[jazzyjene]

We have 4 cats! Only one of them, either goes Poop in the Litter Box and does not cover it up or drops the Poop on the floor just next to the Litter Box. It is a neutered 3 yr. old male. Any suggestions of how to correct this problem?

[JoeCanada76]

Did this problem just occur. If it just started and you never had the problem before. Maybe there is something medical going on. For example, infection. How many cat litter boxes do you have? Maybe you need more. Or it could be that he thinks the others will take care of the mess. So many possibilities. Hard to tell with so many questions.

[fredg]

HI,
I suggest you buy another litter box for that particular cat, and see how it goes. Place it some feet away from the first one.
Best of luck.

[Stormy69]

I agree with the other answers. I had the same problem, too many cats not enough litter boxes.
Cats are by nature very clean and will pretty much let you know it's time to change the box( usually by dumping on your favorite pair of shoes!)

With mine, if one cat did his business in the wrong place, the others were sure to follow. Make sure you clean up any traces of " left overs" both solid and liquid, with an enzyme cleaner especially designed for cat mess.
A black light will show any urine left behind.
Also it helps to clean your boxes thoroughly once a week with bleach and hot water, just make sure you rinse WELL! Good luck

[jazzyjene]

I have 5 litters boxes & 4 cats. My daughter had the cat since he was a kitten. She got him when she was away at school. Since then, she moved back home. This cat never covered up it's stools. But now it's worse because most times it totally misses the litter box. He has had problems with very foul smelling bowels & diarrhea. The Vet put him on antibiotics twice. His bowels are still soft & smell bad but not as bad as it was. Do you think the problems with his bowels have anything to do with his behavior?

[Stormy69]

Absolutely. Since you seem to have more than enough boxes, and the cat has had medical issues, I would say this is the culprit. I would consult the vet again.
Is he eating okay? Drinking?

[jazzyjene]

He eats OK, all right! He is a "Fat Cat"! He loves to eat & drinks OK too. Thanks to all of you for your helpful advice!

[Krs]

My mums cat does the same!
Very annoying. She is now 5 yrs old and for the last 4.5 years she poops outside the litter. Mum tried all sorts, sprays and even pepper on the floor but it just don't work!!
So we are all patient with little miss fluffy and have to pick up her poop from the floor!
While my 2 are very good... always in the cat litter!

[Krs]

RickJ, its still happening!
Im subscribed to some threads where I place my post and they are not appearing on my profile

[Myth]

At one point my grandmother had rentals and allowed pets even though most places wouldn't because of cases like this... She always used white vinigar to kill the smell... I use it now when we were potty training our cats or if one is sick and doesn't make it. It kills the smell all the way down to the foundation, through carpet and everything. Just mix half and half vinigar and water and soak the floor. It may be an old wife's tail but it really works. I hate having our house smell like animals so anytime I even get a wiff of it I spray around the cat box. It also makes it so that they can't smell it again either. I have done it it any new places that I've moved just in case there were animals there before hand. Just don't get it on your pet cause the ph will make them a little ill if it's not mixed right. I have also used it on plants to clean their leaves and I had one tree grow 7 ft in a year because of it... lol

[jazzyjene]

I have tried vinegar on the carpet before & it does seem to work well. I do have an area of a light colored carpet that I can not get the yellow urine stain out of. Do you have any suggestions for that?
It is interesting that you use vinegar for plants. I didn't know one had to clean the leaves of plants. What kind of plants & trees are you talking about, indoor ones?

[Myth]

Actually it was an avicado tree... and I did it by mistake one day, I eventually had to trim 3ft off the top of it to get the root system well supported. Plus it kept some of the bug away.

For carpet stains I have used a little known product called awsome for years. I get it from the dollar store and it works better then any high priced stuff I have tried... you can even use it in the laundry, bathroom, carpets, car... Just not on glass as it will actually pit it. Put it this way, my hubby's old room mate used black spray paint on the walls of his room... our soon to be nusery... and it sat on the carpet for over a year in the heat and cold in southern Tennessee, I came in with a bottle of it and a scrub brush and with a bit of elbow grease I got most of it up... works in carpet cleaner too... lol.. which is next step after we finally got it painted. Hope you can find some in your area.

[helpmepleze]

Hi! We have the same problem and are at our wits end. We have 2 male cats. They are around 6 yrs old. Around the last 3 ys one of them has been pooping outside the box. We have scrubbed the area, we have 2 boxes, we even have the self cleaning box (think he was offened by the other cats poop), we clean the box 2 times a day. Now he has moved on to pooping in another corner of the basement. Then one day he just pooped on the main level of our house floor. We have taken him to the vet and they can't find anything wrong. He suggested putting him in a room with the box etc. We did that and he did not poop on the floor. Help! We can't keep living like this... we have small kids!

[Krs]

I have tried everything.
So I gave up and I now pick up after her royal highness ;)

[Smee]

I have a cat that just will not tolerate other cats, when another cat uses her box she will not use it she actually left her previous owner and would not go back because his girlfriend moved in with a cat of her own. Some don't seem to mind other cats or sharing litter but this one sure won't go in a shared box she will then use the floor!

[kittydilemma]

I know the solution to the problem and can not wait to share.

My cat is now around 10-11 years old, and he has been pooping outside of the box for the past 4 years since we moved into this new house. He would poop in areas that we don't use much, and would poop on a rug if there is one. I had him since he was 7 weeks old - he was very well trained and never did that before.

We tried everything: we put 3 litterboxes in the area he pooped; put his food station on the rug that he liked to poop on (they say cats don't poop where they eat - but that only made him poop in another location); cleaned the litterboxes inside out with soap and water and filled it with brand new litter; purchased new litterboxes and filled them with fresh litter; scooped every time he used the litterbox; yelled at him in front of his poop (on the rug) and locked him in the bathroom where the litterboxes were for a while (hoping for association); took stool samples to the vet to see if there were worms (which turns out there's none); changed the litter to another brand; got the Cat Pheromone collar thing hoping to reduce his "stress"... NONE of them worked.

I placed a cheap $1 rug with the 3 litterboxes. He switched to pooping on that rug instead of my runner (where his food station is). So this means the litterboxes' location is OK. This solved the poop-on-runner/"low-traffic" places issue, but this doesn't solve the stinking issue.

For the past years, we've been using litterboxes with lids, thinking it gives him more privacy. And of course, we humans thought expensive things are always better. So this time I decided to get a small, cheap litter pan with no lid to it. I placed the pan on top of the $1 rug and fill it with a bit of litter - and he uses it to poop! I changed all the other boxes one by one to the lid-less pans. Since then, he NEVER poops outside anymore. Never.

Cats grow bigger when they are older. Maybe in their minds they think their heads may touch the top of the lid when they stood in the box to poop. I read many many forums on this issue, and none of them talked about switching your box to a lid-less one. So try it and see if it works. If this doesn't work, the problem is probably not behavioral, so make sure you take him to the vet. Good luck!

[Ren6]

Sometimes, my oldest kitty drops one right outside the litter box. She is a heavy groomer with fairly long hair- this causes her stools to occasionally be difficult to void. Does your cat have long hair? Long " pantaloons"? I trim my cat's hair in her "pants" area, and try to give her cat "lube" on a daily basis to lessen the problem.

[shazamataz]

Please check the dates on posts people, this is the third one today in the pets section that is old...

When you post on an old thread it bumps it up to the top of the list, making people think there is a new question.

[Ren6]

Auuugghhhh!! I hate that!

[shazamataz]

Auuugghhhh!!!!! I hate that!

Lol, no worries Ren I wasn't referring to you ;)... I usually just reply to posts near the top too without checking the date, that's why it is so annoying!