Luigi pooing NEXT to the litter tray

[stu]

Hello,

Our cat Luigi has started pooing on our carpet, right next to the litter tray.

We change the litter regularly, and clean it out, and I can tell that one or both of our cats does use the tray, and we can see footprints, and you can tell that the wood litter has been weed on occasionally.

But this past couple of weeks, Luigi has pooed next to the tray. I can't understand why he does it. Most of the time, he goes outside and goes to the toilet in the garden (our other cat, Max, always does this).

But bearing in mind Luigi has used the tray no problems before, I just can't get my head round why he would go next to it!

We have some plastic sheeting (thin, like clingfilm), near the tray, and he has 'pawed' at that after going to the toilet - maybe he thinks that the sheeting is 'part' of the litter tray?

It's really not nice to come home to this. Perhaps we should get rid of the tray and the sheeting, so that Luigi (in time) doesn't associate that part of our lounge with going to the toilet??

Any advice much appreciated.

[catloverami]

Usually there's some reason why a cat breaks good litter box habits suddenly when it was fine before. Has something happened in the last two weeks that you can think of that might cause it? Change in the weather to being very cold? New cat in the neighbourhood? Some change in your house with either people (arguing, tension) or other animals (new dog or other pet). Change in your usual daily schedule, sometimes when someone starts shift work for example. Are you paying less attention to him (petting, playing with him) than you did? Change in the household....someone leave or a new addition?

I'm not sure what you mean by "wood litter"....is it pellets or chips or what? Most cats prefer a litter that is sand-textured. Clumping litter is like that, and it also gives you an idea of how much a cat is urinating, tho it's more difficult if the cat is going outside as well. You will have to try and retrain him. I would get some clumping litter, and perhaps another litter tray as well, and place it in a different quiet location. If you can get some of Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract, sprinkle some on top.....don't know if it's available in England. Scoop at least 2x/day minimum. I hope some of these suggestions work out for you. Good luck!

[Abbie]

I know how you feel, one of my cats does this too. Mitzi had perfect litter habits until we moved house. Since we've lived here she poops next to the tray most of the time (about twice a week she'll surprise us and do it in the tray!). We have two cats and four trays. I scoop three times a day. I use cat attract in my litter to attract them!

We went away to my parents and my OH's parents over Christmas taking the girls with us. Mitzi was extremely well behaved and pooped in a tray the whole trip.

I think she's protesting about our new abode! I genuinely think she just doesn't like it here.

[Muzby]

How big is the box? Some of our cats when we had small boxes (regular "large" sized as per pet store standards) would poop outside, because they just didn't have enough room! We got under the bed storage totes from Walmart and use those now, no more problems.

[shan841]

maybe you could try something like this :

Miu's pooping outside the box problem - Solved!

[stu]

Thanks for your replies.

It's a pretty big box, so no problems there.
Luigi hasn't done any yukkiness for nearly a week now...

But all these amazing products that get mentioned only seem to available in the States, and not in the UK!

I'll keep you posted...