10 year old cat pooping around the house

by Betty
(Colorado)

I have a 10 year old neutered male cat who weighs 21 pounds. In the last month, he was groomed and last week went to the vet for his yearly checkup and shots. The vet found him healthy, although a little overweight.

For the last few years, he has occasionally peed or pooped in various places around the house, i.e.pooped on our bed, on the couch, on clothes lying on the floor, in a recliner and peed in the recliner and on the couch. Previously, this had not happened very often, usually when there were more people in the house than normal.
In the last week, it is happening daily. He peed in the recliner and has pooped many times on the couch, floor and recliner.
Nothing has changed in his environment, same litter, no new animals, nothing I can think of is different. He was sneezing a lot lately, and had mattery eyes, but seems fine otherwise.
After discussing all of this with our vet, he was given an anitbiotic shot to help the "cold" symptoms and to resolve any unirary infection he may have had, although no tests were done to confirm he had that. His anal glands were about half full, so she expressed them. She suggested adding another litter box because we have 2 cats, but my husband is adamant about not putting another litter box in the house.
The vet visit was 5 days ago and it seems his pooping has been worse since then. He hasn't peed anywhere other than the litter box, but the pooping has been every day outside of the litter box.
I have had this cat since he was 8 weeks old, and we have had the other cat for 8 years, so it can't have anything to do with her.
Any ideas on what could be going on with him or any advise on resolving the issue? We love the cat dearly, he is very tempermental, so we think this could all be behavioral.Thank you.

Reply
Hi
yes this does sound behavioral rather than due to illness.

As your cat has a history of behavior like this due to anxiety, i would put this down to all the things which have recently happened to him i.e the grooming, then the vet, then the cold which may have made him feel run down and a little anxious.

My advice would be to give him a time out period to allow him to calm down and relax. he will also be recovering from his recent cold at the same time. So a period of confinement litter training may be a good idea for him at this time.

This process is described here on this page

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-litter-box.html

This sort of training allows the cat time to calm down and become less anxious as there are less things to worry about. It also allows them to become reacquainted with their litter tray too. It would mean that your other cat won't have access to this tray during this time though, so perhaps a temporary litter tray could be arranged for your other cat. A cheap paint tray often works well as a temporary measure.

best wishes kate

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