Poop. Everywhere. Help.

[Mewbril]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this...

Biscotti poops but doesnt fully bury or cover his waste. Bonny tries to cover it for him, and almost every time ends up fully stepping in it and needs help to wash it off, she refuses to groom it since it is a lot. Washing it off stresses her out, obviously. This has been going on for at least 2 weeks. Not sure what to do, other than constantly monitor the litterboxes, which is not feasible nor realistic to do at all times. There are 2. They both share them equally.

Biscotti was a bottle-fed baby and is now 4.5 months old. He has been with us for a month. Bonny has been with us since 10 weeks and is currently 6.5 months of age. She was a street kitten raised by momma and another older cat.
His stools are sometimes loose. He seems to have a much weaker stomach than Bonny. We try to limit his diet to the Royal Canin he was fed at the shelter, but it has been tough to keep him out of Bonny's food since she prefers a bit more variety, mostly Blue Buffalo.
They love each other and are very bonded now. They both have been dewormed and are spayed/neutered.

 

[Maria Bayote]

What do you mean by poop "everywhere"? Only inside the litterboxes or outside?

Not all cats cover their poop after. My Barley is the same, and sometimes my Graham does the covering for him. I don't think there is not much you can do. Based on your info Biscotti was a bottle-fed baby and had no chance to be taught the basics by his Mama cat. Or, you can try to teach Biscotti to cover his poop, by showing him how to "cover" it. Repeat it over and over and hope that he gets it.

How many litterboxes do you have in the house? You should have an extra litterbox, so if you have 2 cats there has to be at least 3 boxes.

Goodluck.

 

[Mewbril]

What do you mean by poop "everywhere"? Only inside the litterboxes or outside?

Not all cats cover their poop after. My Barley is the same, and sometimes my Graham does the covering for him. I don't think there is not much you can do. Based on your info Biscotti was a bottle-fed baby and had no chance to be taught the basics by his Mama cat. Or, you can try to teach Biscotti to cover his poop, by showing him how to "cover" it. Repeat it over and over and hope that he gets it.

How many litterboxes do you have in the house? You should have an extra litterbox, so if you have 2 cats there has to be at least 3 boxes.

Goodluck.

Sorry if I was unclear! So the issue is not that he doesn't cover it, because he does, at least partially.. it's just that it never seems to fit Bonny's standards. Either way it doesnt matter because Bonny will always come in and cover it for him, or cover it more if it is already covered.
The real issue here is that, while trying to cover it completely, every. single. time. she steps RIGHT IN IT. Like, fully, Half leg in. Then she steps off and runs all over the house, spreading the poop everywhere. (Oh, one time she even tried to shake it off and it got on the walls, the furniture.. haha that was a FUN day) It's like she is trying to get rid of the smell but then covers herself in it and I dont understand why she doesnt just avoid stepping in it, or uses the other litterbox. Or just let's us handle it. This never has happened with her own poop, and almost always happens when he poops and has been going on for 2 weeks now. Also, we do clean the litterboxes fairly often (2-3 times per day).

We have 2 litterboxes currently. I can add one more and see if it helps. But all it sounds like I'll be getting is more boxes to watch out for. I'm willing to try anything at this point, so yeah. Currently, we monitor him to try to clean up IMMEDIATELY after he poops, before she can get to it. But sometimes we fail as we are taken off guard and notice it too late.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. How big are the boxes? Is Bonnie stepping in it because the box(es) is/are kind of small? Just a thought. Also, maybe you should get 2 more boxes and place a new one beside each of the original ones. Perhaps, Bonnie will prefer not to use the one Biscotti has been in if there is another one right there?

Also, in order to try to firm up his stools, maybe get some psyllium husk or plain canned pumpkin to add to his food? It is possible that if his stools were firmer Bonnie wouldn't be so inclined to cover them, or if she did it wouldn't be as messy. It is also a possibility that if his stool was firmer he might be more inclined to cover them more thoroughly by himself.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. How is it going? Any progress?

 

[Mewbril]

Sort of. We have gotten into a habit of cleaning immediately after the pooping happens. Which helps keep her away from it. She still has some interest so we just try to get to it before she does. However, there have been days where we don't get to it quite on time but I have not noticed nearly as many poopy paws as before. So either, she is learning, or the firming of the stools has greatly helped.
The smell of his poop is still quite strong, though not nearly as bad as before. Actually, I began giving them both but especially him a small amount of kefir and that really seems to have helped firm up his stools a lot more than anything else I tried in the past. (I was giving them both a supplement of psyllium husk and pumpkin for hair all ease, and cat grass every other week, which Bonny LOVES.) I have also been slowly weaning him off royal canin, which I suspect may also be at fault due to the high grain content. Like I said, slowly, because I dont want to cause them any issues as they are still growing, but there is a suspicious amount of progress as the quantities decrease.
I also started increasing their wet food and decreasing their dry food intake. So we'll see if that has any further benefits.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Is sounds like you might be headed in the right direction!! Hope you keep seeing more signs of progress!!

 

[Mer.kitten]

Just one more tip, if you havent tried it, maybe try adding more litter? I used to just add what the litter container said, but now i put almost double that. I do go through more litter now but not a crazy amount more, but the great thing is my kitty digs less now bc its easier for her to bury it bc theres plenty of litter. Before shed dig in her box for ages after she used it, and occasionally step on her poo. She seems much happier with a nice deep amount of litter.

Just an idea

 

[Uncled]

If you feed wet food you can try adding infant rice cereal to their food to help firm up the stool.

 

[Mewbril]

I just wanted to update that I started both kitties on a diet of grain-free, wet only food and have not had a single loose stool since. I will still try to get a GI panel for him done just to be ultra safe because of the strength of the smell, and will update with results. But thanks everyone for your suggestions to tackle the root cause, as this triggered me into actually learning about cat nutrition (I suspect he may have a mild case of IBD, or just be more sensitive in general.) He is doing much better now, they both are. I think them getting more used to each other also has helped.

 

[Furballsmom]

He is doing much better now, they both are

You rock, good for you! I'm glad these two little ones have you. I love their names !