cat stopped pooping in litter box

Question
QUESTION: Hi,Jana -
   I have a cat that I adopted from a shelter. For a year and a half she was a model cat. Always used her litter box except two times when I know she was sick.
   But once in June she pooped on the floor. Then I was away for a week at the end of July. When I returned the cat sitter said there were 4 or 5 poops on the floor in the sun room. The cat sitter came every other day, so that must have happened within a 2-day period. She also said there were big storms in the area that day and maybe that scared the cat.
   But the two following weeks she was fine - always using the litter box.  Then after 2 weeks she pooped on the floor again. For the past week she has been using her litter box to pee, but never to poop. I took her to the vet last Monday. She found nothing wrong and suggested I get a second litter box.  I first tried shutting off the sun room where she had been pooping. But no luck - she pooped upstairs in the room where the litter box is. So yesterday I bought a second box and put it in the sun room. This morning I got up and she had peed in it, but pooped on the floor several feet away.
    I don't know what to do. Do you think confining her in my bathroom (which is very small) with a litter box and food would help? What about changing the type of litter? What about Feliway? My vet recommended that, but I looked on line and it seems to mainly help with urinating. If she is stressed or didn't like the box for some reason, why would she pee there but just not poop? Also, she only poops every 2 or 3 days and doesn't pee real often either. The vet said she's not drinking enough. I am going to address that issue by making her tuna water.
   Thanks for any help or suggestions.
   
    Jeanne

ANSWER: These types of issues are never easy to solve Jeanne. You have to just try a lot of different things in the hope that you stumble across one that addresses the issue as it is.

First off, how old is she? Sometimes elderly cats have issues with squatting for very long on the substrate of kitty litter. And you are right, most stressed cats pee outside of the box, but sometimes it's a stool issue.

Have you changed the litter lately to a new brand? Some cats will not use the box if they don't like the brand you bought. Is there a rug or something new under the box? Some people have success with putting down foil where the cat is going outside of the box to encourage them to use the box.
Is the box covered? Some cats suddenly will develop a dislike for being crowded into a covered box. Take off the lid and see how that works.
Is there a new cat/dog around outside or in the house? Did this occur before the petsitter started watching her? Maybe she brought a dog in that upset your cat.I see that she did this once before she came so scratch that.

Confining her will only stress her out and make this problem worse.
What food is she eating? Have you changed her diet recently?

These types of stresses can make them not want to use their box.
If she isn't on a high quality food now, like Science Diet indoor cat or senior, I would highly recommend you get her on it. Even the sensitive stomach might help her.

As you can see, there are a dozen plus questions that need to be evaluated before you can find an answer.
Here are a couple of things you can read that might help:
http://cats.about.com/od/behaviortraining/a/catbehaviorhisstest.htm

This pertains to your cat except for the multi-cat household:
http://cats.about.com/od/amyshojai/a/pooping-outside-litter-box.htm

I hope this helps somewhat. Let me know how you progress with this.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi, Jana -
    Thanks for your reply. The baffling part is that I can't think of anything that has changed - same litter, same box, same food. I live alone and have not had any visitors since this started happening. I will try your suggestion of taking the lid off the new litter box and see if that helps.
   The only thing I can think of is that she had a painful bowel movement and maybe that has deterred her from using the box. A week ago it was strange because I came home from church and in that 3 hour time period there was one stool downstairs in the sun room, one upstairs in the litter box and one stool outside the litter box and there was a line as if she had scooted. I was hoping that maybe the issue was compacted anal glands, but the vet said that was not the case. So I am at a loss.
    What do you think of Feliway? Cat Attract litter? a spray repellant on the areas where she is pooping? The thing is she doesn't seem to really care where she poops as long as it's not in the litter box. So if I put down aluminum foil, I'd pretty much have to cover an entire room!
    Thanks again.

Answer
If she had a painful bowel movement it could very well have made her brand the litter box the bad guy. If that is the case, then in time she will forget that and start using the box again.

Feliway might work, it's just sort of iffy sometimes. It's supposed to send out calming vibes to cats to make them mellow etc. It's worth a try and better than putting her on kitty calm pills.

But again, I would re-think her food if she is having issues like constipation and hard bowels.

Did the articles help at all?