Cat pooping on floor-Need suggestions

14 years ago

Hi-

I have a 4 1/2 year old cat, who has just begun using my bathroom rug as his pooping place. It began the night before we left before vacation, we thought it was an isolated incident, but unfortunately it was not. He has been using the rug for the past few weeks almost every night. But he is still using his litter box as well. He is an indoor/outdoor cat and has been spending time both places. He will only use the rug when we are sleeping at night, we do shut the cat out of the bedroom at night, but we have always done this.

If we shut the bathroom door at night he does not poop anywhere else in the house, but we don't want to have to keep the door shut all the time, especially when we have guest, because it is the only bathroom in our house that they have to use.

I am open to any suggestions, thank you for all of your help.

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Comments (6)

sephia
14 years ago
How about a visit to the vet to determine if there are any health issues causing this? I think a visit to the vet is the first step to rule out health issues.
fandlil
14 years ago
If the cat has not been to the vet for over a year or so, it's a good idea to have it examined.

But there may not be anything wrong medically with the animal. The first time he pooped in the rug may have been an accident. But once the smell is in the rug, the cat will do it over and over again. Even a thorough washing of the rug may not eliminate the smell completely.

My suggestion: throw out the rug (I hope it's not a costly one) and get a new rug, an inexpensive one to see what happens. That may solve the problem.
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3katz4me
14 years ago
Get rid of the rug, scrub the floor and spray one of those pet products that removes odors, make sure the litter box is absolutely clean every day.
pjb999
14 years ago
I agree, eliminate the obvious possible medical reasons, replace the mat, but consider when it started - night before going on vacation, with all the attendant commotion of packing etc no doubt?

Cat was/is sending you a message - "Up yours" basically lol.

I had to laugh at another post questioning whether a cat would poop in an inappropriate spot deliberately? Answer: absolutely!
pjb999
14 years ago
If he is ok at other times, still using the litterbox etc, it's definitely behavioural.
3katz4me
14 years ago
We had some wood flooring installed in our bedroom and we and the cats relocated to a downstairs bedroom while the work was being done. Cats seemed to tolerate the whole ordeal pretty well. When it was all done and everything put back in place, one of the cats pooped right in the middle of the bed - something they had NEVER done. They never did it again either. I think one of them really didn't like the whole ordeal and that was his way of saying so.