13 year old cat pooping outside of litter box

by Paige
(Philadelphia)

My cat was litter box trained for 13 years and now, all of a sudden, she's pooping on the carpets. My mother thought it was our 2 year old dog, but she just saw the cat doing it. She wants to get rid of the cat, but i love the cat too much to let her go. what should i do? why is my cat acting like this???

Answer by Kate
Hi
Your cat is not doing this out of spite or anything there is always a reason for this sort of behavior. Often it is because something has changed in the home which has caused the cat to feel unsettled and feeling the need to scent mark the house.

You need to make sure that there is no trace of her urine etc on the carpet otherwise this will attract her back to that area. Please see this page for advice on how best to clean urine etc


https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-urine-cleaner.html

You will also need to give your cat some litter training again and the best method is to use the confinement method which helps to calm the cat and also get them used to their litter box again. The process is described here

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

Also can I suggest that you read through this page also for some more information on some of the possible causes of this behavior

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

Don't worry this is a temporary problem that can be sorted out.

best wishes Kate

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