cat pooping on the floor

Question
I have a cat who is 1 1/2 and I've had him since he was a kitten. We have another cat that hes grown up with, and they both have shared a littler box. We moved from an apartment to a house and he was fine in the house using the litter box, then randomly one day he started pooping on the floor in the same room as the litter box. I'll check the box and it'll be empty. Or I'll clean it that night before and wake up to poop on the floor. i tried changing the litter and the box we have is fairly big. he also only does this at night when im asleep never during the day. So I'm just trying to figure out if you have any ideas why hes doing this.

Answer
Gina,

There are usually two possible causes of litter box problems, medical or behavioral.  I would have him checked out by your vet, it could be something like worms or impacted anal glands or the like.

If it is behavioral, my guess is that something about moving to the new house has bothered him.  It is possible that in the new house the pecking order has changed, especially to do with litter pans.  You can try another litter pan in another part of the house.

When you moved to the new house, did anything else change?  Sometimes a new addition to the household (4 legged or 2 legged) can cause litter pan problems.

Here is a link to a series of articles on feline litter pan problems that may have further suggestions:

http://www.geocities.com/heartland/pointe/9352/litterboxhelp.html


Also, you should clean up any places where he pooped with an enzyme based cleaner specifically for pet stains and pet odors (available at most pet supermarkets and farm stores).

You might also put newspaper where he likes to poop outside the litter box, so he does not poop directly on the floor.

Please let me know how it goes.

Best regards... Norm.