2 cats, 2 litter boxes, 1 cat pooping outside the boxes

[mishigas73]

Originally Posted by Rapunzll

I used to rent a house on a farm. People would regularly dump cats there. I don't think most farmers need extra cats. LOL

You never know. One of our local shelters has barn cats, and is quite successful placing them.

[Lola4]

I have two litter boxes in a back bedroom. One a high sided open box and one top entry lidded box. For some reason, neither cat uses the top entry box anymore and my older cat, about 3 years old is pooping out of the box more frequently. I don't know what to do. I am going to move the boxes to my garage once I have a cat door put in, as I have no good discreet place to put the box in the house and I am tired of the smell wafting through my home.

Your cat is trying to tell you something. Sometimes it takes several changes to find out just what the cat is unhappy about. From what you have posted, more than likely it is something going on with your litter boxes.

The first thing I would do is get rid of the Clever Cat box. Those top entry boxes are made for humans, not for cats. With those kind of boxes, a cat is "locked in" with any smells going on or dust from the litter. Cats have a very strong sense of smell.

I would also put litter boxes in different areas of your home... not side by side in one location.

Fingers crossed!!

[chiluvr1228]

One of my cats would never poop IN the litter box, she would go right outside of it. Didn't matter what kind of litter or how clean the box was. I never even thought about her being constipated. They had dry food out during the day and her and her brother split a can at night. Of course this was many years ago but she seemed pretty healthy and lived to be 17 years old. Thankfully she did pee in the litter box so I just assumed it was one of her quirks.


I have become much more knowledgeable about things regarding cats over the last few months thanks in part to the people on this forum.


Stop giving your cats dry food. I have heard that for every cat you need to have 1.5 litter boxes. So two cats would mean 3 litter boxes. Did you vet find any signs of constipation or a UTI in your cat?


I know it's frustrating - the smell of cat urine is the worst.

[catdad7x]

Originally Posted by Lola4

Your cat is trying to tell you something. Sometimes it takes several changes to find out just what the cat is unhappy about. From what you have posted, more than likely it is something going on with your litter boxes.

The first thing I would do is get rid of the Clever Cat box. Those top entry boxes are made for humans, not for cats. With those kind of boxes, a cat is "locked in" with any smells going on or dust from the litter. Cats have a very strong sense of smell.

I would also put litter boxes in different areas of your home... not side by side in one location.

Fingers crossed!!

^^THIS^^
Years ago my wife tried a covered litter box, and it was a disaster. 5 of the 7 cats we had at the time refused to even go into it, and kept using the other (open) litter trays. One cat would use it sporadically, and the other one would only pee in it, and would poop outside of it.
Many (if not most) cats don't like covered boxes because the feel trapped and vulnerable while doing their business. Try changing to an open tray, and perhaps move it to another location, and see if that helps.

Good luck.

[Rapunzll]

She used to use the Clever Cat litter box all the time. My sister thinks she is getting even for me getting a second cat. Who knows, no way to get into her head. I brought one litter box in the house to see if she will go to it. I will not leave it there though permanently. I don't have any good spots in the house to put a litter box unfortunately.

[mawipafl]

Originally Posted by Rapunzll

She used to use the Clever Cat litter box all the time. My sister thinks she is getting even for me getting a second cat. Who knows, no way to get into her head. I brought one litter box in the house to see if she will go to it. I will not leave it there though permanently. I don't have any good spots in the house to put a litter box unfortunately.

That's a good plan. Sometimes it's all about experimentation in order to get inside a cat's head to comprehend what he/she is trying to tell us.

It's ok to have the box(s) in odd places for now - friends and family do understand that when there's a litterbox (or multiple boxes) in places throughout our homes that just don't fit into the décor it's because of an experimental phase. I have a red and white plastic table cloth taped to a bookcase next to my fireplace at the moment (a deterrent), and I don't take it off when friends come over. At one point I had a litterbox in my kitchen.

I know it's hard to hold onto patience and keep frustration at bay, but never do cats do anything without a reason behind it. It's just a challenge to find out the reason.

Going back in time here .... your 3-year-old used to use the box just fine and covered her poo, but then stopped covering her poo in the box, and is now leaving it exposed outside the box? Is that somewhat the order of events? In this timeline, when did the second cat come into your home?

What is this second cat like? Male? Female? Age? Spayed/neutered? Outgoing? Shy? Skittish? Never phased by anything?

About the 3-year-old ... what is she like? Spayed? Outgoing? Shy? Skittish? Never phased by anything? How long have you had her?

Asking because here's my thought ...
Cats cover their liquid and solid deposits to hide their scent, to keep it a secret that they've been there. That's the premise anyway. Out in the wild, tigers for example are known to pee and poo in water to mask their scent.

Cats who want to create a beacon to say "I've been here and this is my turf" will leave their urine and feces uncovered. There are two different states of mind - the first is laid back and confident (the cat steps in and does his/her thing and steps out), and the second is less confident and feels a sense of being challenged (and many of these cats will also spray (a bit different than urination) to mark their territory). I'm thinking this is what might be going on with your 3-year-old, leaving a beacon. This is "fixable"!

Last question: how did you introduce the new kitty to your old kitty?

[Rapunzll]

I am thinking of taking my younger cat to my daughters for a couple of weeks to see if her not being at the house makes a difference. Maybe she resents having a second cat around? The litter box in the living room is not producing the desired results. She is just pooping next to it. :-(