Litter box problems....please help!

[sandlot76]

I am looking for some advice where my cat is concerned. He is 4 years old and a little over weight. Over 2 and a half years ago, our cat decided to start pooping outside of his litterbox. Ever since we moved to our house over a year ago, he has decided to poop inside (yea!) and outside his box. Since we moved into the house, his pooping outside of the box has gotten more frequent. We'll find his messes on a daily basis now, whereas before it was only once a week. He uses the litter box to pee in and occasionally poop in, but he seems to poop more outside of it then inside of it. He'll poop on the living room carpet, in the dining room, and his newest place is under the bed (UGH!). We have tried to make him happy. We've tried several different kinds of foods over the several years, seperated his food and his water (so that they are not even close to each other anymore), we give him fresh water as much as possible, and even let him drink out of the tub faucet. We've sprayed the floors, cleaned the floors, and tried just about everything. We've taken him to the vet who suggested getting his anal glands squeezed, but that didn't seem to help either. Short of getting a pet psychologist, we don't know what to do. We are about at wit's end...is there anyone out there who has an idea or suggestion? We are open to them. Please feel free to suggest anything that has worked for you. We are in desperate need of some ideas. Thanks for anything you can send our way. We appreciate the time.

[MA]

If the vet has ruled out health issues, then you need to take a good hard look at your litter box corner. Introduce another litter pan for him. Add more cat litter, make sure the box(es) stay scooped and clean. How often do you completely dump your litter box, scrub them and put new litter in? Is the box in a private enough area but with an escape route nearby if he feels threatened? Sometimes just 86ing the entire litter box and buying two new ones will work. Maybe he doesn't like the litter you are using, to perfumed? If it is clumping litter, check the pads of his feet to see if small balls of litter aren't forming and bugging him.

I don't have litter box issues- I have 14 cats. But I use those big trays you slide under your bed and put sweaters and stuff inside? I buy them at Wal Mart and use them instead of the regular litter pans, which IMO are to small for a full grown cat.

[sandlot76]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. we use a large litter box....which I'm not even sure of if it's big enough for him. He's by no means a small cat. It does have a lid on it and since reading some of the postings on here, we have decided to take it off and see how that goes for him. I'll check this evening to see if there is litter in between his paws. If there is, that means that we should change litter to a none-clumping litter?

The place that his litter box is now is quite private and easily accessible for him....to both enter and exit from. We have no kids and we have no other pets. So I'm not quite sure what's going on. The couple of times we talked to the vet, they didn't know what was going on.

Thanks for the advice...I appreciate it!

Jess

[Jen]

Some cats want to pee in one box and poop in a totaly different box. I would definitely at least TRY a second litter pan.

[sandlot76]

Hi,

We are currently using the non-lid method on the litterbox. So far so good. We took it off yesterday afternoon and so far there has been no pooping outside of the litter box. We'll see how long this last for. I don't think that 1 afternoon and 1 night is called a success yet....

So if you guys have any other ideas, please keep them coming. We really appreciate this!

Thanks,
Jessica

[healthTchr]

hi...

It's funny you mention the lid on the pan...we have one of those....I just read your post and took it off, my cat promptly jumped in and did her thing...but still I've got to see some consistent use of it...can't handle the daily peeing in my living room and hallway!

I'm going to keep her downstairs where her box is and see if there's some use...

I do love her/ I hate to do anything rash at this point but I also can't live with this, either...

So any suggestions, would be appreciated very much!