Cat suddenly won't poo in litter tray

[mumof1or2]

Our cat has just turned one and until about a month ago she did her business mainly outside, but would use the litter tray if she needed to go whilst locked inside. About a month ago she started weeing in the bathroom, and now she will wee in the litter tray but won't poo in it, and will poo on the floor next to her litter tray instead. I've watched her walk into the litter tray, wee in it, then step out and poo on the floor.

Any ideas as to why this might be?

I did a google search a couple of weeks ago and some suggestions were that she might be stressed, or there might be a smell in the tray that isn't being removed when we change the litter. We've bought some ant-stress cat plug ins, bought a second litter tray and made sure both are really clean all the time. But still, she poos next to them.

Has she been to the vet? Going next to the litter tray instead of in it can be a sign of pain.

Are you cleaning the poos up with a proper scent remover?

My cat started doing the same and I think it's because they wanted a different place to go than where they'd just done a pee. I got a second tray and they now go between them both.

My cat has had diarrhoea and started doing the same. It is now improving but he is still doing it.

Yes they weren't that helpful. Just said it was nothing to worry about but they're not cleaning poo up everyday 🤣

It's on a tiled floor (thank goodness!) so we're wiping the whole area with anti bacterial wipes each time. Is it important to get rid of the smell then?

Yeah, an anti-bac wipe won't do it. You need proper pet enzyme cleaner designed to break down the smell properly.

Even if you can't smell it, your cat can. Their sense of smell is 14x better than ours!

My Dcat prefers 2 trays also

You need to be cleaning with pet enzyme cleaner. They are attracted to the anti-bac smell and it encourages the unwanted behaviour.

If you only have 1 tray then 2 is better so the cat can have areas for wee and poo.

Agree 2 litter trays might be the answer. Also, my DCat went through a weird phase of refusing to poo in the litter tray when he had to stay in after an op, we figured out it was because he actually didn’t like the cat litter because he couldn’t dig in it! Ended up putting soil in a separate litter tray and problem solved, awkward sod 😂