How do I stop my cats from pooping on the floor?

Question

I have a year old male cat who's fixed and declawed. I keep his litter box clean and have not changed his litter brand. He has never done this before. And there are no changes to his environment. I don't understand why he's doing this. And I'm tired of scrubbing the carpet everyday. I can never catch him doing it so I can take him to the box. It's very frustrating.

Answer 1

If he has never done this before I would call the vet and ask them, there may be something wrong

Answer 2

What your cat is doing is called feline inappropriate housesoiling in behavioral medicine. It's one of the most common issues people bring pets into the vet for, so you're not alone with this big problem.

The first thing to do anytime a cat suddenly starts acting out is to make sure there's not a medical problem influencing the behavior, like intestinal parasites, arthritis that makes it hard for him to make it to the box, or a dietary issue that causes him to defecate more.

If there's no underlying medical cause, we start asking questions pertaining to a behavioral problem; when and where do the problems occur? Does he have a preference on which surfaces he soils? What methods of correction have you used?

Cats can be very particular about litter box use. It could very well be that your cat had a bad experience within the box (for example, a painful bowel movement due to constipation that you weren't aware of) that results in something call litter box aversion. As a result of that negative experience, our cats avoid the litterpan, and can develop a preference then to eliminate in other locations.

The first step is to retrain your cat to use his litter pan. The best way to do this is to keep him isolated to a small, private room with an accessable, clean litter pan. Only let him out when he is 100% superivsed and frequent. The general rule of thumb is that you keep him confined to this smaller area when unsupervised for one week per each month he's been housesoiling.

If there's one or two particular areas that he's soiling, try safegaurding these areas by covering them with food bowls, using a lemon scented deodorant there, or placing a litterpan in that location. This might also encourage him to use appropriate places for going to the bathroom.

When you clean up the stool, make sure you're using an enzymatic cleaner. Feces and urine are considered organic substances, so you'll need more than just regular soap and water to get the smells out. Make sure you fully saturate the area of elimination to completely erradicate the smells that might attract the cat back.

If you do happen to catch him, it's very important that you don't punish him in the sense of yelling or spanking. Simply interupt him - but not with your own intervention. Use a squirt gun with water or toss a toy in his direction. He cannot associate the interuption with you - if he does, he'll simply learn to eliminate when you're in a different room, not that it's wrong in general.

I hope this isn't too long a response - I've worked in veterinary behavioral medicine for a little while now, and this can be a very complicated problem. I hope you have some success treating this problem - it can be very frustrating and I send good thoughts your way!

Answer 3

Is he your only cat? Is there a particular place he poops consistantly on the floor? If so, you may have to just move his litter box there. If not, there has to be a reason. If you can't figure out a reason, call your vet. Maybe he just doesn't like where it is, maybe it's too noisy, maybe he feels he has no privacy, maybe he just needs lots and lots of extra attention. If you have more than one cat, another cat may be giving him a hard time when he tries to do his thing.....there's just about always a reason. Patience is definitely called for. And a rug cleaner that is made especially for pet stains so he isn't drawn back to a particular area by the odor. Good luck!

Answer 4

maybe he only like to poop out door instead useing the litter box much . my neighbors has cats and they just put their cats out side if they needed to pee and poops usually now . hmm well why dont you try to change the litter box brand and get something different that he might want to use . alike get the different brand litter box with better clean and freshin smell sand. or you shouldnt feed him too much if that making him going on the carepets . do u have a cat door where he can just go out side and use the bath room and come back in side .

Answer 5

do u know how much longer after he eats he poops ? if u do u can install a cat door and the first few times lead cheerios or something he likes out of it so he poops out there. then he'll get used to going out there.

Answer 6

All of my cats eventually stop using the litter box and insist on going outside. He may be trying to tell you this and you aren't picking up on it. Spend a day off watching closely. All animals tell us what they need, we just aren't always paying attention to it.

Good luck

Answer 7

If you could catch him in the act using a squirt gun is a fun and effective way to train cats. Just a quick squirt while your hiding around the corner when you catch them doing something they're not supposed to do.

Answer 8

When you see the mess, pick it up and stick in the cat box. Do this a couple times, he should get the idea.

Good luck Hon!

Answer 9

Oh, the poor little guy. It could be that maybe he is feeling ill. He could have worms or an infection and it is his way of letting you know something is wrong. Check with your vet, they may want to check his stool. Best of luck to you and the little guy.

Answer 10

Um... there's something called potty training!