Please help!

[Rdrummond07]

Hi! I really hope someone can help us. We rescued a cat at the end of February. She was a little older, but my daughter fell in love with her at the shelter and we decided to bring her home. Shortly after she began pooping outside the litter box. It was liquid-y and diarrhea like. We felt like maybe it was stress, and gave her some time to adjust. Still, nothing changed. She pees in the litter, but only would poop sometimes. We took her to the vet several times and had lab work done, etc. The vet said that all labs were normal and suggested switching her food to a prescription, hyperallergenic diet. We have now done that and it has been a few weeks. Her poop is no longer diarrhea like, but she unfortunately is still pooping on the floor. She goes 2-3 times a day sometimes and will sometimes go in her box, others on the floor, in different spots throughout the house.

Of course we have tried the obvious things like changing litter, litter box placement, Feliway, anxiety meds, probiotics, etc. She also has 2 litter boxes.

I'm hoping someone can help. She's literally the perfect cat other than the poop.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. She sounds sweet overall! Glad you were able to at least get her poop to something less than diarrhea! But, if it is still soft, that could be bothering her. Pooping 2-3 times a day is a little bit out of the normal for most cats, tbh. You could consider a full fecal PCR test that looks for not only a wide array of parasites, but a number of bacterial and viral conditions that might help. However, it could also be that the new diet hasn't completely taken hold yet.

At first blush, I would suggest two litter boxes close together (in your case, that would be two more) and see if she is willing to use one for pee and one for poop. Having that many litter boxes will also mean that they are cleaner than just two.

Do you know her background? This could be a long-standing issue that may take some time to resolve itself through things like what you are doing.

I am sure other members will come along soon and have some ideas to offer!

 

[Rdrummond07]

Hi. She sounds sweet overall! Glad you were able to at least get her poop to something less than diarrhea! But, if it is still soft, that could be bothering her. Pooping 2-3 times a day is a little bit out of the normal for most cats, tbh. You could consider a full fecal PCR test that looks for not only a wide array of parasites, but a number of bacterial and viral conditions that might help. However, it could also be that the new diet hasn't completely taken hold yet.

At first blush, I would suggest two litter boxes close together (in your case, that would be two more) and see if she is willing to use one for pee and one for poop. Having that many litter boxes will also mean that they are cleaner than just two.

Do you know her background? This could be a long-standing issue that may take some time to resolve itself through things like what you are doing.

I am sure other members will come along soon and have some ideas to offer!

Thank you! This is encouraging. We all love her and just want her to be well. The vet did say that we should give the food change at least 8 weeks, and it hasn't quite been that long yet. I will also try adding another litter box. That will make 3 boxes.

 

[Rdrummond07]

Thank you! This is encouraging. We all love her and just want her to be well. The vet did say that we should give the food change at least 8 weeks, and it hasn't quite been that long yet. I will also try adding another litter box. That will make 3 boxes.

Also, forgot to mention that we don't know anything about her history before we adopted her.

 

[danteshuman]

My cat has 2 boxes. He pees in one and poops in the other ) & every 1-3 weeks switches which box he will do what in.

I would start putting pee pads in front of the litter box, taped to a cardboard base. Then very slowly over weeks and months get more litter on the pee pad and build up short 1-2 inch sides around the pee pad. Basically train her to use a litter box to go poop, like you do for declawed cats with joint pain; to get them to use the box again (& realize it won’thurt to go.)

This sounds more medical than behavioral & may resolve it’s self just with time once the new diet fully kicks in. I love the extreme stool sample test.

 

[sunny578]

Hello! It sounds like that possibly the diarrhea led her out of the box and even though it's resolved, she is still going outside of the box.

How old is she? does she have any mobility issues? When she doesn't poop in the box, where does she prefer to go? Right by it, or somewhere else? Does she seem to have a preferred surface for poop?