outside of litter box habits ??

[confusedcatmom]

i never thought i would get to this point, but honestly, i’m so confused (hence my username) and i want answers because i don’t understand what i’m doing wrong.

i have two cats at home, two boys, benjamin and didier. ever since he was a kitten, ben has always tried to kind of show off as the alpha, but didier never really took to it, or cared about ben’s behaviour in the slightest. a lot of ben’s nasty habits (like not covering his poo in the litter box and stinking up the house) i’ve discovered later in life were him trying to establish himself as the man of the house, basically. but for a while now, he’s been pooping outside of the litter box, and the supposed cause might confuse you as it has me…

whenever i do a deep clean of the litter boxes, i always, without fail, find a poop either on the floor, on the carpet or anywhere it shouldn’t be (aka everywhere BUT the litter box). and i’m perplexed. see, i work full time and i’m battling demons of my own so sometimes, yes, i admit, i do neglect cleaning the litter box. and if he pooped outside of it when it was due for cleaning, i’d totally get it. shame on me. but i swear, it’s always when i’m giving it a nice, deep clean, wanting to make up for MY bad behaviour that i come home exhausted from work to find a nice flaming turd in the middle of my bed.

could it be that… he likes the litter box filthy? i truly don’t understand it. a little background about him that could maybe help: as a kitten, he had worms, but they’ve been treated loooong ago: he’s turning six this summer. he’s suffered from anxiety most of his life. he has a heart murmur, but no worrisome behaviours apart from that. and a few months back, he suffered from a bout of feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC), which basically manifested itself in a swollen bladder that made it difficult for him to pee and there was blood in his urine, but it has since cleared up with the help of anti-inflammatory medication and a new diet of urinary care dry and wet food. he did have an accident outside of the litter box during that time (little bit of pee), but that was normal considering.

honestly, i’m exhausted and i’m not quite sure what to do anymore. if any of you have experienced something similar or could have advice, ideas, suspicions ?? i’ll take anything at this point. at the end of the day, i just want both of my boys to be happy, it’s all i really want. just not at my expense either, this is getting ridiculous.

thank you in advance for your help :’)

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
Have you considered a Litter Robot? And/or adding a couple more boxes? Try a litter called Cat Attract.

Also, try some Cat Music and a calming product such as Bach's Rescue remedy? Plugin types are expensive and not reliable.

 

[roguethecat]

so why not humor him and always leave one item in the litter box?

 

[arr]

One thought, I remember reading somewhere that cats don’t like it when the litter box is too deep cleaned, like with strong heavy duty cleaners. They like to still smell themselves. Not sure what you are using, but I scrub the box with unscented dish soap, dry it, then pour in fresh litter, sometimes topping it off with some of the old litter. I scoop the boxes morning and evening and wash a box every week and a half or so. Perhaps try to consistently care for the box at a happy medium rather than swinging between the extremes of super deep cleaned box or super dirty box.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

For two cats, you should ideally have three boxes. Added boxes may clear things up. Also, there is a lot to what arr says. Some cats, not all, but some, seem to need to smell themselves in their box. It's their "business deposits here" sign. I used to to that for Hek, but now I use one of those three-layered sifting boxes. The one that I sift from gets deep cleaned, then put on the bottom of the stack, so there is always a little of "her" in the boxes.

 

[sunny578]

My cat actually does better with a litter box that isn't totally clean, and it is harder to get her to use it when it's sparkling. When I clean it, I often just rinse it out with water. Sometimes I put a little vinegar and baking soda in there too.

And yes, more boxes!

Let us know if this helps!!