You walk into your home after a long day of running errands and work to the foul smell of cat poop. On closer examination, you spot that your 5-year-old cat has defecated outside the litter box on your favorite carpet and it sure doesn’t look pretty.
House soiling is a common complaint that most cat owners have. There are three categories of these namely:
- Defecation at an inappropriate location
- Territorial marking through spraying
- Medical condition
Cat pooping on the floor randomly is a major reason why cat owners will abandon or give away their pets. This is a complex problem to solve and various ways exist to prevent, manage and even resolve house soiling habits.
Understanding why this is happening in the beginning of the solution.
WHY DOES MY CAT DEFECATE OUTSIDE THE LITTER BOX?
1. Litter box problems:
This is a common reason why your cat is avoiding the litter box and pooping elsewhere. These reasons include:
- A dirty litter box that’s not been cleaned out.
- Too small a box that’s it is difficult to use
- Some cats avoid hooded litter boxes
- Limited boxes in multi-cat household
- The cat experiences pain when using the box. Cats will associate pain when defecating with the box and they end up blaming the litter box. This results in them trying out a different location. While this doesn’t make sense to you, strangely, it does to The Celebrity Portal.
- The litter box is placed in an inaccessible congested place.
- Frequent changing of the litter box location
- Changing the type of cat litter just when you have introduced a new cat into your home.
- Use of heavily scented litters and litter deodorizers.
- Changing the type of litter box the cat was used to.
2. Medical causes:
Some medical issues cause behavioral house soiling changes is your cat. A physical examination to rule out infections, feline lower uterine tract disease, cystitis, arthritis and kidney problems.
Your veterinarian should be able to diagnose and prescribe proper treatment options for your cat.
3. Environmental factors:
If the litter box is placed in a high traffic noisy area, he may opt for a quiet safe place to defecate outside the litter box.
If the cat has a negative association with the litter box, they may avoid it. This may occur when injection medication is administered when he is in the box.
4. Social factors:
A house that has several cats and a bully cat may intimidate a weaker cat from using the litter box or attack him while relieving himself and this will cause him to look for an open safe place to defecate away from the litter box.
Territorial marking through urine spraying and in extreme cases pooping happens when they feel aggressive and want to wade off competition.
Stressed cats may poop outside the litter box especially when in a new home and are anxious.
Solutions to cat pooping in the house all of a sudden
Treating all instances of your cat pooping outside the litter box consists of these three steps:
1. Identify and eliminate the cause of the house soiling problem.
If the cat has a medical issue, have the veterinarian diagnose and treat the condition.
If an environmental, social or behavioral cause, determine what exactly is troubling your cat and bring about the necessary changes in the environment and minimize the stress factors.
2. Redirect your cat to begin using the litter box again.
Ensure the litter box is scooped daily and kept fresh and clean. Offer the best cat litter that your pet prefers and even making the box more accessible. Make it as comfortable as possible for your cat to use the litter box.
- Use an enzymatic cleaner to clean thoroughly the places where the cat had soiled as this will prevent him from returning to those places.
If this is not done, the cat will develop a liking for a particular spot and the smell of its poop and urine will condition the cat to associate that spot will defecation.
Make the previous spots unusable by placing deterrents at the site such as placing barriers and covering the area with heavy plastic and aluminum foil.
Turning the area into a feeding area is a sly way of stopping the house soiling habit in its tracks.
How to avoid cat pooping on the floor randomly:
- Have multiple boxes for a multi-cat household with and at least one extra box available.
- Place the boxes in an accessible, traffic-free area that’s safe for the cat.
- Use acceptable cat litter that’s non-scented.
- Do not place water and food adjacent to the cat’s litter box
- Scoop the litter box at least once a day and change the litter preferably once a week.
- Avoid punishing the cat for house soiling. Cats do not associate the punishment to the action like human beings and that may just worsen the behavior.
- Call your vet as soon as you notice any house soiling behavior. Don’t wait until it’s too late.
