Cat pooped in water dish

by Gia
(USA)

Very clean water dish with filtered water. Tonight, male fluffy, neutered, orange cat pooped in the water and in front of the dish on my kitchen floor. I scooped the poop into the litter box.

Recently had a flea problem between treatments from fleas in the backyard. Removed all pet bedding and prevented animal access to our bedroom and storage room to keep flea eggs away while the 2 cats and dog were being treated.

Cats keep trying to get into the storage room and bedroom, probably to hide. They don't belong in there and I won't have them urinating in my child's crib again like they did before we ever brought him home from the hospital. They have places to hide such as the guest bathroom where their 2 litter boxes are located.

One of them had been pooping soft piles all over the bathroom floor next to the wall and toilet. It was utterly rancid. Nothing changed with litter brand and I clean with a garden hose and dry the boxes before putting in clean litter. I scoop the litter every day and dump it and wash it to put new litter in every 2-3 days.

The one-year-old gray tuxedo female spayed cat does not cover her waste but instead scratches the walls after using the box. They track litter everywhere and I sweep their litter box area once a day. I sweep the entire house 3 times a day and mop with bleach water twice per day.

The 4-year-old fluffy orange neutered male cat has had a LOT of behavioral issues lately. He gorges himself on all the animals' food and then immediately regurgitates it all over my floor, then cries for more food.

I separate them when they eat and only feed 1/4 cup at a time. He still finds a way to steal all the food and then get sick. Thankfully he stopped peeing in our clean laundry and on top of clean bathroom towels once I changed his food to urinary health with cranberry.

My very active 10-month-old baby likes to chase the cats, crawling and in his walker and is rough with them if he gets their fur. I think the 4-year-old orange male is stressed about my baby and is having these behavioral problems because of that.

I'm at my wit's end. Don't comment to me that I "should just compromise and give the cats the storage room and our bedroom back to hide and lounge around in". Also don't comment that I "should definitely take my cats to the vet because something is seriously wrong". I already called the vet, they will not do anything except recommend Feliway or anxiety meds which I have already tried for this cat.

The vet visit 2 weeks ago revealed nothing. Both cats are in perfect health $400 later, so don't say that I'm unwilling to get my pets the proper care or pay whatever is needed for them to stay healthy. When commenting, keep in mind that only real practical advice will be accepted.

If you haven't been there before and have a tactic that will work, please don't comment out of boredom. This is an emergency situation. A baby crawling around the house is a higher priority than a stressed cat. I'm not going to babysit the cat and I don't have time to constantly clean up biohazardous waste while tending to my child.

I'm going to make sure my baby doesn't crawl around with bacteria from the cat pooping on my kitchen floor and get meningitis or toxoplasmosis and I won't allow the animals to spread their flea eggs around the house and then spread tapeworms to my child. Does that make sense?