Territorial Pooping?

[Breheart]

Hello everyone,

It has been so long since I have had any issues with Keljin - well this is a NEW one to me entirely and I am stumped. Please help!

He has had 3 poop accidents (or deliberate) in the last 2 weeks. The first night it happened while I was sleeping, I woke up in the morning and he had pooped right outside of his bathroom door. Literally 5 feet away from his litter box. I forgave him for that one because we had a really nasty thunder storm so maybe he got scared and couldn't hold it?

Now, the week after that I came home from work.. and he had pooped in the front door entryway. I have a 2 story house, so this accident was verrrrry far away from his litter box. Anyways I scrubbed the floor super good with enzymatic cleaner, to get rid of any residual smell to make him come back to that place. Today.. I woke up this morning and again the front door had poop again! So here are my 3 ideas that come to mind, and some reasoning behind them. If anyone can add on to this with any experience or advice it would be greatly appreciated!

1. Pain? When he was a baby he had litter box avoidance issues due to pain. He would seek comfort and usually go in my bed, or on carpet in places. All 3 recent accidents though were totally solid. No diarrhea, no blood, no mucus. I think I can safely rule this idea out.

2. Litter box availability? I know I have heard the rule to have 1 box per cat plus one extra. All of Keljin's life he has been totally fine with just one box and he is a single lone cat to my house. I clean it 2x daily and never get more than 1 or 2 clumps at a time each cleaning so its not like there isn't room for him to use it that would make him picky. Maybe I need to add a second box downstairs? It just feels odd to me because he is almost 1yr old now and never had an issue with this before.

2. Territorial? Since all 3 times the poops were in/or near doorways/entrances. Does this mean something? How can I stop this?

One odd detail I need to add is - he is still peeing in his one litter box upstairs. He has only been pooping outside of it lately.

Any advice or experience is much appreciated!

 

[MK Anderson]

he might not like the location of the litter box. I would put up another litter box somewhere else.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

What enzyme cleaner are you using, btw? It really needs to be an effective one and many bought in stores are weak and less effective.

Is the litterbox at all covered? And how large is it? Sometimes as they grow they become crowded when before they were fine. We found that years ago with our first F2 boy... we stupidly had a covered box and as he grew he couldn't fit properly, especially as Bobo sits completely upright when he pees... once we took the cover off all was fine

 

[Breheart]

I was thinking location too, but is it odd that he still uses the box for peeing? It has been in the same location since he was a baby.

The box does have a covered top, so I will take it off to give that a try. In addition I will add a second box downstairs too and see if that helps. It just drives me crazy because I wish I knew the exact "why?" behind it lol.

The enzyme cleaner I use is Bissel "ewww" spray bottle.
http://www.amazon.com/Ewww-Enzymati...8&qid=1342641661&sr=8-5&keywords=bissell+ewww

 

[MK Anderson]

maybe he need one to poop in and one to pee in.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

I was thinking location too, but is it odd that he still uses the box for peeing? It has been in the same location since he was a baby.

The box does have a covered top, so I will take it off to give that a try. In addition I will add a second box downstairs too and see if that helps. It just drives me crazy because I wish I knew the exact "why?" behind it lol.

The enzyme cleaner I use is Bissel "ewww" spray bottle.
http://www.amazon.com/Ewww-Enzymatic-Stain-Remover-Quart/dp/B003UO5NH8/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1342641661&sr=8-5&keywords=bissell ewww

It could be as Marye Kae says that he might want different boxes, but I think it could still be the cover. Cats sometime assume different stances/position when peeing and pooping...one can be a quick squat while the other requires more effort or concentration and so it is possibly that is why the confined space is more upsetting to him when pooping. It could also be the smell...they have sensitive noses and when pooping in a tiny confined space (the covered box) it might offend his nose. I think it worth taking the cover off and seeing if things improve...

 

[DChap]

Tojo has 2 litter boxes and he clearly uses one for pee and one for poop. It has always seemed odd to me but whatever works.

 

[Kurt Mylar]

Tiger needs the open box and sometime has trouble and he will stand with three legs on the edge and one in as upright as he can get just to go. Loki does this to. Bintu on the other hand is not effected at all when going. I think it is just the males that have this problem my thoughts.

 

[mhardy12]

Just my two cents...i realized that Taz was really too big for even the largest litter box available. One pee and one poop then he was out of room. I went to Target and got one of the under the bed storage containers (larger one) and that seemed to give him ample room. People come over to my house and are shocked that I'm using a storage container as a litter box, but as us Savannah owners know you come up with unique solutionsmto problems.

 

[admin]

Sometimes our savannah cats and other coats just seem to change their mind overnight about everything and anything...it could be kelgin just does not like a covered litter box anymore...it could be he needs something larger, maybe he doesn't like that particular litter to poop in anymore...could be anything that is in his head