Why are they doing this?

[apple_juice]

Ok I don't even know if it is a they or just one of the cats but every single day one of them is pooping or peeing in various locations in my house.

The last three days in a row I have gotten out of the shower to find my clothes soiled by cat pee. Every night last week I would go to run my bath and there would be poop in the tub. If I beat him to the tub he poops on the kitchen floor in front of the sink!

The other day I was putting DS down for a nap and smelled cat pee. Both of our beds had been peed on!

This morning there was poop in front of the sink and pee all over the cupboard. I don't even want to get out of bed anymore because my 1st task of the day is cleaning up cat excrement.

I don't have time to do retraining! I am going to buy yet another littler box today but I have no idea where to put it. I am 10 seconds from throwing the one I suspect outside permanently.

Thanks for reading. I just really need to rant about it. It is really getting to me. I really love my cats but right now I feel like I would not even be upset if they suddenly disappeared.

[her_story]

My cats have been acting strange recently too. I think they can sense the impending family dynamic change, and are used to being the center of attention. Something to do with pack group dynamics.

Luckily, I only have one cat who is a "protest pooper." He keeps it isolated to just outside the litterbox down in the unfinished basement. Plus, it is my husbands job to clean the litterboxes!!

Have you tried using one of the enzyme cleaners in the cats frequent spots?? Maybe getting rid of the smell/residue would turn him off of that area (e.g. bathtub)???

I know that this is the last thing you want to deal with right now, I wish I had better advice!!

[brightskye]

Oh boy, me too! My cats have been doing this for months, it's maddening! Due to worries about toxoplasmosis, which I haven't had, dh does all the kitty clean ups, but it's become a daily job. And they'll poo like 6 feet from the litter box, there's just no excuse for that!

I've got no answers, clearly, but I sure can relate. It's so disgusting and frustrating.

[Kikelet]

Been there!!! It is so unbelievably frustrating.. I know you probably don't want to deal with it right now, but here's what we have done and it worked really well.

We had to get a second litter box for our two cats. Turns out, the younger cat (7) was sneaking up on the older cat (9) and ambushing him when he went potty.. So the older one would poop where he could see and feel safe (right outside the litter box). Putting the litter box in two separate places helped the kitties to feel like they had safe places to go.

You have to find all the spots, things, and clothes they've peed on and seriously clean them to remove the pee odor all at the same time. If you leave anything with pee out, they'll pee on it again. The enzyme cleaner (Nature's Miracle or PeePee) works the best and neutralizes the odor. If the bed has been peed on, you're probably (excuse my language) boned because the pee soaks into the mattress and you can't remove it. Once it's marked, they will keep peeing on it. I have a plastic liner on my bed in case this happens. If you can at least soak a bit of enzyme cleaner on it and then use the pheromone spray (mentioned below) that might help tremendously. But definitely get a waterproof liner on it so they can't pee through the mattress anymore if it continues.

Keep all clothes, towels, and non-necessary soft items off the floors completely so the kitties have less things to pee on. This can even include putting up your bathroom and kitchen rugs so they don't have a soft spot to pee on.

Clean the litter boxes at least once every two days for the time you're trying to fix these issues; once one cat marks the litter box, they might want to continue marking other areas until this issue gets worked out.

There is a special spray that has cat pheromones in it to calm them down and keep them from peeing in certain areas. It is expensive, but it really really works. I think it's worth it because our cats stopped peeing under the nook when we used it.

And lastly, patience, of course. The kitties probably sense there is something going on, and they are frustrated too, even though it seems SO unfair that they are doing this to you. If they keep it up even after you've done these things, you *might* need to take them to the vet for a check-up. Kitties can get bladder infections and they will pee and poop everywhere for no apparent reason.

I really hope you can work this out. I know how hard it can be to deal with this kind of thing.. I've had my cats for 10 years and sometimes they get into a funk and I have to totally change things around to accommodate them or it'll just keep happening. I love them so much and I hate how mad I get, but how else are you supposed to feel when your house is covered in crap!!?

[mumkimum]

One of my distraught memories is of my dd, at 2 or 3 mo old, having an explosive diaper all over the living room floor and then finding that cat had also pooed and smeared it all over as well. And then trying to manage to clean up both poo spots without having either of them make it worse.

You've got my sympathies on how hopeless you feel when the cats are going all over the house (we mainly had poop issues with one cat and it turned out it was the beginnings of megacolon - made a diet change and it's gone now, though I don't think that'd be the issue with a peeing cat as well).
If you don't think it's any kind of medical issue (like a uti or something - which is pretty common) I've heard good things about feliway if it's done out of nervousness and there's also rescue remedy for pets too. Enzyme cleaners and another litter box are good ideas too.

[organicmom3]

I'm not sure how you would know with multiple cats....I guess you would need to catch one in the act...but whichever one(s) is doing it really needs tested for urinary infections... It could be behavioral but if its an infection nothing you do is going to prevent or stop it....

you haven't changed their type of litter lately have you because that could do it for sure as well.

[Ldogg]

How strange--our 3-yr-old cat in the past week has pooped a couple of different times on the floor, in various locations throughout the house. He has NEVER done this before! He's usually really good, so I was wondering if this had something to do with sensing an impending change in the family dynamic coming up.

Weird.