Hi all,

I've just signed up and this is my first post - I desperately need some advice.

I have 2 cats, a 6 month old female kitten that got spayed 3 weeks ago, Gizmo - a tortoise shell with attitude! And a 3 and a half year old ginger male called Tigger - the most placid animal to have ever lived... (Till Gizmo gets him!!!).

Gizmo has an issue with the litterbox. We first had her at 8 weeks old, noone seemed to want her and she'd been passed through about 3/4 homes since being kicked out by the man that owned her mum. She's settled incredibly well with us, and is now classed as my baby. She was litter trained...ish when she first arrived, but I put that down to her being so young. She also has had slightly runny poo since she has arrived with us. She got 100% better, and after a few worming treatments, lots of flea treatments (they were almost unshakeable) the poo is developing a more solid poo. Cat meat reverses this so she is just on dried food to try and help resolve it.

Since being spayed, 3-4 weeks ago, she's refused to poop in the box. She goes right outside the bathroom door on the carpet, 2 inches from the litter box. She has 2, a box downstairs and a box upstairs (and the other cat will not under any circumstances use a litter box - he crosses his legs till he can go outside). If she's disturbed - ie by being caught and told off, going on the carpet, she'll run upstairs and use the upstairs box.

How do I re-train her? Any advice? My other half is nearing his patience limit with her and is threatening to get rid if this continues with no improvement.

Help me!!! Please :-)

I’m assuming nothing else has changed?

You have changed the litter you use? The position of the tray? You haven’t gave it a good old clean with anything that could possibly tick Gizmo off (cats are funny wee things, specially naughty torties )

Now you say she used to have runny poops and now they have firmed up. Are you absolutely 100% sure that she is not constipated? This could be a real possibility. Try and observe her going if you can, and if you can’t actually see her going, then get to the tray as soon as you can after she has left her present …. I don’t mean to sound gross, but this is necessary.... what consistency is her poop (too dry, too firm, too brittle) could point towards constipation, as would any straining at all. And when cats are constipated they can often “communicate” that to us humans by pooping outside their tray.

And the fact she is on a dry only diet… well dry-only can cause constipation in cats that have a predisposition for stomach issues.

If you are absolutely 100% convinced it is not constipation, that it is 100% definitely a behavior issue, I will try to help you, but …. If it is just constipation that too is very easily solved. And the earlier you treat it the easier it is. Constipation in cats gets much worse when you leave it.

just to add... most pooping outside the tray issues I have encountered in foster cats have actually been phhyscial issues and not behavioural. It's not like peeing that they do to mark territories or register being ticked off... pooping is usually a physical issue.

edited to add, when you do your little "poop inspection" pick it up with white toilet paper or kitchen roll... note how wet/slimey or not the paper is and also note of there is any reddish tinge to it.

They are of changing consistency at the moment. Never changed cat litter - we've always used wood pellets. She wee's fine in the box, then gets out and has a poo next to it.

If she's had meat, they're extremely runny, which is why we've stuck to a dry only diet at the moment. The last one she did was formed but not overly solid, I don't think she's constipated, but I will try and watch her. What would be the resolution to this if she was? She did have a habit of dragging her bum across the carpet after going (this was before she was going outside the box) but I think thats stopped.

Thanks for your reply! I hope it isn't behavioural as I know that'll be harder to fix, she's such a lovely cat in every other respect!!

listen.... I am no vet... lol. (no $hit sherlock I hear you say )

But I just read your other post about Tigger and see you'll be taking him to the vet tomorrow. If I were you I would pop Gizmo along with him. I am not sure how your vet works, but at my vet (and many vets) consultations for two cats together are a lot cheaper than 2 seperate consultations. And I do think this is (could very well be) a physical issue with Gizmo. A few things you have said lead me to believe that. If you get Gizmo checked out physically, and the vet gives her a clean bill of health.... then I will absolutely do my best helping you sort this out.

Without going in to toooooo much detail (because like I said, it could very well be physical) well that would involve going back to basics with Gizmo and restricting her access to one small room (like a bathroom) then very very gradually increasing the space available to her bit by bit... adding one room at a time until she has control of her litter tray issues.

When we returned from holiday and collected our cat from the cattery she had loose stools and would not use the litter tray because it wouls be too messy for her to cover up. Once we had sorted out the loose stools she automatically started to use the tray again of her owen accord. She will not use it if it has any soiling in it so needs to be cleaned out regulary. As clean animals they need a clean toilet If it is she will use it every time.

She's been to the vets over the loose stools, they can't see anything wrong. She's been wormed, she doesn't have any kind of temperature, she seems it totally good health. I think she's just being a bit of an odd one. I've put newspaper down where she was going, which she's using. And I have caught her going once or twice and popped her in the litter tray just before the event!! This cat is just a bit of a mystery.