Pooping in the front hall.

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Recently one of our cats has taken to doing it's business on the carpet at the front door. We have two cats and two litter trays changed frequently in the utility. All doors open so they can wander freely around the house.

We are out at work during the day and obviously asleep at night so they seem to be using this as their time to piss us off make the mess.

As an attempt to stop it, we moved one of the litter trays to the spot and have left it there for a few weeks. I hate having a litter tray at the front door, and on carpet, and we are still getting the odd mess. It's really starting to smell in that area.

The only way we can block them from the hall is to shut them into one room. We could do this during the day but it seems so mean. We couldn't do it on a night as the dcs need to get through that room to the bathroom.

Any suggestions?

We have 2 cats and my experience is that the male one has become v fussy about litter trays .He has stopped using the 2 in the bathroom/WC ( maybe too smelly ) and was using our carpeted front room as his new litter tray .

I have had to put 2 litter trays in there ( !!!!can't believe it ,but what can you do ?) .

My suggestion to you is to get another litter tray for the utiiity room and place it away from the existing 2 - it may be that one of your cats doesn't like to share ?
You could also try a covered litter tray as the extra one ,mine definitely prefer to poo in a covered tray .

Is your utility room in a high traffic area ? Our bathroom is and I think that might be part of the problem for our male cat - he wants somewhere quiet .

As for the front door area do whatever you can to get rid of the smell ( good luck ! ) .Nothing with bleach or amonia . I had to pull my carpet back and spray both sides with special wee removing spray. I also had to cut out the underlay in the affected area and replace with puppy/cat training pads ( pound shop ) .

I stand the litter trays on puppy training pads - yes my flat is a real designer area/shrine to two cats .

Sigh .

And the sweet male cat is having an eye removed tomorrow .And will hate the collar .

Oh ,and I've had to up my game on keeping the trays scrupously clean .The male will do his business next to the tray if it has a single clump of wee in it !

Asda has litter trays for £1.50 .

My girl cat has recently started doing her business in random places. She was fine since we got her a year ago but a couple of weeks ago started getting these silly ideas. I've no idea how to tackle this but I'll start with buying a new tray and different kind of litter. She better take to it otherwise I'm going to have one heartbroken 8yo for having to re-home the cat.

Could she have a urinary infection ?

Thanks all. I don't think she has an infection, it's a very specific spot she is choosing to revisit.

The entrance is at the bottom of a flight of stairs so tonight I've brought the litter tray to the top of the stairs. I've scrubbed the carpet, pulled it up and scrubbed the boards underneath. I've put shake n vac down under the carpet and sprayed the whole lot on top with this sort of leave in carpet freshener.

I'm getting to my wits end with it tbh. I hate that the entrance to my home smells.

My cat did this too. I have 2 cats and they cannot share litter trays. My boy cat immediately pees in any and all trays. My only cure was to let them outside.
Not much help if you have house cats.

At this point I'd try anything! If they need to start going outside then I'm willing to try it.

I never intended my cats to be indoor cats, but I had to keep them inside until vaccination and neutering was done.
My girl cat cannot abide using a tray and always toilets outside out of preference. I'm lucky to live somewhere where my cats can go outside safely. All the time she was inside she avoided the tray.

Beranadette I do sympathise ,I was beside myself . There were 3 places that my boy cat was going in and I eventually put litter trays in those places .

He now only uses 2 of them and I think I could get it down to one - which would make a total of 3 trays .2 original trays in the bathroom and one in the living room .

Our 2 cats can go outside but it's not so easy for them now they are older .

Don't give up OP ,it might be a phase .But definitely have 3 trays. If it were me I'd put puppy training pads in the hall ,or stand something there to deter him ,and add a third tray in the utlity room .

If you haven't done it already, drench the spot in Simple solution, which contains enzymes to break down poo and urine residues and kill the smell. Once an area smells like the place to poo in, that's where they'll use, and their noses are so sensitive that they'll smell it even when you think you've cleaned it.

Oh I will try that! Is that the product name?

I was going to suggest an enzyme cleaner too.
They are usually safe for carpets, walls, woodwork, and metal surfaces.

I agree with MereDint, if there is even a tiny trace of poo or urine smell the cat will consider it a pooping/peeing spot. Normal cleaners won't eliminate the tiny traces.

Make sure whatever you buy has enzymes, not just an odour masking agent, and follow the directions for use.