Please please please we need your advice! We have been cat owners for 20+ years and have never had to deal with anything like this.
Cat 1, age 5, neutered, had from a kitten, litter trained when he came to us, has always used litter tray without issue. Highly strung - perhaps worth mentioning that he was the kitten of a farm cat and he is prone to being a little jumpy and needy.
Cat 2, age 7 months, as yet uneutered but booked in next week, also litter trained when he arrived. He currently is a house cat since he's not had his op yet.
In the last 2 months or so, both cats refuse to use the litter tray for poos, preferring instead to go on the floor the in the utility room or failing that, on the floor of the downstairs loo (just off the utility room) or the floor of the family bathroom upstairs. All these places have Karndean so can be cleaned easily enough but it's obviously unsanitary. Their trays are in the utility room which is a low traffic area of the house and can be accessed with ease.
There are two litter trays which they were both happy to use until recently. Older cat also known to wee on bath mat in family bathroom - this in fact happed today.
Litter trays are cleaned immediately after use (both DH and I working from home) but this doesn't seem to help.
We have tried changing the type of litter, moving the boxes, using liners, pretty much everything we can think of but it's making no difference and is beginning to get everyone down with the constant worry of where we will find a surprise next.
We did briefly discuss with the vet but this wasn't helpful as she just asked us to try all the things we've already done.
It seems like a pattern of behaviour has appeared and I'm worried we can't reverse it.
If you've got this far, then bless you but we are at our wits end!