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The litter tray

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Cat pooping everywhere in house - please help

7 replies

Shortbreadselection · 09/02/2022 17:10

We have a much loved 10 year old female cat.
She has 24 hour access to the garden via a cat flap so we haven't needed a litter tray since she was very young.
She has started pooping in the house - not every day but increasingly often.
I think she may have been frightened by a fox that passes through our garden in the early mornings.
We have got her 2 litter trays with different types of litter in each.
She will wee in them but not poop.
She had some preferred places to poop on the floor but now we have tried to restrict her access to those rooms she is pooping randomly around the house and it's gross.
We are cleaning the carpet each time with a carpet cleaner using shampoo for animal odours.
The vet has suggested putting soil in the tray so I've just done that.
I don't think she is ill but will take her to the vets next week. I think it's a behavioural issue.
We plan to keep her in the kitchen for now but with another cat and a dog it's going to be difficult.
Any advice please?

OP posts:
sillysmiles · 09/02/2022 17:15

Not really because ime cat behaviour is mental and impossible to work out! But definitely vet, sooner rather than later.

If you can contain her to the kitchen overnight, can you put down old sheets or newspaper or something to minimise the clean up?

If she has any poop spots in the kitchen maybe try a new litter tray in that spot - if use a cardboard box rather than buying a new tray until you can see if you can resolve the issue. Some of the veg boxes in lidl are great for this!

Susu49 · 09/02/2022 17:22

I did hear that if a man wees around the garden boundary, their male scent deters foxes. Might be an idea?

Agree that it sounds like she's been disturbed by something outside the house. I'd consider a 3rd litter tray for the time being, some puppy pads down where she likes to go too.

Also perhaps some kitten style toilet training. When you see her scratching about preparing to go, pick her up and put her in the litter tray.

Can you still buy orange sprays to deter her? Some people recommend orange peel but every cat I've had would have just ignored it.

Go out with her and spend time with her in the garden too, can help them feel safer.

fairylightsandwaxmelts · 09/02/2022 22:05

Practically speaking, I would be putting litter trays in all the areas she's pooped (if you can't block access to them), and contain her to a room with hard floors if possible so any accidents are easy to clean up. She also needs to see a vet to rule out any physical issues like pain.

Longer term I would consider plug-ins like Feliway to help ease any stress she's feeling and I would also look at calming supplements as well to see if that helps her relax in the house.

What's her relationship like with your other cat and your dog?

sillysmiles · 10/02/2022 09:47

May not be similar but when we adopted a second cat our resident cat got very stressed and her anal glands needed to be cleared by the vet. Vet said it was unusual in cats but not something she would have resolved on her own.

LaBellina · 10/02/2022 09:51

We had a problem with our cat constantly pooping by the front door (we have an easy to wipe tile flooring there, can’t imagine how literally shit it is if you have to remove it from carpet all the time) and we figured out it was mainly a behavioral issue. She didn’t like the litter that we used so we changed that and clean the litter tray more often so she stopped doing this. What IMO also helped was putting food near the place where she normally pooped so she started associating this place with food. It might be an idea if your cat poops at the same spots around the house.

Shortbreadselection · 10/02/2022 17:50

Thanks for all the replies. I will give them all a go (not sure about DH urinating around the perimeter of the garden 😂).

The cats are sisters snd they live peacefully together. The dog is 6 years old and the cat is the boss of her.

She's made a deposit in the garden earlier so she can when she wants to!

OP posts:
HerbyWitch · Yesterday 21:24

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