My cat poops beside the litter box

[shellbell516]

Here lately our fat cat Saboo keep pooping beside the litter box. Even if the litter box has been freely cleaned. Why would he be doing this?

He also like to scoot his rear on the carpet, which we always get on him about it. I think he only does this because he's too fat to reach his bottom.

here's my little criminal:
http://images.snapfish.com/3444948%3B23232%7Ffp46%3Dot%3E2329%3D679%3D963%3DX ROQDF%3E2323972%3C66335ot1lsi

[tqsmom]

Have you switched litter recently? We have two cats and there are certain brands of litter they cannot stand and will not use.

You might want to call your vet about the other problem.. They may be able to help without going in for a visit. Good luck!

[ronspumpkin]

I have heard that if a cat associates a litter box with a painful or traumatic experience they will not use the box. He may have had a painful BM and thinks that the place caused the pain. I would try getting a second box and place is away from the first. I have 2 cats and 2 boxes. They generally use one for pee and the other for bm. Hope he's ok.

[xine]

That is one *gorgeous* cat. And lots of him to go around!

We went through this problem for months with one of our cats, and it took a while to figure it out. Try the following steps:

*Change out the litter more frequently
When you mentioned freely cleaned, do you mean that it was recently scooped or recently changed? Apparently even scoopable litters hold on to odors, so even if you scoop the box regularly, you should consider changing out all the litter at least once a week and cleaning the litterbox thoroughly with some PineSol or Nature's Miracle each time you do.

*Replace the litterbox itself
The plastic in the litterbox holds on to odors too, regardless of how often you clean it. Also, because the cats probably scratch up the sides and bottoms when they use it, the odors can accumulate in these scratched-up areas. So it might be time to buy your sweetie another litterbox.

*Use nested litterboxes
Get a super huge litterbox, storage container, or bottom half of a big cat carrier and line the bottom with newspaper or rubberized shelf liner. Then place the smaller litterbox with litter inside. The hope here is that if your cat goes just outside the litterbox, maybe he'll go in the newspaper-lined area which will make cleanup easier. It's also not a bad idea in general since it keeps the random litter scattering somewhat under control.

*Consider switching litters
This is a really tricky one, because some cats just *hate* a change in litter. But if your current one isn't geting a good response from your cat, consider getting a different scent (or none at all) or a different texture. You'll want to transition it slowly - mixing a little in with the current litter, then go half-and-half, three-quarters, then fully switch. This should be a last resort, though, since it could potentially worsen things.

I also found the pamphlet by Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat litters to be pretty helpful. He has all of these suggestions, and probably some others that might help: Dr. Elsey (http://www.preciouscat.com/WebPages/litterBoxSolutions.html)

[evagatesgreen2]

My one cat will go outside the litter as well. Even if it is freshly scooped out. She is very persnickety about it.

For the rear end dragging I have seen cats and dogs do that. I hope it isn't a sign of worms, or it could be something as simple as an itchy butt. :o

[Soulmate]

My cat at the age of 1 (now 12) suddenly stopped using the litterbox and started only pooping on bathroom carpets (regular carpets if no bathroom one was available). I tried EVERYTHING including kitty prozac to solve the problem. Then one day I gave up and gave in. I went out and bought a bathroom carpet and stuck it in a new litter box. She now has two. One regular one for peeing and a "carpet box" for pooping. Its worked for 9-10 years now. Talk about the cat training the owner.

ETA: butt scooting could be a sign of their anal glands needing expressing (a vet should do it if you don't know how). If left unexpressed it could cause a pretty nasty absess and be very painful.

[shellbell516]

thanks for all the suggestions.

I'm thinking maybe we'll start with a new litter box itself. It's been awhile (years) using the same one. maybe we can find a really big one too. I hadn't thought about the lid absorbing odors.

they've (we have 2 cats) been using the same litter for years now and this is the first time with the pooping problems.

We normally scoop every day and change out the entire litter once/week.

[Little Angel '77]

we had the same problem. You need more than one litter box per cat. If you have 2 cats you need three boxes... etc. IF you changed litter recently, he might be protesting, and you need to miz in the old litter with the new litter.

[sunchaser26]

That is strange.... My cat just started doing that too. We normally clean every morning and it seemed to be just when we had people come to the house. We have a new home and have been having some issues with plumbing and having them fix stuff that was damaged during construction that was on our list before closing.

Since then we have move the litterbox from the bedroom that it was in upstairs to the laundry room down stairs and haven't had any problems like that since.

Glad to know that this is no an uncommon occurance though. Might be time to get a new litterbox though...

[shellbell516]

I bought a new litter box last night and DH is going to change it out today. Hopefully this will work. We haven't had any accidents in a couple of days though.

[Carrie K]

You might try putting your kitty on a diet - as I told my cat, Food is Love, but she developed diabetes, and now she's on two shots of insulin a day. It's actually a lot easier than pills and other than tethering me to the house, no big deal, but it's not something I ever expected my cat to get.

Hmph. I'd post a picture, but I can't figure out how to do it on this site.