Cat

[mkramer]

My friend is having trouble with his 9 year old cat pooping just in front of the litter box. Currently, Simba lives with 2 others cats, 3 litter boxes. Previously, when there was two cats and 3 litter boxes and he still did it. Seems once he is comfortable at a location, that is when he starts. When he first got Simba, he used the litter box fine. After a few months though, he started pooping outside the litter box. In September, they moved and again, Simba used the litter box fine, but now has started pooping outside the litter box again. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[meezermom]

Ask your friend to check the stool and see if it is really hard. If so, he could be looking at megacolon and if so, many cats with that won't use a litterbox. There is not a huge amount of stuff you can do but it would be good to discuss it with the vet. If it is only stool and never urine, you are not likely to be looking at a bladder problem. Feeding some canned food of a good quality with a bit of added water mixed in will help. Cats with megacolon need more water and as we know, cats are not big drinkers.

If the stool is normal, the cat may be getting bullied by one of the others and has decided to not bother any longer... In this case, they may need to have an extra litterbox somewhere. I know the usual recommendation is one box per cat plus an extra but not sure how many people do that...
So let me know which they find....hard stool or normal and will be able to help further..... I am going to also assume he is altered..........