# Cat Pooping on Floor



## sarahr627 (Mar 15, 2010)

I have a 6 year old male cat who has been pooping outside his litter box for the past 6 months. A few months prior to it starting we had taken in a foster cat until it found a permanent home. We figured that was the cause as the new cat was a kitten and liked to pick on my male cat. My male cat has always been "sensitive" in that he loses hair if he feels neglected and would pee if you left him at home alone for more than 4 days. We have one other female cat that he has grown up with and loves. Since we have two cats, we have two litterboxes and even had a third one while fostering the kitten. It has been 6 weeks since the foster cat has been gone and my male cat is STILL pooping on the floor. It's not by his litterbox even, but in the same general area in our basement where our living area is. Thankfully he keeps it to this area, but the smell is terrible when I come home from work. He doesn't pee on the floor, just poops. We have bought several heavy duty cleaners, steamed the carpets, sprinkled things that are generally offensive to cats...nothing detours him. I know he is less stressed as all his hair has grown back. He gets lots of attention, goes out to play every evening, and his litter has been the same brand since he was little. We clean the litterboxes quite a bit too. I can't figure out what his deal is. I've never had a hard time breaking a cat of behaviors like this. Any thoughts? The vet didn't offer up much advice and said overall he is healthy.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Welcome to Cat Forum and I hope we can help.

First, I would like to ask if your litterboxes are open trays or covered with a hood. 
Next, I would like to ask if the area he poops at in the basement is hidden or out in the open.

It sounds like the kitten was 'ambushing' him when he was in the litterbox and now he doesn't want to be anywhere he can be 'trapped' when doing his business. 

Does he bury his solid waste when he *does* use the litterbox? If so, you may want to try placing a littertray _in the exact spot_ he is pooping at, in the hope he will use the tray. If he will cover his poop, it should neutralize the odors and not stink so terribly. When he has begun using the litter again, you can slowly move the litterbox to a hidden area and/or eventually redirect him to the original litterbox area. 
Two products I would like to recommend are Composure Liquid and Rescue Remedy. Both will help relax and calm him, giving him confidence and help to relieve any residual stress since he seems so high-strung. As a final possible solution, can you deny him access to the basement unless supervised?
Best of luck,
heidi =^..^=


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## RachandNito (Nov 21, 2008)

I'm going to watch this thread. My year old female cat started pooping right next to the litter box several months ago. I feel like I've tried _everything_ and so far nothing has convinced her to start using the box again. Before he first "accident" she had a perfect litter box using record.

One thing you can try is offering another box or two, perhaps in some hidden away location. You should try "Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract Litter" or "Feline Pine" or some other kind of substrate. Who knows? It might get him back to being interested in the box again.

The way I see it, is that he's now "learned" or taught himself that the box is for peeing and the floor for pooping. Sort of 'forgotten' how to use the box correctly. It can be difficult to change this. At least with inappropriate peeing, you know it's probably a UTI or something!


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

When our Reilly began progressively losing control of his back legs he became unable to stand, squat and keep his balance in the shifting litter and I had to give him a shallow tray outside the large LitterChest, then the tray with no litter only a towel, then a towel on top of a floor protector mat.


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## sarahr627 (Mar 15, 2010)

We have only open trays. We tried the closed trays for a while, but my female cat actually hated them so we just opened them both. Recently we moved a litter box over in the area my male cat has been pooping, but he just poops in an area near it, not in it. He has a 5 foot area he goes in and if we put the litter box in one spot, he just finds another to poop in. When he pees he does cover it.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Oh! That must be maddening! :evil: I'm sorry, I'm just flat-out of ideas. He seems to have got into a habit and we'll need to find some way to help him change that habit.

Can you deny him access to the basement?
Can he be confined unless he has supervision?
Is he still a nervous or jumpy kitty? ...if so, perhaps the Composure Liquid or Rescue Remedy would help. Other than that, I really have no ideas. I'm stumped!


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## Jeckel (Aug 11, 2009)

Tavish did this exact same thing - he is a fairly nervous cat as well. He'd pee in the box just fine, but there'd be little Tavish poops left all around the cat's room. He was healthy, he seemed happy, but he just would not go in the box. It did eventually stop... but why, I don't know. I'm not sure what caused him to go, "Hey, no more pooping on the floor!" but he did.

What we did:

1) Three litter boxes for two cats. We now have it down to two, but the third box insured he pretty much always had a clean place to go.
2) Boxes cleaned at least once a day
3) MASSIVE HAPPY PRAISE when he did use the box. Don't go pet him or anything (because that would be kind of weird for the both of you) but just tell him he is a very good boy and give him treats when he is done.
4) We gave him options when it came to litter. One box would be the rocks, the other two would be Feline Pine.
5) Time
6) We also had some sort of like... powder that you sprinkle on things and it makes it unappealing to them. It was orange, I believe... I'll try and find out what the name is.

My guess is they are just nervous, and it takes them a while to (months, even) to relax again.


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