Middening update... and the news is NOT good.

[addiebee]

I posted here a few weeks ago about one of the cats pooping in front of the litter pans in the laundry room. I have tried pretty much every suggestion. I still am not sure WHO it is... tho' two of them were at the "scene of the crime" a few days ago.. one was sitting in the room.. the other was trying to bury the evidence. Hard to do on a vinyl covered concrete floor.

I took both of them to the vets and nothing unusual was discovered.

I have tried these things to date:

uncovered the covered pans

added pans

keep the pans very clean

keep the floor swept and washed and enzymed

keep the litter topped off

use both Feliway diffuser and spray

use Dr. Elsey's cat attractant in the litter

This is not happening with the pans upstairs... only downstairs.

We used to have mats in front of the pans; Doug said it inhibited his cleaning of the pans... so my next effort is to put the mats back. For a really high strung cat, maybe the smallest change is what has triggered the episode.

If I could catch the culprit then I would put him in a quarantine room with lots of pans with additive, etc and retrain him. BUT. I. DO. NOT. KNOW. WHO. IT. IS.

Another idea I had was to isolate one possible culprit at a time and see if the pooping stops. And it may come to that. 

If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

I am on the verge of contacting a behaviorist for an in-house consult.

 

[aeevr]

There was an episode of My Cat From Hell which broached this same issue. It turned out that the box was in a place that was easy to cut off (like a long hallway) . The cat that pooped just outside the litterbox was feeling trapped by the other cat (or something).

Hope that made sense.

 

[addiebee]

There was an episode of My Cat From Hell which broached this same issue. It turned out that the box was in a place that was easy to cut off (like a long hallway) . The cat that pooped just outside the litterbox was feeling trapped by the other cat (or something).

Hope that made sense.

I remember that and yes it makes sense... but there are other pans the offender can use in other locations.  And we had the same situation in the old place ... and I didn't have this problem... the pans were upstairs and downstairs in areas with only one in-and-out.