Help! Cat started pooing on settee!

dobby · #1 03-08-2008, 05:06 PM

Hi all, I do so hope you can help with this one, our cat, has now started to poo on the sette.
She is about 6, we have had her for about 6 months, and she was shy and didn't much like the other 2 cats. She ame into season a while back, and was happy to sleep next to the cats, and even began to seek out my company! Wonderful! We thought life was good.
Now suddenly, she has been using the settee as a litter tray!
All the cats live in, always have, and are happy. We are in a large bungalow, and when they want, they go on a chase game, or hide and seek, or ambush. Only this newish one, who seemed to be settling so well has gone wrong. Is there a reason, does anyone know?
I have had to keep stripping the sette, have tried pepper, fabric freshener to get rid of any invisible smells only ats can smell, and now tonight, I am trying vinegar. The litter tray is changed often as cats don't like dirt.
Please help! Thank you and piles of smiles, Dobby.

Formula86 · #2 03-08-2008, 07:01 PM

Hi there.

Welcome to PT.

First of all, are you from another country? I only ask because I need to know what "came into season" means.

Do you mean she's in heat or that she got comfortable with the other cats?

Cats will sometimes go outside of their litter boxes to tell you something is wrong. Maybe she doesn't like have to share a litter box. Maybe she's still scared a little. Maybe something is medically wrong (a UTI?). I would get a basic workup from the vet to rule anything medical out.

Let me know what "came into season" means, though!

Vanilla_Rat · #3 03-08-2008, 08:20 PM

"Came into season" means "in heat".

Maybe you changed something and she disliked it.Have you changed the location of the litterboxes or litter? How many litter boxes do you have?

Formula86 · #4 03-08-2008, 10:03 PM

Have you thought about getting her spayed? And yah...cats like lots of litter boxes. You should, ideally, have one for every two cats on each floor of your house. Maybe you need one for each of them. ???

HappyDancer · #5 03-08-2008, 10:08 PM

has something changed in the house? Is she teritorial? My cat growing up would pee on "his" chair to say it was his...so we had to get rid of the chair lol...but we had to get him his own litter box and he stopped marking...I agree with the vet check up...almost all the cases I see of cats peeing or otherwise out of the liter box has been about a medical reason...

I hope your kitty is well and I hope you get the problem solved...keep us updated

MzKityLvsBrdsTo · #6 03-09-2008, 03:32 AM

Hello and welcome to Paw Talk. I understand everything you said, except what is a "sette"? Sorry. Anyway, if she is 6 years old, and not spayed, and just starting with the going potty like you described, I would have her checked out by a vet. She is trying to tell you something. We aren't vets here on Paw Talk, but we usually have gone through things like what you are describing and can offer suggestions only. When a kitty starts to do something out of her ordinary like going potty where she shouldn't, she IS trying to tell you something, like, "I hurt, or I'm unhappy". If she has a UTI, (Urinary Trac Infection), this would cause her to urinate and it hurts her. You also said that she is new to your family of many cats, and that she wasn't very happy. She may just not be happy there and you may need to try another home for her. I had one cat that just would not blend with my other cats no matter what I did. The suggestion above about litter boxes was also correct. A vet will tell you that ideally, each cat should have it's own litter box, or at least, one box per two cats. And, I am all for having that kitty spayed. There are too many little kittens running around today that can't get homes. But, at least take her and get her checked out to make sure that she doesn't have any infections, o.k.? And again, welcome to PawTalk!

Vanilla_Rat · #7 03-09-2008, 11:43 AM

I have two litter boxes.I have two cats,so technically I have one box per cat!

dor1las · #8 03-12-2008, 01:31 PM

My 12 year old male started doing the same thing about 2 years ago. He was sick (thyroid problem) and we didn't know it for some time...until we started to see the weight loss. The vet said he was peeing (and sometimes pooping) in other places than his litter box as a sign of stress from not feeling well. He's on meds now for the thyroid problem, and no longer messes outside his box. The problem is...once cats start with that behavior, it becomes a habit and is very, very difficult to break. After he was on his meds and feeling well, it was a good year before he finally just stopped on his own, but for a year, I was cleaning up pee off my carpet almost daily. What you can try, though, is putting a litter box very near the area where he's doing that. If he begins to use that box, and not the settee, gradually (over days, weeks, or months...whatever it takes) move that little box closer and closer to where his normal litter box is. We tried it twice. The first time it didn't work. The second time, I think it did have something to do with his stopping that bad habit.

litterkwitter01 · #9 04-18-2008, 05:09 AM

You have already mentioned that she is 6 years of age and i don't see any harm in training them to use the toilet.It will not take more than 8 weeks for them to get trained.Try this out now.

Litter-Kwitter

Blondi24721010 · #10 04-26-2008, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by litterkwitter01


	You have already mentioned that she is 6 years of age and i don't see any harm in training them to use the toilet.It will not take more than 8 weeks for them to get trained.Try this out now. Litter-Kwitter

Please teach me how to potty train my kitty who's just over a year old!

re: Help! Cat started pooing on settee!!!