indoor/outdoor cat suddenly pooping indoors

by D
(ca)


Hi I have an indoor/outdoor cat that is usually very well behaved. She lets me know when she has to go to the bathroom and I let her outside. Otherwise she holds it and goes at night or in the morning. She is free to roam indoors or outdoors as she pleases. Recently I went away for 4 days and my roommate fed her. Prior to my leaving, I woke up one morning to find cat poop in the living room. I cleaned it up and made sure she knew I saw it. When I came back from my absence, the next two days I woke up to find poop in the same vicinity of the living room. My roommate had said that she pooped in another area of the house while I was gone as well. She also has started to misbehave in other ways as well such as climbing on the coffee table to taste my food. (She hasn't done this before except for the occassional water)

I would deduce it is because I left, but this started happening before I left. Any ideas? How do I get her to go back to her well behaved ways and end the indoor pooping?

Answer by Kate
great picture by the way.

Well this can be a difficult one to diagnose as this kind of behavior known as middening is often cause by some sort of change in the cats world. These changes can range from simply moving furniture, buying new furniture, new people, new cats in the area in evem if they don't come in the house etc etc the list of causes can be almost anything. The behavior is her way of remarking her territory to tell others that this is hers and also to make herself feel more secure in her home environement. So your job is to turn detective and try and find out what might have changed that could have upset her.
Also i have an indoor/outdoor cat who mainly uses the loo outside but i also provide a litter tray inside for emergency use, that might be an idea.
Also you must clean the area very very thouroughly as any hint of scent will be picked up by your cat and encourage them to go in the same place. It could be an idea to spray the area with a strong citrus smell, something cats hate.

Comments for indoor/outdoor cat suddenly pooping indoors

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Pooping adult cat
by: Anonymous

Have adopted local outdoor cat who is 1/2 time indoors BUT loves outdoors but poops inside my place 1 X a year.
Always during the winter fall season, never in summer, spring

Ideas, comments
Cat peeing
by: Anonymous

My kitten is 9 months , he has just been neautered , he has always used the cat flap to go and do his peeing , however he has just started peeing in my sons bed , then started peeing on my bed . Please help . I am 51 years old and always kept and loved cats dearly but never had this trouble .
cat owner
by: aulpn

i have a 14 yr female cat. She began pooping 3 times round hard turds a week on the bed, living room, or on the deck, and also poops normally in the litter box. The vet didn't say much when i called her, which was 3 months ago. She likes the new Friskies extra gravy food. Starts out laying on the foot of the bed, and after 30-45 min later lays on next to the window.
Mystery poo
by: Catriona

Hi, I have 2 cats that have permanent free access outdoors through cat flap. Next door's cat also visits. I have recently twice discovered a plie of poo in the corner of my bathroom. No idea whose. Could it be one of them?
My cat is afraid
by: Michael

I have an indoor /outdoor cat that recently started going to the bathroom inside. She always went outside but after getting attacked by the same cat over and over she is scared to go outside . Is there anything i can do to reverse this and get her going back outside?
Since being pregnant, our female cat won't poo outdoors
by: Alan

Our 2 cats are from the same litter, and less than 1 yr old. Within a couple of weeks of being allowed in the garden, they stopped using the litter tray, preferring the outdoors during the day. Great! (Litter tray kept for night times)

The female got pregnant, and in the last few weeks before birth started using the litter tray again. I can understand that.

However, now her kittens are 2 months old, and each of them is happily using the litter tray(s), she still refuses to do her stuff outdoors. We will be rehoming the kittens in a couple of weeks, and I want to get rid of the tray completely then.

She urinates and defecates so much, we are having to clean the tray out entirely twice a day. Although the kittens are on solids, she still supplements through suckling a couple times a day.

So. How do we train her to go outdoors again?
Thanks...

Answer by KAte
Hi I had a similar problem with my cat. Unfortunantly there is no real training method except for letting your cat out straight after she has a meal. this is the normal time that they may want to go and she will get into a routine of going out and having less access to the litter tray.

After a while she will get back into the habit of going outside and should ask to go out when she wants to go and only use the litter tray in emergencies.

best wishes Kate
better
by: Anonymous

she doesn't do this anymore. I think it was the change of many factors.
Thank you for your comments.

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