My cat has recently started to have bowel movements on the living room floor. What can I do to stop it.?

Question

Phoebe, my cat, has recently started going on the living room floor. She does not urinate on the floor though.. I don't know if it is a physical problem or a way to express something. Recently she was hit by a car and had to have one of her legs removed. She gets around great. Her litter box in upstairs and she does not have problems going in it. Since the accident we do not let her outside. I have tried to take her out on the back porch with a leash but she wanted no parts of that. She sits at the door and meows alot thinking we will let her out but we don't. Does anyone think that maybe she is pissed off and doing her business on the rug is a way of getting back at us. I am at my wits end with this. I don't want to give her up but if she insists on going on the rug I just might. I love my cat and I would like to know what other people have to say about this.

Answer 1

Phoebe may indeed be upset with you and the siytuations she is in and expressing it strongly. She may also have a bowel control problem resulting from the accident and making it hard for her to make it upstairs to her box or to balence in the box whole pushing (check with your vet on those possibilities) or she may be one of those cats that doesn't like to have BM's in the same place she urinates. That would be especially true of she was in the habit of going while she was outside. Is there a place downstairs that she could have a litter box at least temporarily?

Cats also decide where the right place to go is by how it smells so if she can still smell any of her previous BM she will be encouraged to go there again. Is she using the same spot or general area or just anyplace in the living room? If the same spot or spots clean them very well with a product that is made especially for pet stain and odor removal. There is one called Nature's Miracle that is especially good for this. Your pet store, vet or carpet cleaner can recommend others.

If you can keep her out of the living room when you are not there to supervise her or are too busy to pay attention in time to catch her before she does bad on the carpet that would be the best thing for a while. She may not like that but it will help retrain her.

There are 2 other things that can help one is putting a container with mothballs in it in the area where she has been having BM's.. Most cats dislike the smell strongly and will avoid it. Be sure you have the mothballs in something she can not get into just in case Phoebe is the cat exception who tries to play with the little balls instead of hating the smell. Many cats also dislike the ffeel and sound of aluminum foil so laying a strip of foil across the living room doorway or over the spot in question may help. Another possibility is to put her food or treats in that spot, Cats generally will not relieve themselves where they eat.

As a last resort she may need to be restricted to the room where her litter box is or to that area until she remembers her house manners. That won't please her but she will get used to it and it is betetr than getting rid of her. Show her a lot of love and care anbd extra attention as she recovers and is retrained but also show her that there are limits on what she is allowed to do.

Answer 2

Stress is the leading cause of cat defacation outside the litter box. Has there been any change in your cat's environment (new pet, new person, new furnitures, even rearranged furnitures)? Or has your kitty spotted another animal outside through one of your windows? At any rate, this is what I'd do if I had that problem:

1. Provide another litter box downstairs. Even if the cat is marking his territory using his poop, he may be satisfied to do it in a litter box downstars (your present litterbox is upstairs, you said). This will help him psychologically to think that his scent is also downstairs to warn off other animals.

2. Remove all trace of poop scent from the rug. Use Nature's Miracle or any good pet odor and stain remover.

3. Address any stress producing stimulations: if it is an outside animal, close the blinds at those times that the animal is outside - don't allow kitty to see it. If it something else like new condirions in the house, help kitty get over the stress by obtaining some cat calming aids: Feliway; meds from the vet.

My younger cat smeared his poop all over the living room carpet a couple of times before. I realized that he was getting upset about a cat that he could see from time to time across the street (a neighbor's cat). I observed when our neighbor let out their cat (a few hours in the morning). I then made sure that my cat does not look out that window at that time of the day. I shut the blinds on that window and made him a perch at a window facing our backyard. The pooping stopped. I found that I only has to "break" the habit for a few weeks becuase now, this cat has no probems when spotting that same cat accross the street. Maybe one just has to alleviate any emotional or psychological issues the cat may have at the moment.

Answer 3

maybe but you should call the vet just to make sure its not a severe bowel movement