The intermittent nature of this problem has me wondering about the trigger. Assuming it isn't physical then it must be mental (stating the obvious I know). What kind of litter trays do you have as in covered, open, deep, shallow, large, small? Is there something happening periodically which makes her nervous of using them? If she goes out then the trigger could be external to your household.

 

Very frustrating.
FWIW, I am not sure if carpeted flooring is the best choice with cats in the house, especially with this kind of behaviour. Can you not re-think that side of things to go for hard or wooden floors?

 

The intermittent nature of this problem has me wondering about the trigger. Assuming it isn't physical then it must be mental (stating the obvious I know). What kind of litter trays do you have as in covered, open, deep, shallow, large, small? Is there something happening periodically which makes her nervous of using them? If she goes out then the trigger could be external to your household.

I have 3 uncovered litter trays... One is quite shallow and probably medium sized... The other two are quite deep and large. She prefers to use the smaller one.

I really can't think of anything that happens periodically.. As far as outside is concerned there are 3 new young cats in the area (next door) but this problem has happened at least for the last 3 years... Although it has become worse in the last year. She can be quite 'arsey' at times - attention is on her terms and she will hiss, growl and spit if you walk past her for absolutely no reason but other times she will quite happily follow you around all day purring and wanting cuddles. I assumed that the hissing/growling meant there was something medically wrong with her (pain etc) hense why I took her to the vets.. The only issue they could find was a bad tooth which they suspected wasn't actually causing that much pain.

Although shes about 12 now and prefers to chill out she has absolutely no problem with running, jumping and climbing. The vet honestly thinks she just has an 'attitude'.

 

Very frustrating.
FWIW, I am not sure if carpeted flooring is the best choice with cats in the house, especially with this kind of behaviour. Can you not re-think that side of things to go for hard or wooden floors?

I took all the carpet up upstairs and sanded the floorboards and have treated them (it looks really nice even if I do say so myself!) - I just would of liked carpet in one room at least... But I guess I will have to rethink it

I love her dearly but I just can't understand why she does it.. She's always had litter trays and she's been here since she was a kitten unlike Romeo who was semi-feral and running around in the streets for the 5 months of his life... He's never had an accident since we had him... Even when he was very ill he crawled to the tray! It's very fustrating

 

I really can't think of anything that happens periodically..

You wouldn't necessarily see or know. It's more common than you think for strange cats to visit houses with cat flaps in the middle of the night.

 

You wouldn't necessarily see or know. It's more common than you think for strange cats to visit houses with cat flaps in the middle of the night.

Ahh cat flap is locked in the evenings and at the moment we have one of those stupid magnetic cat flaps (hoping to upgrade to a microchip one when we replace the back door). Most days I manually let her out of the door and manually let her back in again because I don't allow Romeo outside.

 

I love stripped wood floors. Like you I have clung on to some carpet, in the bedrooms in my case....but despite being frequently shampooed they really are not practical and I think I will get rid soon.
As for Buttons....why not look into Bach Flower remedies, the single ones, not the blends.

 

So where is she going when she's out?

 

So where is she going when she's out?

Most of the time in our garden rolling around in the sun or in next doors garden (the one with no cats) but I can't 100% say she doesn't leave that perimeter.

She isn't ever locked out completely at the most she might have to wait 10 minutes by the door.. but she makes enough noise for everyone in the world to hear she wants in.

 

AM -- is this a problem she has had since you first homed her a kitten? Or did it start when something specific happened in her life, such as e.g. a house move, or Romeo joining the household? Or do you relate it to her getting into her senior years?

As it is an intermittent problem, and not constant, it is either (as Havoc suggests) something within the environment upsetting her (outside or inside the house), or it could be due to her tummy feeling uncomfortable, and she is associating the discomfort with the litter tray. Even though her stools look normal, there still could be some underlying discomfort.

It might not even necessarily be bowel discomfort, but could be bladder discomfort, making her associate the litter tray generally with pain.

Have you made any changes to her diet recently? Unless she eats the same foods every day, it might be worth you keeping a food diary, to see if you can make any links between her toilet behaviour and her diet.

One of my cats (RIP) as he got older,(15) suddenly stopped using the litter trays in the kitchen and the downstairs cloakroom to poo in and began pooing in the corner of the sitting room. I never discovered why, certainly nothing had changed in any way in the house. I tried the usual things, different litter trays, (bigger, covered) and different types of litter, cleaning the carpet with enzymatic cleaner etc. Nothing made a difference. The only thing that worked was putting a litter tray in the spot where he had been pooing. From then on he used that particular litter tray and there were no more problems.

Of course it was not exactly ideal to have a litter tray in the sitting room, but I put a fire-screen in front of it, and emptied it immediately it was used, so it was manageable.

In Button's case it seems she is pooing in various places, which makes me think it is more about how she feels, than the location of the litter trays. But even so, it might be worth putting down some more litter trays (just small ones) in her favourite spots for a trial period to see if it helps.

As for carpeting, I tend to agree with those who say it is not very practical if you have cats. But like you I do like to have some carpet in the house, especially in the sitting room, and bedrooms. But if you are planning to replace the carpet I would definitely keep the cats shut out of the living room unless you are with them, once you have the new carpet fitted.

But if you do decide to re-carpet, knowing Button's problem, then you & your OH may also perhaps wish to decide beforehand (for the sake of your sanity), you will be philosophical about any toiletting accidents that happen.
Bear in mind it is not just toiletting accidents, as there may also vomiting episodes on the carpet, especially as Button get older. Even the most well-adjusted well-behaved cat cannot help those.

 

Hi CM,
No she hasn't always had a problem.. she's had the occasional accident I guess, she's never moved house and the issues started a few years before Romeo came. Out of all those I guess the only one it could relate to is getting older..

It could be stomach discomfort but I'm not sure how we could find that out, she had her kidney function tested about 3/4 months ago along with several blood tests before she had anesthetic for the tooth removal because of her age. They all came back fine.. in fact she's in very good shape for age according to the vet.

Her food hasn't changed recently but she eats the same as Romeo who I already keep a diary for so I guess I could make it the "Romeo & Button Diary" and see if I can draw any conclusions from it.

I will buy 2 more trays on the weekend and see how that goes. A few months ago she decided to poo in the corner of the bedroom continuously so we put a tray there and she moved out to the landing a few times then it stopped and she didn't have any accidents for months.

I've been thinking about the carpet all day.. and although not sure what I'm going to do yet I have been looking at laminate samples . Don't get me wrong I don't get seriously pee'd off with Button I realize that accidents happen.. I have no problem with scrubbing carpets and I'm not exactly very house proud but sometimes it feels like it's deliberate (I know she's a cat!!) where the wee'ing and poo'ing is concerned.. Vomit I can understand.

 

AM -- it might be "deliberate" in the sense she is trying to tell you something.
I thought this very thing actually when you mentioned in your previous post that she came in the sitting room and pooed on the carpet right in front of you. To me this is a cat's way of saying "please notice I am not happy, and please fix it for me".

That puts you in the difficult position of trying to 'break the code' and work out exactly what it is the cat is not happy about! Not easy at all

The exception might be, in an older cat (usually older than Button) if the onset of age made her lose her social inhibitions so she no longer cared about using the trays. I guess this is always possible with Button, but then I would expect her to consistently not bother with the trays at all. But I can assure you if her behaviour was due to the onset of age associated dementia, you would likely see other signs of it.

I agree any vomiting episodes would be completely involuntary on her part, but vomit can really damage the carpet, can stain, or even remove the colour in patches. Personally I have had my living room carpet ruined more by my cats vomiting as they became seniors, than by any poo accidents.

So it has been the the rather frequent vomiting episodes of my senior cats that actually put me off replacing the carpet with new. Up until now that is, as my present 3 cats are youngsters, and so far have not vomited on the carpet.