# Poops in the Hall



## UmmYeahOk (Jun 17, 2004)

My kitty is 9 months old. This kitty was perfect and flawless in every way. I say that meaning she required no special training or bonding to behave exactly the way I wanted her to. However in the past two months shes started pooping in my hallway. Luckily the hallway floor is laminate wood, so its much easier to clean up instead of carpet. I find this odd because 1) she doesnt pee there, only poops, and 2) its never in the same location (very long hallway) She does this even though she has two clean litter boxes. They are located in the laundry room which is at the dead end of the hall. We've recently left the hallway light on and left air fresheners surrounding the area in hopes shes not doing it simply because it smells poopy. Though this has made our home smell wonderful she still insists on pooping in random areas of the hall.

She also eats a variety of friskies wet food, and eats purina urinary tract forumla (hard food - 2nd cat has problems). Her foster mom always fed her wet food and for a while was all she would ever eat. Her fecal matter never had any firmness to it, and I blamed the wet food. When I mixed hard food in with it, she would eat it, and her stools were harder. Ive suggested to my husband that we just switch her to hard food completely to see if that might help but he claims that since its supposed to be healthier, dry food would make it worse.


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## GeorgesMom (May 12, 2010)

Are you sure she is actually meaning to poop there? It's possible that the poop is just getting stuck to her fur and dropping off in the hall? Or it doesn't make it 'all the way out' in the litter box and instead completes its exit of the cat when she is going down the hall afterward? Or even that she's not quite making it to the box in time? Advice on this forum is generally not pro-dry as cats are desert animals who are meant to get moist of their liquid from their food.


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## UmmYeahOk (Jun 17, 2004)

I havent actually witnessed her pooping there. For all I know our 7 year old cat is. Im just blaming her since hers is always so fluid like. She has medium hair, but shes always very clean and proper so Ive never seen her trail anything or have dingle berries. Plus the viscosity of her turds are so low that there is no way they could travel that far without falling off in the laundry room first.

Ive heard of cats doing this when they are upset. My moms cats occasionally will poop in random places when she goes on vacation. We did go on a very long vacation, but she had been doing this before we left, and of course, still afterward. She is a very happy cat emotionally. Always wants to sit in my lap or lay on my chest. But like I said, she had been doing this before we left, and ONLY in the hall, though not the same area.


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## BrianD (Apr 26, 2010)

If it is always in the hall, but in different places, there is probably something wrong with the boxes themselves or their location. You may want to try a different type of box and/or litter. You may also want to try moving a box out into the hall. She may have gotten scared in the laundry room.


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## UmmYeahOk (Jun 17, 2004)

Its worth a try, but she still uses the litter boxes. She only occasionally poops in the hall (although now once every other day)


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## catcupcake (May 9, 2010)

If you have time, try watching her while she's in the hallway. If she starts scratching on the floor like she's about to use the bathroom, take her to the litter box and encourage her to use that instead. Have you recently switched the kind of litter you're using, or anything like that?


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## UmmYeahOk (Jun 17, 2004)

Used the same litter since I got her (of course I do add fresh litter). She did it again. So that makes twice today, She seems to do it more and more often. Again liquidy, and both times with a filmy mucus. I bagged it up because Ive decided to just take her to the vet and give them a sample stool to test. After bagging and cleaning the area, I watched my cat enter the litter box. She clinched her butt several times. As she turned around I noticed that this stool, again liquidy and covered in mucus, was only an inch long. She quickly buried it.

Does anyone here agree that shes being naughty simply because shes trying to show me something? As I said before, shes always had wetlike turds, possibly diarrhea. 

Shes very playful, and not shy at all, so she appears healthy. Does anyone think I should switch her to dry food completely? I understand that diarrhea may be caused by an upset stomach, and wet food would be preferred, but Im wondering if she just needs a stool hardener.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Vet visit, asap!
The symptoms you just described (_the mention of mucus in addition to the diarrhea_) sound like an inflamed colon, to me. The mucus and the liquid stool are direct symptoms of colitis. If the colon is inflamed, it produces mucus as it tries to heal and protect itself. The stool is liquid because with the colon lining inflamed it cannot extract moisture so the stool remains liquid-y. In addition, the inflamation makes the colon spasm when waste reaches the rectum and the poor thing cannot help it. There is no warning a spasm and bowel movement is imminent; it hits and you just gotta run and hope you make it. I bet she is trying to reach the litterboxes but gets caught short and is having to go in the hall because she just doesn't get there in time.
I have first-hand knowledge of this medical problem. If she has colitis, she isn't doing this on purpose, and if she is, it is only to alert you to her discomfort. The spasms are painful as the colon cramps, trying to move that liquid waste ... but it is like squeezing a long, skinny balloon and the waste just squeezes and sloshes around inside, never producing a complete bowel movement.


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## UmmYeahOk (Jun 17, 2004)

UPDATE:

Didnt take her to the vet. Her diarrhea stopped soon after this thread. I think I may have figured out the issue. Question is, why would any cat behave like this and how do I go about to control it?

Issue: This kitty will poop in one box and pee in the other. Both boxes are next to each other, but its always the same, left is for BMs and right is for urine. However I have a much older cat that doesnt follow HER rules. Like most cats, this cat poops and pees on whichever box he believes is the cleanest at the time. 

My guess is, when she sees stools in HER urine box, and urine in her BM box, she freaks and poops in the hall. What I have discovered is that shes also been peeing when theres stools in her urine box. She has chosen the bath tub. The urine goes down the drain so we just never knew. Weirdest thing is, thats where we keep her hard food, and I assumed cats dont like eating where they pee, and they also want to bury it. Typically carpet is a cats choice, but a bath tub and wood floors? she cant cover that up, but thankfully its easier to clean.

What do you guys think? Ever heard of such nonsense? If I get additional boxes I dont see how my older cat wont still use "HER" special box in an inappropriate way.


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## Ramey (Jul 11, 2010)

It sounds to me like you should take her to the vet - I would take Heidi's advice. She seems to have TONS of experience and knowledge about cats. Better to be safe than sorry.


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