I just adopted my kitten, Pandora, from a shelter last month. She is 12 weeks old now. She was very sick with parasites when we got her (her brother died of it) and then wouldn't let us take her home until she recieved a clean bill of health.

When we first got her home she had no problem using her litter box. We have a three year old cat, Jersey, who is very big and uses a large covered box. We got a smaller box for the baby, and each used their own. In the first few weeks we had her, Pandora had two accidents: once she dribbled a little pee on the floor and once I found she had peed on the left side of the sofa. I figured they were just little accidents and I steam cleaned the sofa and washed the cushion covers.

About a week later (two days ago) I sat down on the sofa. I looked to my left and saw Pandora right in the middle of pooping on the cushion! I picked her up mid-poop and put her in the litter box, but she didn't finish. I went back into the living room and saw that there was another pile of dried poop on the cushion and a puddle of pee. I took Pandora to the couch, showed her what she had done and let her know I was not pleased. I took the cushions up to wash the covers again and steam clean. While I had the cushions off the sofa, she peed on the same spot, even though the cushions were gone! This morning I woke up to find two poops on the sofa! Now, I still find kitten poop and pee in her litter box, so she still uses it sometimes.

My older cat, Jersey, has never had any problems like this. When she has done something bad, discapline with a firm tone of voice or a spray bottle of water has always worked perfectly for her, but they seem to have no effect on the kitten.

I have read all the suggestions on how to address this problem. The most effective seems to be isolating the cat in a small room with just food and litter box, but this is impossible in my house. My husband is in the Air Force and we live in base housing which is quite small. We keep the litter boxes in the laundry room which opens onto the kitchen and living room with no doors. Even if I could baricade the doorways somehow, I don't want to punish my older cat by not allowing her access to the rest of the house. Our bathroom is way too tiny to fit even the smallest litter box. The only other aternative is one of the two bedrooms, which we tried, but couldn't handle because of the smell.

My house is small and the smell issue is a very big factor. I use feline pine litter becuase I have tried everything and I have found feline pine takes care of odors the best. I could try another kind of litter, but then the whole house would smell. Jersey, my older cat, does not eat dry food because of the horrible smelly gas it gives her and the way it makes her poop stink so horribly I want to move out of my own house. When we first brought Pandora home we HAD to feed her wet food because she would not eat dry food. I have weaned her off of it slowly, again because it would make her poop stink up the whole house and she would get the most disgusting smelling gas that she would pass right in our faces. Now, even though she is supposed to be eating kitten food, she will only eat Jersey's food (Purina Indoor Formula). She started eating only dry food the day before she started pooping on the sofa regularly. I figure she might be doing this to get back at me for taking away her wet food. But I can't start giving it to her again because neither my husband or I can handle the stench.

I am very concerned because my husband said that if I can't make Pandora stop pooping on the sofa, I will have to take her back to the shelter. He comes home tired from work and can't even sit on his own sofa. Also, we are leaving on vacation next week, and I don't want my neighbor (who is watching the cats) to have to deal with poop and pee all over my furniture.

I have a vet appointment scheduled early next week, and will also ask her for advice, but we are leaving on vacation two days after the appointment. I will try using the tin foil and spray, as suggested on this site, but I am wondering if anyone has any other ideas. It seems that people are saying the spray is not very effective, and it's not really practical to keep my sofa covered in tinfoil all day long.

I'm sorry this message got so long! Thanks for your help!!!

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