# Crying and then pooing outside of litter box



## vickih (Jul 3, 2008)

Hi there,
So my Lulu is having some problems. She sometimes cries at night, and cries and cries, and then she poops on the floor and then the crying stops. But their's poop on the floor!
Her litter box is always clean ( I clean it 2x a day), and I use the Arm and Hammer Multi Cat litter (haven't changed it since I've had her.. now 3.5 years)
I haven't changed her food. So I know it's not that.
I took her too the vet because she started doing this at least 1X week. 
Everything came back normal. Perfectly healthy.

I can't figure out for the life of me why this happens since it doesn't happen every night.
The last few times she started to cry, I got out of bed to make sure she was ok, and that she hadn't pooped on the floor, and was monitoring her, and she eventually went to her litter box and pooped and then she stopped crying. 

ANyone else ever experience this? It only happens at night. and never during the day when I am home (say the weekend).
any insights would be good!
thanks
Vicki


----------



## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Well, I think she is telling you *something* isn't right, and it is good that you had her checked by your vet. ...but I can't help but think that if she is crying and pooping outside her box, there is _something_ going on that is causing an issue for her and this is how she is 'telling you' about it. 

May I ask what you are feeding her? 
May I ask if her poops look excessively large in diameter?


----------



## BrianD (Apr 26, 2010)

You might want to check her anal glands - or have your vet do it. If they don't get expressed regularly, fluids can build up and cause discomfort. They generally get expressed through box usage, but not always. We have one cat that you have to manually express once a month.


----------



## vickih (Jul 3, 2008)

hi there,
her poop is the same as when she poops in her box. no diarrhea, nothing.

and I feed her if memory serves 'Prescription Hills" RD formula.

umm and Brian.. anal glands? i'm afraid to ask what you mean by "manually express"


----------



## BrianD (Apr 26, 2010)

Expressing anal glands is not a pretty process. Cats have two glands on their butt. If you look at the "hole" like a clock, they are at about 5:00 and 7:00. If they don't get expressed on their own, you (or your vet) gets to squeeze them to release the fluids. It is the most foul smelling stuff I have ever encountered and it is possible for the liquid to shoot out. It is possible to accidentally express them if you are cleaning a cat's butt due to feces getting stuck in their fur. I learned this one the hard way.

We had a cat go through about 6 years of box issues until we learned about this.


----------



## hoofmaiden (Sep 28, 2009)

Hills foods are really pretty nasty, unfortunately. Also, is this the dry version? I'm betting she's constipated. Switching to a high-quality grain-free canned food (like EVO 95% meat or Wellness CORE) will probably help and will be much better for her overall.


----------



## vickih (Jul 3, 2008)

GET OUT! Prescription Hills is not good? but that is what the vet gave me.
darn. and i just bought a huge big bag. 
unfortunately we don't have EVO or Wellness CORE in Canada.

is there another brand that I can use? 
I feel so bad now, knowing that the cat food is not good. i'm a bad mommy. : (

and it's the dry food.


----------



## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

You aren't a bad mommy! _How can you know what you don't know about?_ :wink Now that you do have a jumping-off point for researching healthier cat food ingredients ... you can move forward. Generally, grains are not needed by cats because they are obligate carnivores, which means their bodies are designed to process meat, not carbs. Also, look for meat-sources, not by-products or digest, in the first three-to-five ingredients. 

Check things out to see what the shops around you carry as product-lines, or look into purchasing online/catalog and shipping food to your home. I buy online and have it shipped to me. This gives me 4mo of canned food at a time, not too much for me to store.
h =^..^=


----------



## vickih (Jul 3, 2008)

ok i just found a place that sells Wellness Core. Going to go and pick some up.
I really hope it's the food and not her anal glands (yeesh)

thanks everyone!

Heidi.. which online website do you order your cat food?


----------



## paperbacknovel (Jun 9, 2010)

Vickih, just make sure you mix the new food in gradually, a little bit at a time mixed with the Hills. Otherwise it could give your cat diarrhea. 

I use the EVO core dry food and leave it out for them to snack whenever. I supplement that with canned food. They LOVE canned food, but I'm having trouble giving them a high-quality one. I tried Before Grain, Wellness, and Blue Buffalo canned food, and they won't really eat it. They LOVE the Hills Prescription and Iams canned food that the vet gave them when they were having stressed-based diarrhea, though! *facepalm* Cats don't drink a lot of water often like dogs do, so all-dry diet can make them dehydrated. I've heard that you can tell when your cat is dehydrated by pulling on the loose skin at the back of her neck, and if it bounces right back she's good, and if it doesn't...then she's dehydrated. 

Most vets recommend and give out Hills Prescription and Science Diet (same company). That is because Hills campaigns for their recommendations. The vets who promote it aren't sell-outs- usually they only took one or two classes on nutrition in vet school (and often vet scholarships and research programs/textbooks are SPONSORED by big pet food companies like Hills and Proctor & Gamble!!!), so they're not specialists in pet nutrition. 

Hills certainly isn't the worst thing you could be feeding your pet, but it does have those grains which cats do not need at ALL, and some cats are even allergic to certain grains! It also has lower-quality meat than what you find in the premium brands.

Here's the thing- I heard that P+G are buying out the company that makes EVO! They did the same thing to IAMS and Eukanuba, and changed the ingredients for the worse. I'm afraid they'll do the same to EVO. 

Hope that helps, and good luck!


----------



## vickih (Jul 3, 2008)

I feel so bad that I didn't investigate more about her food.
i REALLY hope it's her food and not her glands. But when she went to the vet 3 weeks ago, if "expelling" her glands was the problem wouldn't they have done that, since they did tests and kept her overnight?
sometimes I find that vets just charge us, but never get to the real problem.
My vet said that it was probably behavioural and that I should put her on medication, which I really do not want to do.
I want to fix this problem, not medicate her if it isn't necessary. 

I might try and find the WELLNESS Core instead of the INNOVA (just in case P&G do change the formula.)


----------



## paperbacknovel (Jun 9, 2010)

NOT your fault. You were doing your best by following the vet's recommendation!

I have no idea about the gland thing, though.


----------



## BrianD (Apr 26, 2010)

Do a Google search on "cats anal glands impacted". You'll learn way more than you want to about the topic. Like I said, we went through 6 years of sporadic box usage problems. We saw multiple vets and nobody had an answer. Finally one of the vet's techs gave us the idea. She expressed the glands and remarked on how much extra stuff was in there. Box usage got much more regular. Apparently this isn't common, but I now tell everyone about it in case it will help anyone. I'm guessing a lot of people would toss the cat before going through 6 years of box issues. Surprisingly, I am more stubborn than the cat.


----------



## foxfire (Jun 11, 2010)

Orijen is a really good grain free high protein dry food that comes from Canada!


----------



## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I order from PetFoodDirect and I *always* look for an online coupon to use when I order. Usually, the online coupon I find 'pays' for the shipping. I also order 1-2 weeks before I run out of cans so I have time to find a coupon and receive the shipment.

My cats were hard to transition to the EVO, but I mix in a bit of canned Friskies and they think they're getting the 'junk' because The Good Stuff (EVO) tastes like the Friskies with it mixed in.

When your kitty was at the vet, if she wasn't there specifically for elimination or stool issues, they may not have checked her anal glands. You'd have to ask. Some places check as a matter of course, others only do so if an elimination issue arrises and the client asks the vet to check that area (elimination) of the cat out.


----------



## hoofmaiden (Sep 28, 2009)

foxfire said:


> Orijen is a really good grain free high protein dry food that comes from Canada!


This cat seems to be constipated. In addition to all the other reasons why canned is better than dry, cats require moisture in their food for appropriate stool consistency.


----------



## vickih (Jul 3, 2008)

hmm don't think she is constipated. She goes to the bathroom everyday, without a problem. 
I just wish she could talk and just tell me what's wrong! hehe
it just pains me when I hear her cry.

I'm definitely going to go get her the INNOVA EVO cat food and gradually introduce it to her. I hope this helps!


----------



## Alpaca (Dec 21, 2009)

Where are you in Canada? I can readily obtain EVO 95% and Wellness Core at Global Pet Foods. I believe you can also find Wellness Core at PJ Pet Express.

Another grain free wet food is Petcurean Go! Natural.
http://www.petcurean.com/index.php?page_id=155

How big are her pee clumps in the litterbox? If they're the size of a golf ball or smaller, then she may be lacking water and hence chances are she's also constipated.


----------



## vickih (Jul 3, 2008)

I live in Montreal.
I found a place close to work, but holy cow, a 6.5lb was 37.99$.. the 15lb one was $68.
is that how much it costs elsewhere?

i mixed it with her old food, and she seemed to like it, the little piggy. : )

gonna try and find it online, perhaps it's cheaper.


----------



## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I spend $49.88 USD (_includes shipping costs_) every 4mo for twentyfour 13.2oz cans (_19.8 pounds_).


----------

