Considering re-homing our 5 month old kitten - [sad]

[Hangingbellyofbabylon]

Rosie is nearly 5 months and is a sweet little loving kitten, excellent with the children. One huge problem - she just won't poo in the litter tray or outside. She has free access to the cat flap day and night and often wees outside. She has a litter tray indoors which she uses for wees. But every morning we come downstairs to find she has pooed somewhere random - behind doors, next to the litter tray, under the table. We use a proper enzymic cleaner which is meant to detract her from doing it again but it doesn't work. This morning there was no poo in the kitchen and we were really pleased, however about 5 mins ago the smell came and the dd's found several piles of poo on the front door mat . The back door has been wide open all morning so no excuse at all.

We have sadly reached the point where we really can't cope with this anymore. I love little Rosie and feel distraught at the thought of re-homing her but don't what else to do. . We're seeing the vet this weekend to see if he has any ideas, if not then it's probably cat's protection league time.

Have you tried changing to a different kind of litter? Perhaps the one you use doesn't feel right to her.

my sympathies. No cats here but a dog with the same problem. If someone had told me that after 9 years of trying everything she would still be doing it, I would have given up on her at the very beginning. I'm a cleaning slave who has been living in poo alert for almost 9 years. It is really draining, time consuming and expensive.

Before you take the sad step of rehoming, PLEASE try a bag of this cat litter.

It is a little more expensive than regular stuff, but worth its weight in gold I was at the absolute end of my tether with a similar story - about to rehome, in floods of tears and someone suggested this litter to me. I tried it as a last resort, never believing it would work but it really, really does do what it says on the packet - it contains some additive that cats love and it attracts them back to the tray. My two were flocking round the bag before I even filled their trays with it for the first time and I haven't had one accident since.

Once the cat is retrained, you can gradually mix cheaper litter back in.

Good luck, and please let me know how you get on - I've recommended this litter on here a number of times and I'd like to know it has worked

The other potential cause is stress - leaving uncovered faeces about can be an extreme form of scent marking. Are there other cats around that may feel threatening ? Try getting a Feliway diffuser, as that calms cats down - also available from Vet UK who sell the litter.

Try putting a shovelful of fresh earth in her litter tray.

Does she wee in the litter tray at some point in the night? We found with our kitten that she would only use the litter once - after that she refused to use it and poo-ed on the floor. Didn't like soiled litter on her paws and I can't say I blame her. Could you try using several small trays instead of one.

Thanks, I'm going to try the litter, got to be worth it. Shame you can only seem to get it on-line. We're using the wood based pellets at the moment, she was using this at home and also it wasn't a problem for the first month or two, just over-night she stopped pooing in the tray and started going elsewhere. We do have another cat, a year old boy but they are really good friends and often sleep cuddled together, if anything she seems to dominate him a bit and he tends to be out all night anyway.

Cleanliness of littler tray doesn't seem to make any difference to her, she just for some reason thinks it's only for wees and not poos. I do worry it must be a stress reaction as it is weird that she leaves poos so publically with no attempt to cover them up. Sometimes we scoop her poo and put it in the patch she goes in outside and she then frantically tries to cover the poo up as you'd expect.