Question:
Hi, I am looking for any help I can get because I seem to be losing my mind with my poor cat Sassy. I have had her for two years now and she is three years old. I never had problems with her until recently....I went on vacation and she began defecating outside of her litter box. I excused the behavior since I did leave her, but now she will not stop! I have tried changing litters, putting the box where she went (she just goes someplace else), she has 3 boxes to use and they are cleaned daily. All the areas have been cleaned with odor eliminator. She was very good for two weeks when I bought cat attract litter, but then she did it again! The vet says she is healthy and this is behavioral but nothing else has changed...no new pets, no moving and I have been home from vacation for 3 months. Please help me if you have any ideas what to do because I would hate to give her away, but I am running out of ideas! Thanks!

Answer:
Are the boxes covered or not? Maybe a new style box? One of my cats was missing her box sometimes, and I finally figured it out - she didn't like that she couldn't see much when she was going in the covered box (my other cat was stalking her). I turned the box to have a larger view out the door and she hasn't done it since. Or maybe just a new box? If odors built up (like maybe happened during your vacation), sometimes it's hard to get the smell out, even if the litter is new. Only thing else i can think of is try putting her in the box and getting her to go, if you happen to know when she usually goes. Dig around a bit to show her how, like a kitten would be trained... Hope you get some good suggestions and good luck!

Oh, do you have other cats? If not, and sorry if this sounds gross, but I notice my cats do this to each other - get some of a friend's (healthy) cat's poop and put it in one of the boxes. My cats like to go right after ea other, I guess to mark over what the other one did. Maybe it would give your cat that idea to mark the box as 'hers'

Answer:
how long were you on vacation? where was your cat during this time? was she home and you had someone look in on her, or did you board her? was her litterbox cleaned daily by whomever was watching her?

I would limit her freedom (to avoid accidents all over). try keeping her in a decent size room w/ her things (food, water, toys, litter box) and see if you can get her to accept it again. If you can't keep her restricted to one area, keep a very close eye on her when you're home, and if you see her starting to go - PUT her in the box.

a good way to really DEEP clean the box:
throw out all litter in the box. put down a layer of baking soda. pour HOT HOT water in, over the baking soda, mix & scrub. it will bubble. scrub it GOOD. rinse it. dry it in the sun. once dry, put down a fresh layer of baking soda, then a layer of new fresh litter on top.

your vacation may have been too stressfull for her. some cats really don't handle stress well.

There are ALOT of cat owners on this board, I'm sure you'll get some great advice!

Answer:
I went on vacation for 5 days. She was at home with the radio on and my friend cleaned her box for her daily. She is the only pet that I have. She has one covered litter box and two that are uncovered. When I got her she was living with another family and she had an automatic litter box. She would miss because she is a large cat and so I got her a covered one also and just a regular run of the mill litter box. She seems like she is wanting to tell me something since she is going about 3 feet away from the box. I have cleaned all three litter boxes and tried different litters too. I will try confining her to one room and see if that is helpful, I just hate doing it because I feel so mean. Thanks for the responses, any other help is greatly appreciated. I will let you know if anything works.

Answer:
my cat has done this before! also have you tried putting its food dish near the area where your cat is making the mess? they usually dont like to eat and poop in the same area. My cat only did this for a couple of days when i got home. But make sure you pay lots of attention to him, give him lots of treats, win back some of his affection. my cat gets really mad at me if im gone for a day and will even cuddle with the dog instead of me to prove his point! hopefully he stops soon good luck

Answer:
The suggestions from the other posters look really good to me. Also i've been hearing good things about natural enzymes that eat odor, in case that is part of the problem. One of my cats was frightened by a dog where his usual spot was to go potty. Then he stopped going there and went wherever he liked for a few months, eventually he stopped but not till after he had done a bit of damage Hopefully it is just a habit she developed because of stress while you were away. You could try talking/petting/ explaining to her in a relaxing manner near the box and or when you catch her about to go, put her in the box and try making it a really positive experience so she will make positive connections with going in the box. Good luck with Sassy, that's a cute name by the way

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