Cat dirty protest - help!

[MrsMcJnr]

I am having an issue and wondered if anyone can shed any light. One of my 3, and I think I know which 1, is pooing in our dining room! Luckily we have wooden floors but not the point really! It started 2 weeks ago and has happened on 4 separate occasions. It seems to happen at night. The first time, we were away over night and as the older cat gets fed separately in the dining room with the door closed, I assumed that the neighbour had left her in there and she got desperate. The neighbours feed them a lot and they like them and are unfaved by it. Then, on two more occasions, I blasted DH as said he clearly wasn?t cleaning out the litter often enough and it was a dirty protest but as it has happened again today with new litter, I am now at a loss. We have disinfected the trouble spot thoroughly each time so I don?t know what else we can do, any ideas? I am wondering if another cat has been in the garden and mine is protesting to that or whether it?s the baby she senses (I'm 17 weeks)? Might get one of those plug in calmers. Should have said, my cats are house cats so don?t go out.

Thanks for any help or insight!

ave you changed the litter at all ? Our cat (we've not had her for long) started pooing outside her tray when we swapped the type of litter we were using

You could try having more than one litter tray in different locations around the house so that they are not "competing" for the same one. Sometimes the group dynamic changes in a multi-cat house, and one becomes more dominant, one more timid, etc. The dominant cats' exceta scent is recognised as such, ie "keep off", so the timid one is scared off and soils elsewhere. As they don't have outdoors to escape to, more toilet opportunities are important, as is a private location for the trays, where the other cats aren't watching! When in mid-poo they are unable to defend themselves from attack! To prevent re-soiling of the floor, clean with biological washing solution, don't use ordinary cleaner which may contain ammonia, this will only encourage them to soil there, ammonia being produced in excreta. A Feliway is a good idea. Hope this works for you.

Whizzz ? thanks for posting nope, no change in the litter (suffered that before when we tried to change from wood to clay)

KITTENSOCKS ? thanks we have 3 litter trays because I had read the point you make about dominance. The cats have all been together for 2 ½ years now and I?ve noticed that they do all use the trays ? its so odd that this has just started. DH is buying a refill for our felliway on the way home to see if that helps thanks for the tip on the ammonia.

MrsMcJnr - I know how annoying this is and my cat is close to death if you ask my DH!

She went thru a phase of crapping in the bath or corner of the bathroom on the carpet . She had a litter tray, never used it, would often stay outside sometimes over night, but then come in and wee or crap in the same spot.
We had new carpet and all was good for a while until she recently started it again.

She's now locked out the house the whole time - DH has totally lost it with her!

oh i forgot to add that i bought every type of cleaner and stuff -but to no avail..

I've also just realised that this doesnt help you but i spose it lets you know that it happens to me too!

Don't use disinfectant. The smell of some disinfectants is very amonia-like, which confuses cats - it smells like urine to them, and prompts them to use the area as a toilet again.

Try using other cleaners and see if that makes a difference.