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I have two large uncovered litter boxes for my fat cat and I scoop them twice a day. Most of the time she uses just the one but sometimes she pees in one and poops in the other. My son has a huge Maine Coon who hated covered litter boxes. He finally made one of his own from a clear storage container and cut an opening for her. I read some cats feel vulnerable when they are inside a litter box that they can't see out of, so for his cat it helped.
I don't know if this is the same problem, but I had four cats, one of whom was blind.
The blind one was always skittish near the others. Because she couldn't see to pick up clues, she hissed and swung her paw whenever one of the others came near.
Then she started to poop not just outside the box, but on the couch and near the food bowls. I did some research on the Internet and I came up with "Middening". Big cats do this in the wild when they feel threatened, and part of it is pooping near food sources and on high places to send a message to the other cats.
The cure was to separate her from the others. The website said to put her in a closed room with her own food, water, and litter box and keep her isolated for two weeks. Then open the door and let her reintegrate with the other cats at their own pace,
I did that. I came in and played with her and petted her, but I didn't let the other three in. At the end of the two weeks, I opened the door. The other three came running in and promptly used her litter box, but she just sat there, calm and OK. She stayed in that room for another week on her own even though the door was open, and then one day I was on the couch watching TV and she came out of the room and hopped on the couch and sat next to me. She never pooped outside the litter box again.
Animal behavior is so fascinating. All species have their complexities, but cat behavior is one of the more complicatingly difficult to recognize, learn, understand, and live with ... which is why we love them.
Cats speak volumes from both ends, mouths and butts, and as well use all body parts in between to communicate. If all of it is considered vocabulary, then the cat dictionary is pretty thick.
This thread has been a great example of much cats do communicate with their hind ends. The fact that humans ask them to do it all in one place, a litter box, is unnatural for them, and yet they adapt. When they stop doing what we ask, it can be so hard for us to figure out why. Is it the location? The size/type of box? The brand of litter? Too few litter boxes? An illness? Issues occurring in the environment? Topsy-turvy relationships with other cats, animals, humans? A basic instinct like survival or territory protection not being met?
Honestly, thank goodness for this Cat Forum. So many have had to deal with outside-the-box eliminations, and everyone is so willing to share their experiences and to offer suggestions for potential reasons and possible remedies to try. Even if I don’t have the same problems as an original poster, I learn so much from reading the threads. So, thank you all!
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