Need A Lot Of Help

[lorryduran08]

My cat is a little over a year old now. He is normally a very affectionate cat. Sleeps on my stomach. Talks to me. But recently he's had some serious behavior changes. We moved about 7 months ago, so maybe that is the trigger but it's been so long ago now I'm not sure.

1) he will not poop in his litter box anymore. never had a problem until after we moved. He will urinate in the box but that is it. I've tried 4 different types of litter. large clay.crystals.pelts.and fine clay. And he only does it after I come home.As soon as I come home he poops on the floor. And I feel like he eats just to poop. I'll feed him and he'll start crying so I'll feed him a lil more. I cut him off after eating a whole cup of cat food and he'll just keep going back to his food bowl for more.

2)He keeps running outside and he'll paw at the door and meow for 20-30 minutes every few hours.I got him as a kitten from a shelter and he has a front leg that is crooked from being broken so I worry about him being outside. He's not as fast as other cats and can't jump as well. Plus he's been a house cat up until now. Normally I can catch him and bring him back in. but this last time he started hissing and meowing very loudly. His hair puffed up and when I went to pick him up he clawed at me and tried to bite. I ended up just having to leave him there. about two hours later he came back to the door.

He does not show signs of aggression. he is always right next to me. always wants his tummy rubbed. He's been to the vet. Has all of his shots, doesn't have any worms. I'm not sure what to do.

 

[Willowy]

Is he neutered? If not, that definitely needs to be done.

If so, have you tried giving him 2 litterboxes? Some cats really hate to pee and poop in the same box for some reason. Try giving him an extra box and see if that helps.

How much do you feed him, what kind of food? Teenage males of all species need a lot of calories, he's still in that age range so that might be why he eats so much.

Does he get a lot of interactive playtime? If not, you could get a fishing pole toy (like Da Bird) and play with him a couple times a day until he's tired. That might help him be more content to stay indoors. You might also consider buiding him an outdoor enclosure so he can safely get some fresh air.

 

[maggiedemi]

Is the cup of food dry food? That could be making him constipated. My female cat poops outside of the litterbox when she is constipated. Maybe try adding more canned food to his diet every day and reducing the dry food. You could also try hairball treats or paste every other day, that can help with constipation.

 

[lorryduran08]

Is he neutered? If not, that definitely needs to be done.

If so, have you tried giving him two litter boxes? Some cats really hate to pee and poop in the same box for some reason. Try giving him an extra box and see if that helps.

How much do you feed him, what kind of food? Teenage males of all species need a lot of calories; he's still in that age range so that might be why he eats so much.

Does he get a lot of interactive playtimes? If not, you could get a fishing pole toy (like Da Bird) and play with him a couple of times a day until he's tired. That might help him be more content to stay indoors. You might also consider building him an outdoor enclosure so he can safely get some fresh air.

He is neutered.I'll try the two litter boxes.

I feed him twice a day, and he gets about a cup each time. He eats royal canine dry and wet mixed together.

He has two cat condos, tunnels, cat scratchers, and shelves on the wall. he has ones for me to interact with him a couple of fishing poles and a laser pointer. he has balls, small stuffed animals, a wind-up mouse to chase, a ball inside a track thing. I play with him for at least an hour a night until he's tired out.

he really never had any interest in going out until a few weeks ago. I can't really do an outdoor enclosure because we live in an apartment and the complex wont allow it
.

 

[lorryduran08]

Is the cup of food dry food? That could be making him constipated. My female cat poops outside of the litterbox when she is constipated. Maybe try adding more canned food to his diet every day and reducing the dry food. You could also try hairball treats or paste every other day, that can help with constipation.

His diet is prescribed by his vet. He has royal canine dry and wet mixed together. I'll have to talk to the vet about hairball treats. he has vitamins he takes and he poops regularly. its just whenever I come home he does it too. If I leave for 30 minutes or I'm gone for 8 hours without fail he poops on the floor.

 

[duckpond]

Hopefully the two boxes will help.

Royal canin cat food, that could be part of the problem? Most of the wet has carrageenan, which can cause digestive upset. also a lot of their foods are very high in carbs, and in fiber. This high fiber diet could definitely cause a problem with too much poo, and an upset tummy. cats eating a high carb diet will often eat, and poop a lot more, trying to eat enough food to fill their protein requirements.

I try to keep my cat food under 4% on a dry food for fiber. on wet food i try for 1 or 1.4% and lower. you may want to try some different foods?

 

[maggiedemi]

2 cups of food sounds like a lot of food. Does the vet say that is the right amount? It sounds like he might be constipated.

 

[Etarre]

I moved a few years ago, and our cat, who had always enjoyed exploring the hallway of our old apartment (supervised, of course) a little, suddenly became very insistent that we let her outside ALL THE TIME. She would hang out by the door and whine. I always wondered if she thought that all apartment hallways were the same and that she could magically go back to her old apartment by going outside of our new place.

She got used to the new apartment after awhile and stopped the constant demands to go outside. Possible contributing factor: she bolted up the stairs to the roof one time, and set off the motion-sensor alarm up there, which scared her half to death, poor thing.

I know it's been several months since you moved, but it's always taken my cats a long time to get used to new spaces, so maybe that's a factor.

 

[Lunabean]

If it is constipation hairball treats helped my cat tremendously. If it’s not that or some other health problem it could be an insecurity issue. My cat used to poop in my bed every time I left the house for too long and I’ve only just got her to stop. She also pooped outside of the litter box in front of me a few times for behavioral reasons (and peed ON ME once) and but after a few times of physically picking her up and putting her in the litter box when she had acted like she was about to go she stopped the behavior and I haven’t had any problems from her since so maybe try that if getting another box doesn’t help.