Reptile & Amphibian Forums

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!!!

Okay, it seems you have a pretty good knowledge about cats and have already considered some good ideas. Here's a couple more:
Your vet is probably going to check for parasites and infections and all of that, that is the very first step.
If the vet finds no medical problem with your cat, you need to wash and steam clean all of the poop and pee places with an enzyme cleaner like Natures Miracle, you can buy it at a pet store. Also spray the sofa with feliway to help deter the cat from using that spot. One thing to consider is that cat's won't use a dirty box, so you need to clean it every day. You said that odor is an issue becuase of small quarters, she may find the odor offensive as well (cat's can smell things that humans cant').
Cat's don't punish their owners by urinating or deficating. There is usually a medical or simple solution behind it. I would actually suggest placing a litter pan in the bathtub or shower unit, and keeping the kitten locked in the bathroom. Not as convenient (but more convenient than what you're going through now) and you and your husband can remove it when you need to use the shower or bath. This way, you won't be "punishing" you older cat. But you won't be punishing the kitten either, you are correcting a problem. Keep it this way for several weeks to get her back in the habbit of using the box, and make sure that there is no odor left in the sofa. Also, have you changed the type of litter when your cat started doing this? If so, change it back.
Good luck!

Destany

Thanks so much for the advice! I will definatly try the nature's miracle and the feliway. I put tin foil on my sofa this morning and it has worked so far... but, then, I still can't sit on my couch!

I haven't changed the type of litter she uses... I've always used feline pine. I must admit I'm not big on scooping through cat poo. My other cat, Jersey, doesn't require me too. When her box starts to get dirty she comes to me and meows (basically tells me it's time to change the litter), or I change it when I start to smell it. That's usually about once a week. I will scoop the baby's box out once a day if I need to, but I really don't think that's the problem because when her poop stank to high heaven because she was eating wet food she had no problem using the box, but now that's she eating only dry food and her poop hardly stinks at all, she's started pooping on the couch.

I'm worried too because we are leaving on vacation next week and our neighbors will be watching the cats. I think they won't have a problem with changing the litter once a week, but I sincerely doubt they will scoop through poo every day.

About keeping the litter box in the bathtub... Pandora is still too small to be able to jump that high. She can climb anything she can hold onto with her claws, but the bathtub is porcilain (obviously) and she wouldn't be able to get in. Even if I could find a way to get around that (use a step stool or something) I couldn't because of two reasons: my husband would never agree to carting a litter box around the house every time he needed to take a shower (he's a mechanic and gets really dirty so he showers like three times a day), and our bathroom door is tempermental so that if you shut it all the way (so the kitten wouldn't get out) it takes five minutes to pry it open again.

I feel like I'm playing devil's advocate here, but I'm really not! I'm just trying to find a solution that will work for both the feline and the human members of my family.

Thanks again!

I would take the kitten to the vets. They may not have cleared up all the parasites.
Second your kitten is getting older. She may have decided she doesn't like a box that hasn't been scooped. Most cats like a clean place to go. I would try scooping it out daily.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

Pandora seems to have a problem here. The first step is a vet check to be sure nothing is wrong at this point. Kittens are very prone to pooping problems, but most seem to be able to use the box fairly consistantly. Since Pandora is climbing to use the couch, the problem might just be behavioral, although the vet will need to rule that out.

Good luck. I hope that you can work things out for your kitten. She obviously needs a lot of love and patience.

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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

Well, I went to the pet store and spent $10 on a bottle of Nature's Miracle and $10 on a bottle of feliway. I cleaned all the cushions and covers VERY thoroughly and sprayed repeatedly with feliway, I changed the litter box....... and I woke up this morning to a big pile of poop right on the sofa! That was $20 down the drain.

Now she's started pooping and peeing right on the cracks between the cushions, like she's trying to get it between them to hide it or something. She cowers around me like she's scared, because I show her the poop and yell at her when I find it. She knows I am angry with her and knows that pooping on the sofa is bad, but she does it anyway. All that is happening is that my kitten is afraid of me now, but her behavior is not changing.

I am getting very worried about this. I can barely afford to repair my truck, I certainly can't afford a therapist for my cat! My husband would never agree to that anyway; he would make me give her up before he would pay for that. Please help!

I completely understand about the financial situation. And about the husbands dissapproval of spending a small fortune on a cat. I'm sorry that the products didn't work for you.

Your cat sounds extremely confused. I had the same situation with a puppy just a few months ago, different species, but mind you, the same situation. He was confused and frightened and therefore had a difficult time with house training.

The worst thing at this point is for your kitten to feel afraid of you. I know it's hard to be patient, especially when you know they know you don't like it but do it anyways. You need to deter the behavior and at the same time, build on posative emotions in your cat. The cat's fear will only antagonize the situation and make it worse. Trust me on this.

You need to find a way to condition her to use the litter box. And praise her abundantly when she does. I would even suggest using a crate, the collapsable kind so you can monitor her and still keep her confined.

That is just my opinion, since you are unable to do what the others have suggested. And I know it's odd to suggest crate training a cat, but your situation seems severe. And honestly, I just don't know what else I would do.

It's also a possiblity that your cat is one that prefers a one cat only home. I've had a couple of those myself. I hope you are able to find a solution to your problem.

Destany
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Myrtle - Queen Diva Mommy Cat
April - Little Miss Beauty Pagent
Mina - Professional Kitty Acrobat
Ringo - Brat Extraordonaire

Has the cat been taken to the vet for a urinary check up? Really the behavior you are describing sounds like she might have a UTI which is treatable.

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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

She has a vet appointment scheduled for Monday morning. What I don't understand is why she uses the litter box most of the time, but only poops and pees on the couch about twice a day. It's not just at night either. She did it this afternoon too, for the few minutes my husband and I weren't in the living room.

We have two couches and two beds, but she only poops on the one couch. It's not like she doesn't like her litter box, because she uses it most of the time. She never goes on the floor or any other funiture... just the one couch (and almost always on the left side). I am just so confused as to WHY she is doing this! If I could figure out why, I could figure out how to help her.

Today I kept her litter box spotless and I praised her everytime she went in it. I spent extra time cuddling with her and brushing her. Then an hour later I find more poop and pee on the couch. I am baffled!

The couch that Pandora poops and pees on is the only one my husband and I sit on. She never does it on the other couch (which is only used by the cats and guests). And she usually only does it on the left side - the side my husband sits on (she's only pooped once on my side). Could his smell on the couch have something to do with why she chooses that spot? And if so, why? She loves my husband and he is very affectionate with her.

I'm really sorry, I wish I could help. I suppose it could be a territory thing, if she's claiming your husband and that is his spot, but she's only 12 weeks old?
I really hope the vet finds out what the problem is. I've had problems like this before, but not quite like this. I had adopted three kittens once who would urinate in my bed. One time, one of them urinated on me. Since I was two weeks from due with my second kid, I never solved the problem (I didn't want them to pee in the baby's bed) so I gave them back to the people I'd adopted them from.
Then there was the male cat who sprayed, he only needed fixed.
The only other times, have been cat's telling me where they would like me to put a box. So I put a box in the spot (usually a corner) and that would fix it. Of course, you couldn't do that
Even the puppy I was telling you about had a perfectly obvious reason behind his habits.
I'm just plain stumped. I'm really curious to know what the vet will say, sorry I couldn't help!

Destany
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Myrtle - Queen Diva Mommy Cat
April - Little Miss Beauty Pagent
Mina - Professional Kitty Acrobat
Ringo - Brat Extraordonaire

I covered the couch in tin foil this morning, and I just walked into the living room and found a big puddle of pee ON the tin foil! My cat is insane. At least it was pretty easy to clean up.

Something's going on here for sure! Perhaps your cat is so bonded to your husband that she is marking his smell as hers. This has been known to happen.

If all else fails, the antianxiety meds might help her. Also you might want to try a carpet runner (those plastic rolls designed to protect carpets) turned upside-down on that spot. There are little "legs" on them that hook into the carpet and cats don't like to walk on those.
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!