Pooping out of box -- need advice

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Carol & Yoshi

Carol & Yoshi

Member Since 2009
Background: Niko was diagnosed with IBD about 7 years ago and put on compounded budesonide. For about the first five years, he would have a flare about every three months and I'd work to get him calmed down and if not the vet would prescribe metrodonizale and that would do it. For years he had awful smelling diarrhea and when in pain would do it out of the litter box. But mostly in the litter box. The past 2.5 years he's gone thru trauma of losing our home to fire, moving three times, and losing his best fried our dog.

Niko turned 14 in June and was deemed in very good health on his checkup and geriatric blood work done this past April. The doc was amazed at how well he is doing. About a year ago and eating the same food he has been eating for years, Niko began having firm, non horrible stinky, poops. I was overjoyed but didn't think it would continue but has. He has run quickly and speedily away from the litter box for years and continues
to do that. Like a firecracker just went off and freaked him out. So I have noticed now and then that he does more output some days than others and he doesn't always do it at the same time of day.

So here's where I need some help. A week ago, I noticed there was no pooh in the litter box for over a day.
Wasn't worried until I went down the stairs to the garage and there before the door and off to the side was a rather large pile of solid pooh at least two days worth. I cleaned that up and have been watching the box for output and he has gone in the box. Today when he went and ran, I went to see what he had done and in front of the box was a small amount of pooh. He's been eating really well so I expected more. A little while later I noticed some odd behavior from him as if he was looking for a spot to do something in unusual places like a folder of papers that has been in that location for ages. I lost track of him for a few minutes and then discovered him in the closet getting ready to poop on a backpack that had fallen on the floor. I grabbed him and shut him in the laundry room with the litterbox until I thought he had finished, then let him out and checked the box. Again, a larger poop than normal. So now I'm concerned that he is going to be pooping in odd places around the house and don't know what to think about this behavior. This is not dry, hard pooh. He is eating well, sleeping more, playing less these days and peeing fine.

I'm wondering if I need to give him a small bit of stool softener daily of some sort and maybe put down Dr. Elsey's cat attract litter in a box to see if that will help. He does not behave like he's in pain. Cleans himself. Loves to be brushed. I need to get a grip on this now and just now sure what to think or what to do. I just can't have him pooping everywhere!
Suggestions? Ideas? Help!
 
I think if it were me I would contact my vet about the changes. Pooping out of the box or hiding when he’s doing it, may mean it hurts.

Erik had IBD but with constipation. I added Miralax to his food (or filled an empty capsule). I can’t remember how much I gave him - maybe 1/4 teaspoon?

On the practical side, make sure nothing is on the floor! Make sure all closet doors are closed. Don’t leave any important papers where he can poop on them. Maybe add another box?
 
Nobody knows for sure if Daniel has megacolon and the surgery is life altering. He would get rock hard turds stuck halfway out his bum, very painful. I've been giving him PEG in lactose free yogurt for two years and that seems to have worked.
But... we have four big boxes for four cats and Daniel just won't use them for poops. He will pee in them but we have to be careful about leaving paper on the floor or anything plastic from the basement to the main floor and every bathroom. He hates paper and plastic and will pee on it right in front of us. He also hates our new sofa and peed on it again yesterday. The one place he won't do it is our bedroom maybe because that's where he spends all his time. It's not a physical problem, we've checked.
I don't know how that helps you Carol. Daniel has always been very solitary and can be a really miserable cat if he doesn't get his way, then he'll curl up with Andy for 12 hours. I just don't get it. Obviously you've checked for what's different and what could be bothering him. The stress of the moves and just getting older is my only suggestion. Maybe try a different litter in a more private box?
 
I'm wondering if he no longer needs the medication and that is slowing him down. Also, since he's been sleeping a lot, he's not getting exercise which
would help things keep moving better. So I just chased him around the house and will try to do that a few times a day. Also, since he eats only wet
food that's the only moisture he gets as he doesn't drink. He eats FF grilled with gravy and seems to know when I add water so not adding any. I do
give him a water chaser after his budesonide in the morning to make sure it's not in his throat but I'll try getting some more in throughout the day
and see if that helps. And I'll also write to our vet to see what she might suggest.

Debby, how did you add in the Miralax? Did you add water then to the food or dilute and then add to food? Did you kitty notice it was in the food?

Thanks for your feedback and support. After his inappropriate placement of pooh in a week, I felt I needed to swing into action to stop worrying about
him.
 
I have had really great luck at times with the Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract litter. I'm not sure that would solve things, but it may be a piece of the puzzle that could help. So you say the stools are not hard? I wonder if he does need the same amount of Budesonide? Maybe try adding fiber to his food (like freeze dried pumpkin -- 1/4 tsp?) He may not eat it though. Miralax has no flavor. You could try a pinch in the a.m. and see what happens? But if they are larger than normal, you may not want to add any bulk (the pumpkin or psyllium). Have you ever tried a water fountain?
 
I did give him some diluted tuna water today and he drank that but that's the only way I can get him to drink. When I got Yoshi and fed him
dry food, he drank water. But when he was diagnosed with FD and moved to wet food he stopped drinking. I did get him a water fountain which
he didn't use and ended up giving it away.

So today I chased him around the house a couple of time and also he played with a twist tie so more movement and then this evening he did
a pooh, normal size, in the box and ran like his butt was on fire. When I asked the vet about his racing down the hall after a pooh, she thought it might be sensitive nerves in his anus when he poops. Go figure. Never had a cat do that before and he's also the first cat I've had who covers his food if there's some left when he'd done eating. He nicely uncovers when he goes back for more and then covers that. I put a tea towel under his food for him to use.

I did also leave a message for the vet. And I didn't give him his budesonide today and it just seemed like any other day.

Thanks for your suggestions Suzanne : )
 
There have been a number of members here over the years who have commented about their cats racing out of the litter box, much like you described. I don't think it's totally unusual behavior but it may be out of the ordinary for your cat.

I would add the Miralax to your water "squirt" that you give post-budisonide. You're syringing water so why not add the Miralax?

You might want to consider posting your question on the Raw Feeding for IBD Cats Facebook group. They are very helpful with IBD questions. I just wouldn't go into diet issues if you don't feed a raw diet. I will say that when Gizmo was diagnosed, I switched to a partially raw diet plus some canned food - both novel proteins -- and his IBD had been under very good control. I think he's had IBD for at least 5 years and has had maybe 3 flare-ups.
 
Thanks for the info Sienne. I don't do FB but am a member of the Groups IO IBD and, duh, just did think of posting there as life
is quite hectic currently. Will do that. Having taken Miralax myself I was thinking it should be diluted with water. Will ask the IBD
group. I would love to switch him to raw and at one point was giving him raw venison and pork in small amounts to see how he
would do and he really like it. That was when RadCat I think the name may have been was making raw. Have tried him on pork and
Stella and Chewy's freeze dried rabbit hydrated and he will eat the pork if cooked but not raw and is so so about the rabbit. He has been
on compounded budesonide for six years and had occasional flares for the first about three years and horrible, smelly dia with him really
racing out of the litter box. But once we got through our home loss trauma from a wildfire, he has done well and in fact a year ago
suddenly stopped having that horrible dia and now has normal looking and smelling poohs.

Wow that's great your kitty has had so few flareups. What medication does he take?
 
Ok, so must have been something going on with him for a couple of weeks which crested on Monday when he didn't want to eat but I managed to get him eating and
alsy syringed water into him and as the day went on he was eating his food and improving before my eyes. He also did his business in the box and had continued to
do that with today he even did it twice. I had thoroughly cleaned the box on the weekend and washed the floor of the laundry room where the box is and maybe that
helped. He was sleeping a lot during that down period and just off. But now he want to engage and hang and is eating so whatever set that off I don't know but am
happy to report he is his sweet, good feeling self again. Such a relief when they feed good, isn't it? Such a guessing game of how to help!

Thanks for all you help and being there for us. :bighug:
 
Carol & Yoshi said:
Background: Niko was diagnosed with IBD about 7 years ago and put on compounded budesonide. For about the first five years, he would have a flare about every three months and I'd work to get him calmed down and if not the vet would prescribe metrodonizale and that would do it. For years he had awful smelling diarrhea and when in pain would do it out of the litter box. But mostly in the litter box. The past 2.5 years he's gone thru trauma of losing our home to fire, moving three times, and losing his best fried our dog.

Niko turned 14 in June and was deemed in very good health on his checkup and geriatric blood work done this past April. The doc was amazed at how well he is doing. About a year ago and eating the same food he has been eating for years, Niko began having firm, non horrible stinky, poops. I was overjoyed but didn't think it would continue but has. He has run quickly and speedily away from the litter box for years and continues
to do that. Like a firecracker just went off and freaked him out. So I have noticed now and then that he does more output some days than others and he doesn't always do it at the same time of day.

So here's where I need some help. A week ago, I noticed there was no pooh in the litter box for over a day.
Wasn't worried until I went down the stairs to the garage and there before the door and off to the side was a rather large pile of solid pooh at least two days worth. I cleaned that up and have been watching the box for output and he has gone in the box. Today when he went and ran, I went to see what he had done and in front of the box was a small amount of pooh. He's been eating really well so I expected more. A little while later I noticed some odd behavior from him as if he was looking for a spot to do something in unusual places like a folder of papers that has been in that location for ages. I lost track of him for a few minutes and then discovered him in the closet getting ready to poop on a backpack that had fallen on the floor. I grabbed him and shut him in the laundry room with the litterbox until I thought he had finished, then let him out and checked the box. Again, a larger poop than normal. So now I'm concerned that he is going to be pooping in odd places around the house and don't know what to think about this behavior. This is not dry, hard pooh. He is eating well, sleeping more, playing less these days and peeing fine.

I'm wondering if I need to give him a small bit of stool softener daily of some sort and maybe put down Dr. Elsey's cat attract litter in a box to see if that will help. He does not behave like he's in pain. Cleans himself. Loves to be brushed. I need to get a grip on this now and just now sure what to think or what to do. I just can't have him pooping everywhere!
Suggestions? Ideas? Help!
Click to expand...
 
I had the same problem and discovered that my liter box was a year old. I got a new one and that corrected the problem. My cat rebelled against the clumping liter and I had to go to non clumping but must completely change it every 6 days or he uses the rug. My vet checked him and he is healthy except for diabetes
 
We have a cat who will not poop in the box. He pees in the box, but began pooping on the floor in front of the box after a bout of pancreatitis as a kitten.
So, we have bought a roll of butcher paper, the stuff with a plastic coating on one side, and we cut big pieces of that, the roll is 2 feet wide so we cut squares that are also 2 feet long, and have a stack of these on the floor in front of the litter box. Cat poops on the paper, we roll it up and throw it away. Floor stays clean and odor free.
Hubby will cut a bunch of 2x2' squares at a time, so we put 10-15 sheets down, since it's heavy paper it lays flat, tho we do keep a small weighted box on one corner to make sure it stays in place. Cat with go and furiously scratch (closed paws so we just hear the swishing of his pads on it) at it before squatting and pooping, then he scratches some more as if he's burying his poop. Seems upset he cannot bury it and douse the smell. Is right in front of a huge litter box that he knows how to pee in, but for whatever reason he just won't poop in it anymore since getting sick that one time several years ago. But our paper system works great. You can buy the plastic-backed paper in big rolls off Amazon.com, one roll is expensive but since it's several hundred feet, it lasts many many months. Or you can buy pre-cut sheets off of a site like www.poopeepads.com, which is overall more costly than cutting your own off the roll, but they come ready to use. We found that the polycoated (plastic coated) paper was much better than trying to use puppy pads, as it is stiff and lays flat even when they scratch at it.
Our other three cats walk right past the paper and his poop and use the box normally, so it has had no influence on their behavior. But the paper technique works sooo much better than constantly finding poop on the floor.
 
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