Why does my cat poop on the floor sometimes?

Question

When we first brought him home it was a giant problem. We have had it curbed for awhile now. We even have this ritual every day when we get home and we look all over the living room and then we praise him and he rolls over on his back and we say "good boy, no poopies" lol. But every now and again, he poops behind the couch. We always find it shortly after he does it. To punish him we shut him in the basement (where the litter boxes are) for an hour or so. We dont say anything, just ignore him. He is so social and loving we figured that was good punishment. We keep the litter boxes clean. We have 2 other cats who have NEVER made any mistakes. The pooper is the newest addition. Any ideas? Why does he only do it sometimes now? like once every 6 weeks or so.

Answer 1

My cat developed a habit for using indoor pot plants as a toilet. We found that, like some of the other answers, the cat wont use a normal litter tray if it has been used even once. What worked for us was to get a large plastic tub and fill it up with potting mix, with a mixture of cat litter through it just for a bit better absorbency. The tub lives in the garage. Compared to a regular litter tray it virtually doesnt smell at all, and i've only had to empty it once in a year. Occasionally I give it a stir with a garden fork or add some more potting mix to the top. Both cats happily use it. We then added some decorative pebbles to the top of the indoor plants just to discourage digging and that worked.

Answer 2

I'll answer your question first. Then maybe you can tell me why one of my 6 cats pooped in the kitchen sink.!!

As for the behind the couch pooper..kitties are a lot like children and he may be doing it for attention. A really thorough cleaning and deodorizing of the area will discourage him.I found that a mixture of baking soda, white vinegar and liquid dish soap is the best,and safest, deodorizer.
Maybe he wants his very own private litter box. I have one cat who can't stand the smell of the other cats' poop.He'd rather go anywhere than in the same box as one of the others.
We don't have this problem at the pet clinic I work for but I do have it at home and these are some of the suggestions the vets at the clinic have given me.

Good luck...hold your nose...and dive in. I'll be thinking of you cleaning your living room carpet while I'm scrubbing my kitchen sink.
Have you ever caught one of the other cats bothering him when he's trying to use the litter box?
They sure can make a stink...but the furry little devils are well worth the trouble.

Answer 3

First of all, try getting another litterbox. In a multi-cat household, the rule of thumb is one litterbox per can plus 1. They should be scooped every day, as cats hate to go where they can smell other cats.
Also, this may be stretching it, but it might be constipation. One of our cats does that, every now and then he poops on the floor. He does it when he's constipated. When he's having troubles, he just doesn't want to sit in the box, so he runs around the house crying, and then a little while later we have a mess to clean up. If the pooper shows signs of being constipated, you can use a tiny amount of metamucil and mix it up in his food. Our messes have decreased since we started doing that.
Good luck

Answer 4

I had a cat that would not use the litter box if it was not fresh. Even if it was her own poop. We couldn't follow the cat all day to immediately clean her box so we bought an auto litter box. It has a sensor and scoops 15 seconds after use. It was a bit pricey but it worked for us. No more hidden surprises around the house.

Answer 5

We have MANY cats....we own a farm so LOL....anyways we have had a few that if the litter box is even a little dirty they will not use it. Maybe try cleaning it every day see if that helps.

Answer 6

I am guessing; but I think he may be getting a little stressed by the other two cats every now and again. He may benefit from herbal or flower essences formulated to mimick cats' "feel good" pheromones which calm cats down.

Answer 7

cats are worthless to the human environment all they do is eat crap and sleep then partial kill animals then as we all know what goes in must come out on our floors its your own fault that your cat is leaving feces on your floor you are neglecting it from necessary parental attention you are lacking the responsibility required to be a nuturing parent of a cat that is in denial

Answer 8

cats are dumb, sorry... no offense. but they do it cause they dont have a brain of a dog. he doesnt see the difference between right and wrong...