We adopted a cat, Scout, about a month ago and she's wonderful. The problem is that she seems to hold her bowel movements as long as possible (several days at a time). She urinates regularly. We're unclear as to whether this is intentional on her part or whether she is simply perpetually constipated. She's been to the vet several times for other issues. She had several other issues (ear mites, lungworms) which have finally been taken care of, but this one remains. She eats and drinks normally and more often than not uses the litterbox when she finally does give in, but "more often than not" isn't quite good enough when it comes to going to the bathroom in the right place. We've tried moving the litterbox, putting her in an enclosed room for a while, rewarding her when she finally does go (only been witnessed once) as well as many other things. Laxatives were prescribed at one point, but that usually just means that we will have a messy BM somewhere other than the litter box rather than hard pellet-ized versions. It is my opinion that something bad happened to her back before we had her and she has some very strong negative associations with bowel movements. We're still hopeful that this can be overcome, are we naïve? Any possible solutions?

Phil

Try to go to the vet and find some kind of medicine that will help her

Cats are very intriguing creatures. She may have had a less than ideal life. There very well could be a negative association with pooping. It has only been a month though and she may still come around. What do you feed her? I have 2 cats, one is 3 and the other is 13. My 13 year old, Snoops, had a lot of difficulties for a while with bloody stools. Turns out, his digestive track became very sensitive in his old age. Not to mention, he's longhaired and constantly hacked up hairballs. After some trial and error, we found a very bland food that he does great on. It's purina naturals. Both of my cats eat it now and I haven't had any more problems with bloody poop and he'll only dispel a hairball very seldom. A lot of cat food is loaded with artificial flavoring and coloring and can irritate some kitties. If you're not already, I'd try a much more natural cat food, something bland that isn't chock full of coloring. Science Diet W/D is what my vet put him on at first, but that gets expensive, and he does very well on the purina.