Pooing on the carpet

[Judecat (Paula)]

That is such good news.

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

That's fantastic progress.  No jinxing.  If accidents recur, just repeat what you've been doing.  You must be so pleased.   

[jetcleo]

Just wanted to give you a  bit of an update as you were so helpful with advice.

In just under 2 weeks we've only had one accident on the carpet. I used the carpet cleaner to get rid of the scent and have spent along time on the floor putting her back in the litter tray when she's eaten (2 trays for her now).  She is using the trays more now but as the weather's been so nice she's been out most the day and going outdoors rather than waiting until she comes back in to go poo in the house.

She's also started spending a lot of time with my 8 year old daughter, sleeps on her bed while she's reading, etc.  It's like she's finally trusting us and settling and everything else is falling into place.  Hope I've not just jinxed us

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

And as wellie stores.  A spare tray of ours stores two sets of wellies and a tin of fatballs for the birds.   

[Judecat (Paula)]

If you use a hot screwdriver to make holes in the bottom they make wonderful seed trays as well.

[jetcleo]

Thank you for the kind offer, we have some feliway spray so I will try using that around the trays.  We've put 3 down now so will see how she goes.  I've sprayed the cleaner on the carpet also today just waiting for it to dry before putting the trays back.

My cats are Buddy who is 3 yr and Daisy, she's the almost 1 year old mischief

Oh by the way good idea with using excess litter trays for paint trays, I'd never thought of that 

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Poor little soul.  She's not had much of a life until she came to you, has she?    

People often don't realise how much time and attention a companion animal needs until it's too late and they've committed (or not, as the case may be!).

So, we know that in her short life, she's had three homes (including yours), cat flu, and a spell in rescue.  All of that and she's not a year old yet.  Gawd bless her paws!

We also know that when she does poo outside, she likes to leave it exposed, which is potentially a clue that she is sending out scent messages for the benefit of your other cat, and any cats she thinks may happen to come into her environment.  This is less surprising given that she's had to potentially compete for any available space. 

Her first and second homes may not have had an availability of litter trays, or may have had frightening situations for her to adapt to, such as other cats, animals or small children.  She may now feel she has to compete for space, even though she gets on well with your other cat.

We have 3 cats - all rescues.  One is a chappie - approaching 5, and then we have the two gurlies, semi-ferals aged 2 and a half.  The gurlies gave us some sleepless nights (still do!) and one of them used to pee inappropriately on our furniture and bedding whilst she was settling in with us.  She's the most anxious of the two girls, and change affects her most of the three. 

We eventually found a solution to the problem, but had to use a number of options in our arsenal, as it were.     I suspect you may have to as well.  But you're probably this little lady's only hope if she's to avoid losing yet another home, and facing more upheaval.

I think I would be inclined to increase the number of litter trays (sorry!) by another three to four (yes really!), placed in different areas of the house, including putting one right next to the one she uses for weeing.   When she poops on the floor (as she undoubtedly will), I would scoop it up, and pop it in the nearest tray to where it has occurred and leave it there for her to investigate.   

The chances are, you won't need to keep them permanently, as she may choose a favourite to use (let's hope so!) and you can gradually remove the ones surplus to requirements. 

I know you've already tried a few different litters, but perhaps experiment with something like chick crumb.  It's a bit more expensive than a lot of other litters, but it's soft on paws, lasts a long time and it can sometimes win round anxious cats.   Might be an idea to put newspaper or puppy pads under the trays while they're being tried out.  We have one cat who is very clean but often misjudges the side of the littterbox in her enthusiasm to get close up to the wall, as she feels safer that way.  It would make me smile to see her determination to position herself just so, only to find half the pee was in the box and half outside.  Still......   we're family.   

I'd also try a plug in, such as Pet Remedy or Feliway (preferably in a socket that's lower to the ground, but no matter if all you have is one higher up).  They're cheaper to buy from ebay than in pet shops, and you normally get two in a refill pack, but you'd need to buy the heater units first of course first.  They're worthwhile though - I can thoroughly recommend them.

I also have a small bottle of feliway spray with a little used from it - if you wanted to pm me with your address, I'd be happy to post it off to you.  You can try spraying it around the litter tray and the floor where she is going to the toilet.  Pet Remedy do a similar spray.  Our gurlies responded better to Pet Remedy than to Feliway, but different cats prefer different solutions.

Hopefully, some of these suggestions might bear fruit.  And if they don't, at least you'll have a number of litter trays you can use to grow seedlings or for painting jobs around the house.      (Don't mind my sense of humour - I just think it helps if you can keep smiling while you're dealing with these sorts of issues.)

What are your lovely cats names, by the way?  Sorry - I should've asked earlier.

[jetcleo]

Thank you for your advice.

I know the lady who runs the rescue so have had a good chat with her.  She said she was living with around 12 other cats while with her and they only noticed she had done this a couple of times.

The story I have is that from being a kitten (not sure how old she left her mum) she was taken on by a local family but they worked long hours and didn't realise how destructive a kitten could be when left home alone all day. She was clawing everything as kittens do and having accidents all over the house. They decided to give her up for rehoming.

She was with the rescue for around 3-4 months as she developed cat flu so was quite poorly and they didn't want to rehome her until she was 100%.

It's strange you say that about cats pooing outside as when she does do it she is doing it in a corner of the garden outside the garage door on bricks where it can't be covered up.  Likewise in the house she does it on the carpet and doesn't even scrape the carpet to try and cover it like my old cat would do if he's had an accident.

I'm going to pop to the pet shop after work and get something to neutralise the odour as so far I've just been using carpet cleaner so I suppose she can still smell her scent in that area.

Thanks for all your help and advice 

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Interesting. 

I wonder about her background before you adopted her, and whether the clues lie there.

She's not very old (under a year), and you've had her for 2 months.

I'm guessing in that case presumably she's been in rescue since she was around 6 to 8 months perhaps?

If that's right, she could have been with her birth Mum, then placed into rescue before you adopted her, but it's possible she left her Mum, was then homed, and then put into the shelter?

I don't know if she had been rehomed in that period in between, or whether it was the original Mum cat's family who put her up for adoption, so you don't really know whether she was maybe re-homed under the appropriate age for re-homing (at least 8 weeks, but preferably 12 weeks).

If she was a foster, or was not with her littermates and mother for the initial 8 to 12 weeks for whatever reason, she may not have been litter trained, or there may have been issues in the home which made her wary of using the tray to poo in (sometimes being ambushed by another cat?).

It's difficult for you when you don't know too much about her background, bless her.

Almost always cats are very clean creatures, so when something goes wrong, they're   trying to tell us something and we need to figure out what's going on.

I would have thought the toileting issues may have been evident in the rescue, but if she wasn't with a foster family, and was in with a number of other cats, depending on the set up (caged or free roaming) it may not have been obvious to the shelter people.

It could be worth seeing if they can tell you a little more about how she came to be with them.

In the meantime, you could try putting puppy pads or newspaper down on the area once you've cleaned it, to see if she replicates the behaviour, or chooses to poo somewhere else outside the box.

It may also be worth buying a third tray, and placing it on the spot where she is pooing now, and see what happens. 

If she still goes outside the box, she may be marking out her territory, but usually that takes the form of  urine spraying. 

Not always though - cats that use gardens  to defecate for example will sometimes leave the excrement uncovered as a way of "informing" other cats.

Some cats don't like litter tray liners, but you haven't mentioned using those so I think this could be more of a behavioural issue, especially if she's done it from being small.

Another possibility may be trying a covered litter tray if yours are open, or vice-versa.  Some cats don't like to feel enclosed, yet others do.

This will be a case of "trial and error" for a little while, but we can see how she goes and perhaps make other suggestions based on what you observe over the next couple of weeks? 

There are bound to be other helpful suggestions from other forum members as and when people drop in to have a look.

It would be great to get to the bottom of what's making her tick, and to get the matter sorted for all concerned (no pun intended!)

[jetcleo]

We have 2 medium to large size trays, she always poos just away from it approx 15-30cm away.  I put both clean trays next to each other this morning and she did it on the floor to the side.  She has done it in her tray a few times but not often.  The rescue we got her from said the family who had her from a tiny kitten had this problem and that's why they rehomed her but the rescue said they didn't see this while she was with them so it's strange.  We've had her 2 months.

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Just another thought - what size trays do you have?  And has she ever used the litter trays to poo in, or has this issue just begun recently?

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Does she poo next to the tray, or somewhere else?  (sorry for all the questions, just trying to work out any pattern!)

[jetcleo]

Thank you for your advice. I'm going to try the cleaner today. Yes she will poo on the floor if the tray is empty which is why we have been confused. She does tend to poo in the same area so I'll see if the cleaner helps

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Given that her and your other cat get along, it seems unlikely any friction between them would be the cause, but there may be something externally, or something physically or psychologically influencing her choice, and therein lies the challenge. 

Does she poo outside the box even when it's unused for peeing purposes?  And does she poo in the same place, or does she vary where she goes?  Just trying to work out if there's something else underlying her choice of where she toilets in that respect.

I agree with Paula's suggestion about the enzymatic cleaner.  We had a problem with one of our gurlies peeing inappropriately (psychological in her case) and they're the only kind of cleaner that helps to eliminate the odours that are attractive to the cats, and can lead to repeat incidents. 

[jetcleo]

Thank you, I will give that a go.   Is the cleaner in the pet section?

 

[Judecat (Paula)]

It may help to use an enzymatic cleaner where she has done her business to kill any smells that she can smell and we can't, Tesco do one for about £1.50, much cheaper than the vets over £6 per bottle, maybe also try leaving the poo outside when you clean it up in an area you don't mind cleaning so she associates poo with outside. One of mine used to come in to poo, fortunately in a tray, but that is how I trained him to poo outside. Don't put it near any plants that you want to keep as cat poo sours the soil. Hope that helps.

Sorry about mixing her gender, I wouldn't want to give her a complex.

[jetcleo]

We have a nearly 1 year old cat that we rehomed from a rescue centre.  She is lovely and friendly however she will only use her litter tray to see in. She poos on the floor. She can be outside all day and comes in to poo then goes back outside again.

We do have another cat who she gets on with. We have more than one litter tray, we've tries different cat litters, changing the litter every time it's been used but nothing is helping.

Can anyone help please