I have had my cat for ten years now, she has always been a very good cat, and I just love her. Now, for the past month she has decided to start pooping outside of her litter-box. She still pees in her box, she just decided to start pooping (always in the same room, and usually in the same spot)outside of her box. Now what is really strange is that, she has done it right in front of my husband and I. She walked right in front of us, turned around lifted up her tail, and pooped!!! :rolleyes:

My only explination is that she is pissed at us because we are gone on the weekends, and she's bored. I don't know, funny thing is the sassy girl knows exactly what shes doing, and knows fully well where she needs to poop, she also knows when shes in trouble. She avoids me because she knows I'm upset with her. My vet suggested some type of kitty-prozac, but I wondered if any of you can think of anything. My husband wants her gone, but she is my baby, and I refuse to give up on her. I just think it's strange for her to be depressed, have any of you had any experience with this? Can you think of any suggestions, I'm at my wit's end.

Thanks!
Chloe :flower:

That must be really tough. We had a cat that was really sick but we didn't know it and the vet said that sometimes going outside of the box is a sign. But if your vet isn't worried about that then I'm sorry I don't know what to tell you. Good luck.

Hi Chloe!

I'm so sorry that your kitty is stressed out. I have heard of cats and dogs doing such things b/c of anxiety. I also have a 10-year-old cat and when DH and I were living at my mother's house earlier this year, my mom brought two new cats into the house. My 10-year-old kitty had a FIT!!! He is neutered and has never, ever marked his territory; however, he found a safe place in my mother's closet and sprayed!

Before we evacuated for the last hurricane, I had to bring my cats back over to my mother's house so that I could close up mine. To make a long story short, my 10-year-old went right into my mother's closet and sprayed again. He just DOES NOT like being around her two cats.

Perhaps an anti-anxiety med would help. I would give it a shot. Either way, good luck with your kitty... and please try to do everything that you can before you give your kitty up. :flower:

My cats have a cat flap and a litter tray indoors. They use the tray when they don't want to pee in the garden (scared of being pounced on by the rabbit!) but they never, ever poop in the litter tray, always off somewhere else like the garden or a neighbouring field. I always think it is because they dislike peeing in a tray that has been pooped in, if it isn't emptied immediately for instance if I am out. Maybe your kitty has a sensitive nose too? They teach themselves new behaviours sometimes which quickly become habit.
I think anti-depressants are a little harsh, the vet will be psycho-analyzing kitty next!

Hi Chloe,

Sometimes prozac-type drugs are prescribed for cats for obsessive behaviors.

One of my persians, SassyCat, has the opposite problem. She pees in the box and poops in the floor. She used to do both in the floor til our vet put her on some kind of kitty hormones called ova-ban. After a week of every other day dosing she has been taking it 1/4 tablet every 2 weeks-AND she doesn't pee in the floor anymore. She is a 9 yr old and has been spayed since very small. Oh- she's been on this medicine for about 6 months now and it is still working. Not sure what to do about the poop, though! :rolleyes:

I do think she is very sensitive to a used box though. I think she would like it if I held the scoop under her butt so that her deposits never touched the litter before being disposed of!

Talk to your vet about various options and if you don't like what you are hearing, consider talking to various other vets 'til you find one you like who will work with you.

It's a very difficult thing to deal with-I've divorced a couple of husbands but I have never gotten rid of a cat!

Good luck and kitty prayers,
strawberryfine

Sometimes, it's because the cat decides to be extra fastidious, and would like a seperate box for defecation. Or sometimes, they just want a new box. So maybe try getting her another litterbox, set it up next to the other one, and see if that helps.

My cat does the same thing!!! She will pee in the box, but she poops right outside of it and it drives me crazy!! She's been doing it for a while and I can't make her stop despite many efforts. She does it right in front of me, too, if I happen to be there, she has no shame. About a year ago, we got an automatic litter box thinking that maybe if it was always scooped she would use it. We put that Cat Attract litter in there, the one that is supposed to work for cats that don't want to use the box. She used it for about a week and then changed right back to pooping right outside the box. My vet has no solution, just says that some cats are like that, they are just particular and since it's become her habit there isn't much you can do about it. I'd be interested in hearing how the medication works if you decide to try it. Mine is already on daily meds for asthma so she might not be able to handle anything else...

That sounds oh-so-familiar! :rolleyes: My 14 year old cat has done similar things. My vet recommended getting an extra litter box (in other words, add up the number of cats and add one: that's how many litter boxes he recommended). He also suggested an anti-depressant. Not Prozac or one of the SSRIs, but I can't remember the name (fortunately it's not too expensive!). She takes half a pill a day (plus her thyroid meds), and so far (knock on wood) she's doing pretty well. She's got me trained--I scoop the boxes every night. When my SO and I consolidated households and cats we had some problems, but I think they've finally settled down.

Good luck!

Thanks so much for all of the great advice! :flowers: I did get another litterbox, but she hasn't yet used it. Now I am really upset, because last night she did it again! She walked right in front of my husband and I and pooped! Then she ran off! Now listen to this, this morning when she walked up to me, I picked her up, and she pissed on me!!! I am so confused by her behavior, and I feel like she must hate me or something? I am so sad about this, I did make a vet appt. for tommorrow, to get a second opinion. I am so exaughsted, not only is my cat being naughty, but now I'm dealing with a crabby husband. :rolleyes: I will keep you all posted, Thanks!

Blessings,
Chloe :flower:

The drugs they use for "kitty prozac" are amitriptylline, valium & ova-ban that I know of, & they all have been used succesfully in cats for this type of behavior. Its not guaranteed, but its worth a try, rather than "getting rid" of a 10 yr. old cat. Also, she may have a medical problem & should be checked thoroughly for this first to rule anything out. Good luck & keep us posted.
p.s.- if my husband told me to get rid of one of my animals he'd be making good friends with the tent & sleeping bag. Good luck.

Have you tried leaving out new toys or hiding kitty treats for her on the weekends so she's not bored?

Also, a friend of mine said her cat did that once, and she finally figured out it was because she started using a new litter. She switched back and everything was fine. Another friend finally got fed up with his cat pooping out of the box, and placed a second box where she was going...his cat accepted that and started using that box.

Hope the next vet visit goes well and everything gets figured out soon!

You could also try to put the new litterbox right on the spot where she usually poops. Two things can happen... She can decide to use the new box or she decides not to and just go pooping some place else...
If she starts to use the litterbox you can either leave it there as a 2nd box or you can slowly move the new box to another place, that be the place of the 1st box or just somewhere convenient. Just go very very slowly about moving the box, only like 1 or 2 inches at a time... you might find more information about this on the internet. I have never actually tried this myself but I have read it in some of those kitty behaviour books.

The cat that is living with my does most of her 'duties' outside, but she will use the box if she really has to and noone is at home (or at night)..
My own cat is living with my parents (my bf's cat and mine cannot live together as mine is a 100% indoor cat) and he (mind that it's a HE) will pee at the top story of the house when he is pissed (Yes I wrote that on purpose ;) ). I do not think he is spraying, he is just peeing when he doesn't like the way things are. When we catch him right before he starts, he will run down 2 stairs and go to his litterbox there..

Strange animals.. cats....... but I love them !

HTH !

Niph

I have read a suggestion to place a bowl of food in the area the animal is eliminating inappropriately.

Personally, as much as I love my cats, if I gave one every opportunity to correct the problem with no resolve to the matter, it would be put outside or else removed from the home. I know that sounds cruel, but I could not have that in my home. I did have an adult Afghan hound in 1979-1982 that was pooping in the hall and lifting his leg on a custom bed spread, seemed like for spitefulness, and I dropped him off at the Human Society. Big dogs make big poop and puddles. I was getting no help from DH, so I followed through with my threat.

I do hope you can find a satisfactory resolution to the problem!

My cat Kiki (http://www.beware-of-art.com/images/personal/kiki/) had this going on for quite a while. I got her at the pound right before D-Day -- I suspect that's why she was left there, since otherwise she is an insanely friendly and snuggly kitty. Either that, or the fact that she had a (easily and permanently fixed with surgery) little tumor under the skin on her side.

Whenever she decided the litterbox didn't deserve her um, solid blessings, she'd do it on tile, never on carpet (WHEW). She'd go through the motions of burying it, too; it was kind of funny. She clearly just had some major confusion about where she was supposed to do it, it wasn't anything malicious.

First step of progress was to get her an open litterbox instead of a covered one... she liked that better. But, still, sometimes we'd get the floor poo.

Second step was to try and give her a "designated area" for it, the idea being to herd her onto an out-of-the-way removable square of tile I could clean easily. The litterbox is in our laundry room, so I sprayed the floor of the kitchen (which leads into the laundry room) with cat repellent. I was afraid she'd avoid the litterbox entirely as a result, but, I guess it wasn't that strong -- just enough to discourage her. So, she started only doing it in the laundry room. Each week I crept a little further with the cat repellent, until she was only doing it on the "designated area". And then, she finally just started using the litterbox. Woo! Only in the box for nine months now!

-=- Jen "Yay for catpoo in designated areas!" Gagne

Don't you dare let him get rid of your kitty!

You've gotten lots of good advice.
Mine is to concur on the get her a new box or two - we have one upstairs and one in the basement, and our boys are very particular about which one they use for what.
Also, I wasn't sure whether your kitty was going over theside of the box or whether she wasn't inside it at all...if it's the former, then I recommend an $8.00 plastic rim that fits over the box --- it's just enough to keep their butts on the right side of the box if they're backing up too far.

I have two little minxes, sorry, cats and they are a law on to themselves even though I love them dearly! I would agree with what others have said about 2 litter boxes. Sometimes they just don't like to no2 where they have no1'd.

It's probably best to not try and read into her motives too much though...that's why cats make such good hunters..they don't need a motive to do anything! :grin:

I am sure everything will work out just fine..but good luck anyway!

Gordy