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I am tired of picking up cat shit
Michelanvalo
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I have a cat, he is, for the most part, a wonderful cat. Very affectionate and friendly, no problems with his diet. Some minor health problems but nothing that serious. However, he has this one awful quirk.
He shits next to his litterbox. Not in it. Next to it. And not right next to it like he doesn't know where to put his butt, like a foot or two away from it.
He pees in the box no problem (well except he doesn't cover it). He just shits more outside the box than in it. I do my best to keep the box clean with fresh litter, but I can't be home 24/7. My only saving grace is that the floor is a tile floor so it's simple to clean up but it's a pain in the ass. Plus, his litterbox room is in my foyer. Meaning it's the first thing I smell when I walk in the house. I don't even know where to begin to fix this problem, so anyone help that you can.
And no, there will be no pictures of him because I am mad at him.
He shits next to his litterbox. Not in it. Next to it. And not right next to it like he doesn't know where to put his butt, like a foot or two away from it.
He pees in the box no problem (well except he doesn't cover it). He just shits more outside the box than in it. I do my best to keep the box clean with fresh litter, but I can't be home 24/7. My only saving grace is that the floor is a tile floor so it's simple to clean up but it's a pain in the ass. Plus, his litterbox room is in my foyer. Meaning it's the first thing I smell when I walk in the house. I don't even know where to begin to fix this problem, so anyone help that you can.
And no, there will be no pictures of him because I am mad at him.
Michelanvalo on
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I had a cat do the same exact thing. I switched his litter and he finally stopped shitting on the floor.
The problem cat doesn't seem to be inclined to poop in random places, so if I can keep him from pooping next to the box I seem to be golden -- it's been problem free for I think 4 months. The only other place (other than the boxes) that he likes to poop is my shower. If I forget to shut my shower door, there's almost guaranteed to be a surprise for me when I get back from work.
One relatively minor problem is that he still doesn't cover his crap, so it sits on top of the litter, stinking up the place. He just paws uselessly at the plastic walls of the box 3 or 4 times and then calls it a day.
The three remidies that I've learned are:
Have two litter boxes that are cleaned regularly. My cats piss in one box and shit in the other and then for some unexplained reason change which box is which and suddenly said pissbox has become a shitbox.
Change litter. I've bounced between a number of brands that both clump to my liking, and don't smell like a french whore.
Move the litterbox, sounds odd has worked for me.
Seriously, though, I think iRevert hit some ideas to try. I've heard of the dual litter box trick working before.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
My girlfriend walked in the door while I was typing this and there was two spots of poo on the floor and some in the litterbox.
I have no idea what that is about.
PSN Hypacia
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My cat is mostly just an asshole. My vet mentioned that boy cats will do this as a subtle way to exert dominance.
Then he's doing a poor job of it. Because he'll do shit like that then come cuddle up to me.
I'm pretty sure my Condo is fine with just one box.
I am going to try another brand of litter first...too bad I have a bucket and a half of the TidyCat stuff.
There is also a social aspect to cats, particularly male cats, leaving their poop and urine uncovered. When feral cats live in groups, every cat in the group covers their feces except the dominant cat. Maybe yours thinks he is the lord of the house and can therefore take a dump wherever he likes? If this is the reason, I have no idea how to combat such behavior. I mean, you could challenge him by leaving your own poop on the floor, but... yeah.
The 4th cat still craps in the toilet room in the one bathroom in the house without a litter box in it, but she's full of hate and detests our other cats' existence, so I'm not really surprised. Eventually I'm going to get another one of the robots and stick it in there to see if she'll use that instead of the mat in front of the toilet. But now that I've seen that CitiKitty thing...
In the mean time you may want to buy some either large trash bags or plastic drop cloth and just lay that around the litter box so at least the poo doesn't stain anything until you find the one litter he will shit in.
You obviously don't have a Siamese
Mine will purposely shit on the lip of the entryway to the catbox if the litter isn't a brand that it likes. I mean we're talking a thin lip around a fourth of an inch and this fucking cat can balance a log on it somehow.
Secondly my other cat will piss over the side of the litterbox if it isn't covered. The covered box is to keep the catpiss in the box, I have enough trouble cleaning my own piss up from the bathroom floor after a night of drinking I don't need to add to that workload with a bunch of catpiss.
The obvious solution is to shit in the litterbox to show the cat who's boss.
Let that furry little asshole try to bury that.
From what my friend told me, if you can actually get the cat trained, you're going to love it. Extra points if you can get them to flush!
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
I'm not worried about floor stains because it's tile and mops up pretty easily.
I changed out the litter for the old stuff and it was fine. He prefers granulated/clay stuff. Cats generally prefer to defecate and urinate where they can cover it, and if you catch your cat in the act you may see him trying to cover it outside the litter box. So try a litter swap (dump out the old stuff, try all new) with a different type of litter or a different brand.
Also, does the cat always do this, or only if the litter box is getting full? I don't have many accidents with my cats (one has long fur so I sometimes get dingleberries that stuck to his rump), but when I do it's because I've gone too long between scooping. My cats are happiest if it's every other day (2 cats, 2 boxes).
as far as the dingleberries, take an electric trimmer and run it over the hair under its tail and butt. You may also want a vet visit. If they are having problems with poop getting stuck, it might need its anal glands expressed. (No im not going to go into what that is you can look it up).