16yo cat pooing in house

[ilovemilton]

My 16yo cat, who has always gone outside, has started to poo in the house. Is fit and healthy and always been well house mannered.

Anyone know any tricks that can get rid of this habit, or is it something hiding that's worthy of a vet trip?

Is he still going outside (if not to toilet)?

If no then get him a tray and see if he will use it.

If yes then I’d take him to the vets.
Cats are very clean animals and if they do this there’s usually a reason for it.

Ah my 17 year old (perfectly behaved) lovely cat started to do this. She seemed to be quite worried about it.
We took her to the vet, as she'd been toileting outside for 16.5 yrs prior to this and they picked up on the early stages of kidney failure and diabetes which they thought was related to this. We wondered if she might have also had slight dementia! Poor love.

See if it gets any better in the next few days but if not get him/her looked at by a vet.

Ahhh I hope it's not the start of something 

She always preferred the house, only going in the garden when she needed to so it's hard to say if those behaviours have changed.

I'll get her to the vets!

Time for a litter tray. A sixteen year old cat is quite old, they do change. I have three cats and two of them, a mother and daughter, are nearly eighteen and seventeen. They always went out - still do go out occasionally if the weather is good tho' don't go far - now they sleep a lot and load around the house. One of them gets a bit confused, makes dreadful sounds in the hall and odd places as if she can't get her bearings. However they are quite well physically.

They've been doing 'toilet' indoors for quite a while now but I stopped using cat litter, I use puppy training pads and they just go on the pads. I put newspaper and a black bin liner underneath in case there are spillages over the edge and they are easy to pick up and deal with - any solids I empty into toilet, the pads are just folded up and put in plastic bags. Not as messy at litter.

I did wonder at first if they would take to the pads as cats quite like scratching up litter but they are fine, they do scratch the pads sometimes but they're used to them now.

This business is all a lot easier if you have a room somewhere that you can designate to the cat's lavatory, mine have a place in both out downstairs rooms but not ideal. If I had a conservatory I'd use that but I tell myself it won't be forever and they have been such good cats. Plus I'm home now so can change the pads whenever they are used.

My oldest cat, mentioned above, had a stroke a while back and recovered well but it left her deaf. Apart from her deafness she is in perfect health and looks no difference to when we had her as a pregnant kitten.

Yes you need a tray. This comes up all the time. When cats age many of them simply don't to want to toilet outside anymore and that's probably all there is to it.

My younger boy (about 14) does this when I have annoyed him. It's how I know I've upset him!