Peeing in litterbox; often pooping outside litter box

VinceL

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Our 13 year old cat Lexi has been dealing with diarrhea problems for a few months. She has seen the vet multiple times, and he has tried multiple medications to calm her digestive tract. She has mild-to-moderate renal failure. Our vet wanted to avoid steroids, but nothing else has worked so she started on prednisolone a week ago.

She eats well (on the prednisolone she is eating like a horse), she is drinking (no signs of dehydration), and her weight is stable. She is not vomiting at all.

Prior to the diarrhea, her diet consisted of some kibbles, Royal Canin Renal diet, and some canned Friskies pate. She now refuses to eat any dry food. She stopped eating the Royal Canin renal diet. Our vet tried her on Royal Canin Digestive food; she ate it for about a week and then refused to eat it any more. So, now all she will eat is the Friskies pate.

When she has to pee, she uses the litter box. Her poops range from nearly liquid to pretty firm. But, she poops either at the entrance to the litter box (so her poop drips over the edge of the box or she poops in other parts of the room where the litter box is located. Prior to the diarrhea, she always used the litter box for peeing and pooping. So, there appears to be a connection between the diarrhea and not pooping in the litter box.

I am hoping that someone on the forum has some experience that could help get Lexi back to good health.
 

FeebysOwner

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Hi. I don't have any personal experience with this, but it does seem that the diarrhea bothers her enough to cause her to NOT want to use the litterbox when she has to go. She associates how it feels with the box and not her body, so she is avoiding it. The times she poops over the edge of the box instead of other locations might just be that she has to coincidentally pee those times too. Does the vet expect the Pred to help with the diarrhea, and if so, did they give you any idea when you might start seeing some improvement? If not, you might call them and ask if she should be getting some sort of additional treatment to minimize her diarrhea.

As far as pooping in other locations, if they are consistently the same places she may still be able to smell her scent there because the cleaning you are doing is not actually removing the smell entirely. I don't know what you are using to clean those areas, but you could try some of the ideas in the article link below. You could also place puppy pee pads on those locations, just to help with clean up.

Feces Stain Removal And Diarrhea Stain Removal Guide

Hope other members with some first hand experience will soon see your post and offer their tips/ideas!
 
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rubysmama

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Poor Leri, and you. Cats instinctively want to cover their waste, so when they stop using the litter box , it's usually for a reason. And I'm sure the diarrhea is a big part of the problem.

Did any of the food changes make any difference with the diarrhea? Any idea what caused it in the first place?

Has the vet suggested pro-biotics? Sometimes plain canned pumpkin can help. But if it's a food allergy, it won't clear up until you figure what ingredient doesn't agree with her system.

Meanwhile, have you tried putting out another, litterbox? Sometimes that can help.
 
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VinceL

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FeebysOwner and rubysmama,
Thanks for your replies.

The pred is supposed to reduce inflammation in the digestive system which should eliminate the diarrhea. The vet has her on 2 capsules per day for 14 days and then 1 capsule per day after that. Today marks 1 week she has been on the pred. Hopefully, we will see some improvement next week. The vet did have her on a probiotic capsule for 30 days and it didn't get rid of the diarrhea. She has been on 3 other medications prior to starting the pred.

The room where the litter box is located is about 6 x 8. It has a tile floor and there are a couple of small carpet mats. When Lexi poops outside the litter box, it could be anywhere in that room (on the tile or on the carpet mats). We use Resolve Pet Stain Remover, and I think it works very well.

I am tempted to go to Petsmart and buy a variety of dry and moist foods to see if she will eat any of them. She refused to eat the Royal Canin Digestive food that the vet prescribed after about a week, and we had not seen any improvement. I would really like to see her eating some dry food. I know dry food like crackers helps me if I have this problem.;)
 

FeebysOwner

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Yeah, but you wouldn't eat crackers for every meal - only when you were having an issue. And, dry food is usually not as good as canned in terms of renal issues. But, I guess if you could find a dry food that she likes, she could have that in addition to her Friskies, just to see if that would help with diarrhea.

If she were still eating the RC Renal, would the vet still want her on it? If so, maybe see about some of the renal care related dry foods in this article (see below) - don't know if they all would require a prescription or not, but you should probably run them by your vet anyway just to see what they think. And, you should probably compare them to the ingredients in both what she ate before the diarrhea and after - in case there might be an ingredient or two that is upsetting her digestive tract.

The Best Cat Food for Kidney Disease (Review) in 2020 | Pet Side
 

rubysmama

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The room where the litter box is located is about 6 x 8. It has a tile floor and there are a couple of small carpet mats. When Lexi poops outside the litter box, it could be anywhere in that room (on the tile or on the carpet mats). We use Resolve Pet Stain Remover, and I think it works very well.
Is the room big enough to add another litter box? Some cats are quirky and will only pee in one and poop in another. And with her diarrhea, who knows, maybe she no longer wants to use the same litter box for both. Could also be that she associates the litter box with the discomfort of the diarrhea /issue causing it, and a totally different litter box in a different location, maybe even different litter, might help.

I am tempted to go to Petsmart and buy a variety of dry and moist foods to see if she will eat any of them. She refused to eat the Royal Canin Digestive food that the vet prescribed after about a week, and we had not seen any improvement. I would really like to see her eating some dry food. I know dry food like crackers helps me if I have this problem.;)
Since you're not sure what's causing the diarrhea, if you decide to buy a variety of different foods, maybe consider getting novel proteins that she's never had before, i.e. duck, as it could be that she has developed a sensitivity to something in her regular food like chicken, which I'm pretty sure my Ruby girl can't tolerate.

Also if you do get a different food, and she'll eat it, keep her on it for several days to see if it makes a difference. I was lucky and when I started Ruby on her hypo-allergenic duck canned food, I saw a difference in the litter box the very next day. Normally, however, it will take a bit longer to determine if the food change is going to make a difference.

Of course, do consider running your ideas through your vet first, just to make sure they don't think it's a bad idea considering she has mild-to-moderate renal failure, plus is on medication.
 
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