Dealing With Cat Poo Issues

Talking about cat poo is not an easy subject to approach. Often Cat owners will not discuss cat-fouling problems with anyone for the fear of embarrassment. Feeling that others will condemn them for either having a defective pet or a dirty house. But luckily with the advent of the Internet people can ask questions like “why does my cat poo everywhere” in complete anonymity and be able to solve this rather unsavoury problem.

I am constantly being asked by often very distressed and surprised cat owners why these problems occur in the first place from an animal so associated with being clean. I felt it was about time I wrote a page about the subject to try and clarify that cat poo in the house and outside the litter tray is a urgent cry for help from your cat and should not be ignored.

I thought cats were clean animals?

Well yes they are in 99.9% of cases and this is one reason why cat ownership is on the increase over dog ownership. In our increasingly busy lives where both partners now go out to work, owning a cat that can look after itself during the day is an absolute bonus. Also kittens need far less toilet training than puppies and so the need to be constantly available during the early months of ownership is less of an issue.

Desnousa flickr.com Kittens are essentially taught by their mother from a very early stage that they must keep their nest clean, essentially to avoid infection and not to attract predators. She does this by taking them out of the nest and stimulating them to go to the toilet away from their living area. This way they learn that this is the way to do it. Puppies are not taught the same way.

Kittens also have a natural desire to dig at soft loose dirt and by watching their mother dig a hole and then to perform her toilet and cover it up, they learn fast and these skills are very easy to transfer to a litter tray when the time comes.

So why is my cat fouling the house?

When cat poo is found around the house and your cat is in good health, alarm bells should start to ring. This is extreme behaviour from a cat and is not carried out lightly. The process of misplaced defecating is called Middening and is a very deliberate act. Your cat is not being naughty and should not be punished, but the problem does require urgent and gentle attention from owners to stop the behaviour becoming a hard habit to break.

Understanding Middening.

Cat communication is very much based on scent and just like urinating to leave their scent, middening is a more extreme territory marker. However the cat has chosen to leave cat poo as a very definite visual marker as well as a scent marker and is a very strong sign to other cats that this area is their territory and to back off. It is only carried out in extreme cases where the cat feels very insecure indeed.

In the wild other animal’s use middening quite obviously to mark out their territory and creatures like otters will often leave piles of faeces on high rocks to make sure it is very visible. Feral cats will also do the same and this is why a lot of people dislike feral cats. They are much less likely to bury their waste and instead like to leave it on lawns and pathways as markers and signals to other cats.

Middening in domesticated cats is far less common than cat spraying and so when it does occur it is often quite a shock for owners who become desperate to stop the behaviour quickly.

Trying to pin down the actual cause of why your cat is leaving cat poo everywhere will need some detective work from yourselves, as each individual case can be different. However here are some of the usual causes:

A new cat or dog (or even baby) introduced to the house

Too many cats living together in close proximity
Separation anxiety

A strange cat getting into the house via cat flaps etc.

Moving house

Any of the above could trigger your cat to defecate in the house but you must look at your own situations carefully. Some cats are easily upset and the simplest thing may cause them to become distressed, even moving their litter tray to a different part of the room may be just cause.

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What can be done to stop this behaviour?

There is only one way to stop cat poo ruining your life and your home. Take control of the situation fast but calmly. Remember do not shout at your cat or tell it off, you must make your cat comfortable and secure in their home again. This is normally done in two steps.

Firstly make sure that you remove the initial threat that was making your cat feel insecure in the first place. This may mean making sure no other cats are getting in through cat flaps etc, or by making sure your cat is not left alone for long periods if it is suffering from separation anxiety.

Secondly you will have to carry out a period of confinement for your cat to gradually make them feel more secure in their environment and to reintroduce them to the litter tray. Keep your cat in a pen or small room for about a week, with their toys, water and litter tray (feed them out of the pen in their usual spot then replace them back in the pen. Then gradually reintroduce them to the rest of the house. If new pets or children are the cause, then gradual introduction is required. All of these measures are designed to help the cat come to terms with the new situation and also to become less nervous in their home environment.

It may sound an extreme measure to confine a cat for a week or so, especially if the behaviour is from a cat that has lived with you for many years. But if you look at it from your cats point of view, they have started to display and extreme behaviour i.e. Middening, they would not do this unless they were very upset about something. As we cannot explain to them with words we have to show them gently and gradually not to be afraid.

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