Why is my adult cat pooping outside of her litterbox?
Abby is a nine year old cat, and she is a tabby. We have another cat, so we keep two litterboxes, but the other cat does not poop outside his litter Box. Only Abby. At first we thought it was because it wasn’t clean and their wasn’t enough litter, so we dumped both of the boxes out, cleaned and refilled them with clean litter about 3 to 4 inches full. We clean it twice a week as well, but she keeps doing it. We also tried putting tin foil in front of the litterbox and it worked for a while, but then she pooped infront of the foil. She has never done this before, just in the past few weeks. Please help!
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9 Answers
Is she a ‘percher’? That is, is she perching on the edge of the litterbox so the poo goes on the floor right next to it?
I haven’t actually seen her poop in front of it, but every time i come home there is poop right infront of her litter box.
Perhaps it is some type of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Maybe a new litterbox?
If she’s perching on the edge, a covered litterbox, or one w/a snap on rim, may solve the problem. It worked for me. :-)
I am not a vet…
I always heard that this could be a urinary tract infection.
“If your cat has stopped using its litter box and urinates outside of it, you can suspect presence of UTI.”
My cat was going outside of her box for a while. I think it was a behavioural thing. She kept leaving my then s/o presents in his shoes. She stopped after the other cat left us. i know there are 800 numbers you can call, I’d suggest you try that next. I think there’s one on the Purina Cat Chow bag. I’m not sure, I feed my cat Science Diet. If it is a behaviour, you have to track down what’s bothering her and address it.
Sometimes it is behavioral, often, it has to do with health. I know a lot of cats that urinate or defecate outside their boxes can have urinary tract infections or something to that degree. Is she eating and drinking normally? Whether it’s behavioal or health related, always a good idea to see the vet :)
She is sending you a signal that something is wrong. The two basic areas are physical health and behavioral/emotional.
The first step is a complete physical exam by a vet. After physical causes are ruled out, you can start trying to figure put what is bothering her emotionally.
It’s silly to try it the other way around. Start with the physical first.
i think it’s either behavioral or some sort of an infection… my little girl has always been a little bratty when it comes to using the litter box. i finally discovered that she would use it if there was newspaper (so strange but it worked) ... then she stopped pooping on the paper and would go on the floor near by. i recently moved her to a new place and she started using the litter box (shared with her brother, with actual litter) and on occasion (the past few days especially) she’s been pooping outside the box. if it was an infection, i think your cat would be peeing outside the box. this is all just from experience so i would probably contact a vet
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