My Cat Craps on My Carpet

[FalTorPan]

I have two pet cats: Sam, whom I adopted from Mom and Dad in 2000, and... Kitty Deux.

I adopted Kitty Deux early in 2005, at the encouragement of relatives and the woman whom I was dating at the time. Ultimately the decision was mine, and I take full responsibility for making it. The cat used to wail in the middle of the night, every night. Eventually he outgrew that, but one habit that he's never outgrown is his tendency to crap on the carpet of the third bedroom. Lately he's done this about every three days.

On February 9 he crapped on the carpet barely fifteen minutes after I cleaned out the litter box.

Yesterday morning: Litter box cleaned
This morning: Woke up to discover cat crap on the carpet

Do I have to spend a ton of cash on a self-cleaning litter box, or what? The litter box is enormous, and it shouldn't need to be changed twice a day. I've tried the cheap stuff -- no dice. I've tried the scoopable stuff, scooping it daily -- no noticable change in his behavior. I've tried the scoopable stuff and changing it more frequently -- no dice.

One thing is certain: when Kitty Deux (a.k.a. The Stupid Cat) and Sam are gone, if I have any say in the matter, then there will be no more cats in my household.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can change The Stupid Cat's behavior? The obvious options -- shoving a cork up his keister or kicking him out of the house -- aren't viable options... yet.

 

[Jeri]

One of our cats started doing that suddenly after years of normal habits. Turns out the other male was following him around and preventing him from using the various litterboxes (three in the house). So he had to find somewhere to go.

We put a litterbox in the garage and made sure he got out there every morning by himself so the troublemaker couldn't bother him. Pretty much solved the problem, as long as we made sure he got out there a couple times a day.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Yeah, I would guess it has something to do with the other cat, especially if they are sharing a litterbox. You may not see them fighting or anything so violent, it may just be "understood" by Kitty Deux that he must obey Sam's rules. And Sam says no litterbox.

 

[FalTorPan]

A MySpace buddy has suggested the same thing. I guess it wouldn't matter if the place that Kitty Deux defecates is in the same room as the litter box itself.

Tomorrow I'm going to shampoo the carpet of the entire bedroom, and I might also buy a second litter box to put in another corner of the room.

Thanks for the suggestions, and if you have additional ideas, please keep 'em coming!

 

[nevermore]

^I think that's your best course of action right now. Give him his own place to go and see if it helps. You may want to try putting a throw rug over the area he normally uses as well, something with a different sort of nap. Maybe there's just something about the carpet itself that attracts him...make it unfamiliar and provide a proper place nearby as a more appealing alternative.

 

[LavianoTS386]

I had a similar issue with one of my cats. She used to go in the shower, even after I would clean the litter box. She wasn't very social. My assumptions were: she either didn't like going with so many cats, or she just assumed the litter box wasn't going to be clean for her.

Filling the tub with water helped me. But you might want to consider giving your cat separate place to go, buying a larger cat pan, or changing the litter. Some litter that is scented irritates cats noses, and litter that had those pee-crystals can burn their paws.

 

[Jeri]

I would focus on making sure the cat gets his time alone in the room with the new box, with the other cat shut out.

As I mentioned, we have three litter boxes -- one on each floor -- and the other cat was following Bob around and not letting him use any of them. So another box is not the whole solution.

Time alone with the door shut was essential to solving our problem. A couple times a day should solve the carpet problem, depending on how often the cat likes to go.

 

[Gertch]

I had a similar problem with our four cats. Thing is for a couple of years everything was okay with one box. We were using the automatic ones and things were great. Suddenly we started noticing peeing going on elsewhere.

Finally we tried a second litter box and everything has been fine. They are about 2 feet away from each other and the two males will use separate ones.

 

[freak]

I agree with the other posters here. Maybe it's the other cat that's preventing him from going to the bathroom. I can relate! I have a cat who hangs his butt OVER the litter box, and misses and gets his cat crap all over the floor. Thank God I have some garbage bags down or else he would have REALLY messed up the floor!

 

[nevermore]

^Get a covered box. One like this would eliminate that problem.

 

[Kryton]

Maybe you just have crappy carpet. Ever think of that?

 

[bigdaddy]

They can have an bladder infection, my cat has had a few. They normally pee on the carpet and try to crap somewhere else.

If the cat isn't sick then what you do is you shove their face into the shit really hard and yell at them. Then you bring them to the litter box, to show them where it is. After a few days they get the hint.

 

[Jeri]

That sounds like a bad idea; that would really create potty training problems, associating it with fear and filth.

 

[Capt_Piett]

"If the cat isn't sick then what you do is you shove their face into the shit really hard and yell at them."

Actually, we used to have a cat that was doing the very same thing. He had been using his litter box fine, then all of a sudden he started crapping random places; in a box in my room, the stairs, the floor in living room. By about the 4th time he did this, I got so effing pissed because I stepped in it I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, shoved his face in it, then let him go. Never did it again after that.

 

[bigdaddy]

"If the cat isn't sick then what you do is you shove their face into the shit really hard and yell at them."

Actually, we used to have a cat that was doing the very same thing. He had been using his litter box fine, then all of a sudden he started crapping random places; in a box in my room, the stairs, the floor in living room. By about the 4th time he did this, I got so effing pissed because I stepped in it I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, shoved his face in it, then let him go. Never did it again after that.

Exactly! My grandparents cat did that when she was 1-2, never did it again. It works fine, it's proven to work, cats aren't as dumb as people think, they realize it's wrong. My cat is rather sick, she started peeing in the tub and started hiding under the bed because she knew she wasn't supposed to pee in the tub. I finally convinced her it's OK and she stopped hiding, she had peed on the rug a little, but she is old and I don't care.

 

[Tim]

"If the cat isn't sick then what you do is you shove their face into the shit really hard and yell at them."

Actually, we used to have a cat that was doing the very same thing. He had been using his litter box fine, then all of a sudden he started crapping random places; in a box in my room, the stairs, the floor in living room. By about the 4th time he did this, I got so effing pissed because I stepped in it I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, shoved his face in it, then let him go. Never did it again after that.

Good ol' operant conditioning.

 

[FalTorPan]

The cat pooped on the carpet again about 30 minutes ago.

Tomorrow I'm going to shampoo the carpet of the craproom. I'm also going to buy one of those "automatic" cat litterboxes, and I'll place it a couple feet away from the first one. Hopefully that will reduce the problem.

 

[Kelso]

I used to have the same problem with a kitty. Actually, she was worse. She would poop anywhere she pleased and if I scolded her she would piss in my chair. Finally, I had enough and she found herself living in the bathroom until she proved she could use the litter-box.

I amazed that your cats have fairly normal names. I would have expected your pets to have names like "Lobo" or "Eros" or "Dr. Vornoff".

 

[Captain X]

Do you live in the country? Throw the frakker outside.

 

[Gertch]

I'm also going to buy one of those "automatic" cat litterboxes,

Make sure you register your purchase online with them. I had to get three replacements the first year. That's as long as the warranty will cover.

There are also parts available on eBay. You can do your own repairs after the year is up.

That's if you get the Littermaid one. The litter robot actually worked better but a couple of the cats wouldn't go in.