Why does my cat never want to poop in his litter box?

by Z

I have a cat that I got about a year ago now. He is our third cat. He's about 7 years of age and is neutered. He entered our family with two cats already occupying the household.

He is a really relaxed cat, and the other two cats never really bother him. The only problem that we have been having with him (and it wasn't a problem until later in his stay at our home) is that he doesn't want to poop in his litter box.

We have several litter boxes dispersed throughout our basement for him to poop in, but he just never wants to. He has even urinated in his litter box and stepped out to poop on the floor!

We keep our litter boxes completely clean for him and even have used a product called "Feliway" to try to prevent this from happening, but nevertheless, he still poops on the floor! Does anyone know why this may be or how to fix it?

My thoughts: I'm sorry to hear your cat is having problems. I'm assuming he doesn't have a medical problem causing this, and that you've consulted your vet about this particular problem.

Normally, I'd suggest adding another litter box, but if you have several, you're already doing that. I would, however, suggest adding a litter box some place other than the basement, to see how he reacts to that idea.

Feliway can help calm some cats, but as you've seen, it doesn't work on all problems or in all cases. You might want to review how you're using the Feliway. For example, if you're using one diffuser, is the area too large for just one? Adding a second diffuser may make a difference, or supplementing with the spray may help.

There are other solutions that may work, including drug therapy, but it's trial and error. Since this problem didn't start until after he'd been in the house a while, I'd review events and see if you can trace this back to anything that may have happened.

Please let us know how he comes along.
-Kurt