Cat not using litter tray

[Lillynix]

Hi ladies, just after some advice from anyone who has had a similar situation.

Our cat is just over 1yr old, is an inside cat, she never goues outside and WAS completely litter trained.

Over the past 2-3months she has taken to poo'ing on the floor either beside her litter tray or in the bathroom (thankgawd for lino!) despite the fact that her little box is spotlessly clean. It started out, if there was a poop in her litterbox she then refused to use it, so we made sure it was always poop free, which was fine to start with, now she wont use the it at all! She wont poop in it, and discovered the other day she doesn't always wee in it either!!!

I don't know what do to, I've had it up to here with having to clean cat poop off the floor on a daily basis! It wont be long before DD is crawling around, so I don't want there to be any chance there may be cat poop on the floor once this is happening.

I've tried using different litter trays, different litter, tried to re-teach her what the litter is for, nothing is working!

I fear I only have two options left, let her outside (which may not help as there are times we are gone all day and we live in a busy car area) or to get rid of her completely which DH is not at all happy about!

HELP!

[juzzy]

hey

i can sympathise with you on this one, my youngest cat is also one year old and does exactly the same thing.

i have 2 little trays and she will wee in them but not poop, i find it really annoying to be constantly cleaning poop off the floor. We have been leaving our bathroom door closed and have covered over our laundry sink so she cant poop in there....

i have had no luck either in getting her to poop in the litter and i dont have any suggestions for u, just wanted to let you know that you arent the only one!!

Ill be watching this thread with interest!!

[Lillynix]

It's nice to know i'm not the only one having this problem, it really is driving me nuts!

Of all the cats I have owned over the years I have never, ever had this happen before either, I just don't know what's going on!

[LMenz]

I don't have any advice either....one of my cats does the same thing....just letting you know your not alone :D

Luckily we let ours outside but now I have to make sure she can go out whenever she needs to poo. It does make it hard when we are out for a whole day.

I'll be watching this thread with interest too

[mumoftwoboys2005]

DH got me a little tortoiseshell kitten the other day. When I went to pick her up (she was a give away) I discovered she had never been inside a house so therefore wasn't toilet trained. :eek: She's only 9 weeks old. I got her some litter and a potty tray and put it in the laundry where it's tiles just in case. We spent that evening just popping her into the tray every so often and digging her front paws through the litter so she knew what it felt like. Apparently if you put the food bowls beside the litter box it stops them from soiling outside the box. That's what it said on the litter bag anyway. We tried it and it worked. She did her first poo in the potty tray on Wednesday and has only had 1 accident since. :smiliedance:

Hope everything works out for you. I couldn't imagine giving her away now. :no:

[rtc]

hi there.
My cat was about 2 when she started to poo outside her litter tray. I tried everything, changing trays, litter etc etc. 6 months later she stopped peeing in there too. It was terrible. She then went off her food and water, started to pee in unusal places like on the bench! I took her to the vet and after some tests we were told she had severe kidney failure. We tried to save her but it was too far progressed.
The vet said it probably started around the litter tray problems, maybe earlier.
my cats case was extremely rare seeing she was so young.
I dont mean to worry you... but if ever in doubt, have your cat checked...just in case.
I hope your little one is ok and just a phase. Good luck.

[InSaneOne]

um - just wondering if this started when you brought your new baby home??

could it be that the cat is doing this for attention and trying to mark her teritory as the cat is jealous of the new baby.

[meshelle]

I myself had this problem with my cat at around 6 mths old. At first it was just a matter of keeping the litter spotlessly clean but eventually he gave up on it all together and kept going behind the tv. I spoke with the breeder and she suggested using dirt from outside because the litter can hurt the pads on the bottom of the cats paws. Also because of his size (hes a big cat) he didnt like using the enclosed tray so we got an open on. It worked a treat for him and its helped me reconnect instead of wanting to strangle him!

[Lillynix]

Thanks for your replies ladies, it's still happening, twice yesterday and once this morning, this really is getting the better of me, i'm so tempted to just chuck her outside and never let her back in again, ohhh i'm so mean! I love her to bits, don't get me wrong, but it's gone far enough!

Billie&Beth - No this started before DD came home, it started while I was pregnant, and I know animals can sense this sort of stuff, but we always made a point of giving her lots of attention, even now she get's the same amount of attention as she always did, if not more to compensate. So I honestly don't think it's a jealousy type issue.

[Lilith]

I have a cat that does no 1s in the litter tray but won't do no 2s in there. I put an extra sheet of newspaper beside the litter tray and he does use that. I don't mind so much then as at least that's easy to clean up. :fingerscrossed: it gets sorted for you soon.