Only pooping outside litter box

danielf

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My cat Louie 7 years old he has a brother rod. He has a clean bill of health no stress pampered etc. I'm a stay at home dad I keep the house clean 2 giant 24x 18 litter boxes cleaned throughout the day 3-5 times. Clean litter, clean boxes, plenty of room. Louie has been pooping outside the box off and on for a while never peeing. When I look in the boxes there is often nothing or maybe 1 pee in one box the other empty. I cannot figure this out at all. Clean with enzymes etc. he's totally fun and really sweet him and his brother. This has been going on now for a long time. Maybe 3 times a week or more.

Please no common answers I have tried all the usual suspects litter, boxes, cleanliness, health, enzymes, putting it back in box, etc
Thanks
Daniel
 

Columbine

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Hi, and welcome to TCS :wavey:

You need to get Louie to the vet for a checkup. It sounds very much as though he's suffering from constipation. If he is, pooping will hurt, and that pain will be why he's going outside the box.

Cat logic is not the same as human logic. If they have pain when using the box, they'll generally link that pain to the box itself, rather than the action of urination/defecation. In an attempt to stop the pain, they'll go somewhere else instead. I would always want to rule out a physical cause before moving on to other triggers.

Adding in another box may help the issue too, especially if he's going in the same spot. The other possibility is that he's not able to access the two existing boxes when he needs to. Resource guarding is very common in multi-cat homes, and isn't always very obvious to us humans. This is why the recommendation is 'one box per cat, plus one extra' (so 3 boxes for two cats). The reasoning is that, providing that they're well spaced (different rooms/floors etc), it is virtually impossible for one cat to guard all the boxes simultaneously. I know an extra box can be a hassle, but I'd always rather scoop another box than clear up accidents ;) [article="32366"][/article][article="33610"][/article][article="33674"][/article]
 
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danielf

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I'm sorry I don't mean to be rude but I thought I mentioned "clean bill of health" 3 vets. All of them agreed he was fully healthy perfect weight, sweet, happy etc. I have looked on probably 15 sites I'm looking for some more answers. Litter boxes are almost always clean nothing on them as I clean every couple hours and they are giant boxes. So come on lets think "outside the box" pun intended
 
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danielf

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I think I said 2 boxes my bad there are 3 1 is hardly ever used
 

Norachan

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If he is constipated or if he has very hard poop, which would hurt a lot coming out, that wouldn't always show up on a vet check.

How often is he pooping? In the litter box or otherwise. Is it a regular amount and consistency? 
 
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danielf

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Absolutely regularly...normal poop, clean box, clean litter, tried all kinds of litter. Healthy, playful, good appetite, good sleep habits, hell I've never heard him or his brother hiss.
 

sprin

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Has he always pooped outside of the litter pan or is this a behavior that started at some point while you had him? What is his diet like?

What did the vet do to check it? Did they get a stool sample? My cat has inflammatory bowel disease, and it wasn't something they could see on her blood work, stool sample, or exam. Our first vet completely missed it. A year later a different vet had to do an ultrasound to check for intestinal problems. Not saying that's what your cat has it, but definitally don't close the book on a medical problem just because your cat was vet checked. Watch for any other symptoms developing over time, or for the pooping outside the litter box to get worse.If he is experiencing mild constipation, adding canned pumpkin to his food is suppose to help the stool pass better.
 
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Anne

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I can totally understand your frustration and not wanting to hear "common" answers but it can be really difficult for us to really know what you've tried/checked if we don't ask. 

Sounds like you have the litterbox size and cleanliness right. How about locations? Can you describe where the litterboxes are and where Louie goes outside the box? Also, you mentioned you hardly see any pee in the box (nothing or one pee), or did I get that wrong? I wonder where he's peeing then? With two cats in your home you should be seeing pee "lumps" daily, at least 2-4 (possibly more).

Oh, and welcome to TCS! 
 

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Hi!

I agree, check with locations of the boxes. Sometimes if they're too close together, cats won't use it properly.. or if they're in a high traffic area, they don't get the peace they'd like. 

Do you see him specificially go outside the box, or is his butt hanging off the edge while he's inside? if it's the latter, try higher sided box?
 
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danielf

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he has been doing this more regularly however he has done it off and on for years. I have tried different locations. He doesn't always poop right in front sometimes it's in the corner of the room a few feet away. It's not his ass hanging over.the cats pee in it just fine. He has no pain when he poops. He is healthy 3 different vets. I'm writing basically everything I wrote in my post. And yes it's frustrating with the common answers. I'm telling you I have scoured the internet over and over I've read and tried all the common answers.
 

Anne

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In that case, my advice would be to contact a professional cat behavior consultant. We could drive you crazy here with more "common questions" while a professional can come over and just see with his/her own eyes what the situation is like. 

It's not that I don't want to help you (I'm sure others want to as well) but I'm afraid there's no way for us to find out what your setup is like without asking. We can't tell what you might think is "common" and what you missed out on unless we ask 
 

There's a reason why your cat is going outside the box and the only way to find out is to really look in-depth into your setup. Maybe having a behaviorist over will help you achieve that with fewer questions. 
 

sprin

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he has been doing this more regularly however he has done it off and on for years. I have tried different locations. He doesn't always poop right in front sometimes it's in the corner of the room a few feet away. It's not his ass hanging over.the cats pee in it just fine. He has no pain when he poops. He is healthy 3 different vets. I'm writing basically everything I wrote in my post. And yes it's frustrating with the common answers. I'm telling you I have scoured the internet over and over I've read and tried all the common answers.
I'm sorry you're having this issue, it can be really frustrating when a cat eliminates outside the box. I did read your original post and saw that he was checked by 3 different vets before I posted. What I meant in my post is that even the most thorough vet exam and blood testing can completely miss certain problems, because some problems can only be seen by using diagnostic measures that look inside the cat's body. So watch for new symptoms to arrive just in case it's a medical issue, even though you're pretty sure it's behavior. If it's a mild constipation issue, that also might not be evident to the vet. What is his diet like? One of my cats refuses to eat anything but dry food, and I can see him straining to poop sometimes. He will also sometimes poop outside the litter box. Have you seen your cats routine when he poops outside the box?

Also, I think people are just trying to get more specifics on what your setup is. We don't know what litter you use or what you've tried. Or where the litter boxes are in your house. It's not an accusation that you're doing things wrong or that you haven't researched. It sounds like you've really worked to make the environment good for your cats and to address this issue. It's just going through the process of elimination, in case you have a blind spot for anything.
 
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