I Need a Cat Whisperer
-
So I'm having some problems with my cat. She's a Russian Blue and about 9 years old. She's in good health from what we know but has been pooping in random places all over the house in the past few months.
Let me start by saying we did have a miniature dachshund who died in Q3 of 2014. The cat was not extremely close to the dog, but they tolerated each other and played together from time to time. Maybe the loss of the dog is affecting the cat.
The strange thing is our cat always pees in the litter box. There's never been an issue. But she started pooping outside the litter box (most of the time in the same room as her litter box but at other times in random rooms of the house). It started as a now and then thing until it became an almost daily thing.
At one point I think she was genuinely sick and had some stuff in her stool that looked like she had eaten part of a plant in the house. My sister fosters cats and was able to get me some medicine, which seemed to help a little but was only temporary. The pooping outside the litter box continued, but she does not seem in any way sick.
We got her a new litter box to see if that would help. It did not really change anything. I made sure to scoop the box every day and made sure to pay more attention to her. The extra attention seems to have helped, but we still can't seem to eliminate the habit completely. It still happens here and there (maybe once every few days now).
We tried limiting her food to some extent, but that did not really help either. The other day @NetworkNerdWifey saw her sniffing around the baseboards in our bedroom. She yelled at the cat when she saw the near attempt to poop in the floor, telling the cat she was only to poop in her litter box. That prompted the cat to run to the box and poop.
What does this cat want from us so she will only poop in her litter box? Now we know she is not pooping in her box on purpose.
Any advice is much appreciated. If this continues too much longer, I am shipping her off to live with my sister and her foster cats.
-
@NetworkNerd said:
So I'm having some problems with my cat. She's a Russian Blue and about 9 years old. She's in good health from what we know but has been pooping in random places all over the house in the past few months.
Let me start by saying we did have a miniature dachshund who died in Q3 of 2014. The cat was not extremely close to the dog, but they tolerated each other and played together from time to time. Maybe the loss of the dog is affecting the cat.
The strange thing is our cat always pees in the litter box. There's never been an issue. But she started pooping outside the litter box (most of the time in the same room as her litter box but at other times in random rooms of the house). It started as a now and then thing until it became an almost daily thing.
At one point I think she was genuinely sick and had some stuff in her stool that looked like she had eaten part of a plant in the house. My sister fosters cats and was able to get me some medicine, which seemed to help a little but was only temporary. The pooping outside the litter box continued, but she does not seem in any way sick.
We got her a new litter box to see if that would help. It did not really change anything. I made sure to scoop the box every day and made sure to pay more attention to her. The extra attention seems to have helped, but we still can't seem to eliminate the habit completely. It still happens here and there (maybe once every few days now).
We tried limiting her food to some extent, but that did not really help either. The other day @NetworkNerdWifey saw her sniffing around the baseboards in our bedroom. She yelled at the cat when she saw the near attempt to poop in the floor, telling the cat she was only to poop in her litter box. That prompted the cat to run to the box and poop.
What does this cat want from us so she will only poop in her litter box? Now we know she is not pooping in her box on purpose.
Any advice is much appreciated. If this continues too much longer, I am shipping her off to live with my sister and her foster cats.
Have you put her nose in it?
-
@thanksaj
Sorry that does not work with cats...Can't say I know what to suggest.. I don't know for sure but I think it's a sign of depression. the cat may have tolerated the dog,.. but they were companions.... The lost has affected her mood..
Can't say getting another pet would help.. but i'd say it may be something like that.
have you spoken to a vet?
-
@thanksaj said:
Have you put her nose in it?
that will just make them poop more.
-
Have you considered that....
Because.... cat
-
Cats are definitely in a class by themselves, and sometimes for good reason. I do love my cats but when this happens, trying to find a solution is not always easy. As someone said, believe it or not, it can be a sign of depression. Just because they "tolerated" each other, there was still a "pecking" order per say and it sounds like your cat may have been at the top - just a guess. Mine started doing it with the introduction of two other cats into the household - luckily, he stopped, but it took some time and a lot of it came from getting use to the fact that he wasn't the only one in the house. You've already done the one thing that I would have suggested which is replacing the cat box (been there done that), so now its time to talk to a vet. It could be that the cat is trying to find the smells of her "friend" and exert her control, even though her friend isn't there. And no, I have nothing to back that theory up with, I'm just pulling it out of my ass, no pun intended.
-
I'm perfectly fine with shipping the cat off to live with Crazy Cat Lady sis-in-law.
Signed,
OVER IT(Cat doesn't like me anyway.)
-
Meow.
-
I've heard that lead delivered at high velocity fixes this.
-
@nadnerB said:
I've heard that lead delivered at high velocity fixes this.
I take it you're not a cat fan?
-
@thanksaj said:
@nadnerB said:
I've heard that lead delivered at high velocity fixes this.
I take it you're not a cat fan?
Correct.
I'll leave it at that, this is not the thread for more details.
