wonders.

Also, it is interesting that she was restless the night before she had another accident.  I wonder if she is reacting to stress or another cat.  Sometimes cats have delayed reactions, or cumulative reactions:  she'll tolerate something for X amount of time, and then out of the blue, suddenly, she'll react.  Like urinating or petting/displaced agression.  In case it is stress (as defined by a cat, not a human!), you can try Feliway.

Good luck, and let us know how things are going.