Cat Poop Horror

by Tara Soucie
(CANADA)

Hello -

I have two cats - a 3 y/o male and a 10 y/o female. We have been dealing with my male cats urinary problems - we recently found out he has crystals, though he has still had some accidents (though, I think it's more because he found an old pee spot and his instincts took over and he pee'ed again). However, he's not the problem. One day, while we were cleaning up, what we hope is his final mess, we have discovered that our 10 y/o has been pooping behind our fire place. I mean, A LOT of pooping - two grocery bags full. It must have been going on for a long time, because it looked like some of the feces had started to turn white. As well, we believe that it is mostly the female cat because we have caught her coming out from behind the fire place before. I always had found it funny that there was not a lot of feces in the boxes (I have two boxes that are cleaned twice a week), but just figured that was the norm for my cats. That's pretty much it. Now, we have blocked off the entire area. What can we do? Is my cat hoarding her poop?

What do you think?
Any guidance will help.
Thank you!
Cheers
Tara Soucie

Reply
Hi
wow two bags full now thats a lot.

No is not hording her poop it has more to do with habit, scent, territory and possibly feeling a little anxious.

pooping outside of the litter box is called Middening and can be a complicated issue. i have therefore written a page about it here.

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-poo.html

You did the right thing in shutting off the area this will be the first step in breaking the habit. there is advice on the page about a littler retraining technique which can help cats to relax and get used to their litter tray again.

If the issue continues but elsewhere then it may be worth having her looked over by a vet in case her anxiety is due to ill health.

best wishes kate

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