Cat urinating & defecating outside litter box

Question
I have a 17 year old cat who recently has started urinating and defecating outside her litter box. I had changed her food and thought that might be the problem, so I went back to her usual food. She's started urinating in the litter box, but is still pooping outside the box. She is healthy and can jump and climb anything. She's not blind or deaf. What can I do to get her to start using the littler box for everything again?

Answer
Lucille,

I just typed my entire answer to you, and my computer just erased the whole thing!!!  How frustrating!  

First of all, cats go outside their litterbox for a variety of reasons.  They have a UTI, they don't like their litter, litterbox, or litter liners, they are ill and simply don't feel well, and they have no energy to get up and go to the litterbox, or something has scared them while they were in the box.  You need to figure out what's causing their behavior, then when you have that figured out, you can work on correcting the behavior.  

Most reasons cats go outside the litterbox is a UTI or they got scared while they were in the box, and now they associate fear with the litterbox.  It's important to have their litterbox in a quiet place, out of the way of foot traffic, noise, and anyone likely to interrupt them while in the box.  

The real issue to prevent your cat from returning to the scene of the crime, though, is to thoroughly clean the site.  You can't just wipe it up or use a commercial cleaner.  You need to use special cleaners that break up the stain, actually eat it up.  These are enzymatic cleaners.  When you clean up a stain, you need to clean about 10" beyond the stain, because as the urine is sinking into the carpet or rug, it's spreading outward.  And because cat urine continues to have an odor even after you clean it up (unless with an enzymatic, bacterial, or molecular odor eliminator), it will continue to attract the cat to that spot, and because the odors still there, it will think it's okay to go there, and will, and will eventually start spreading out.  

So, you need to go back and thoroughly clean up the spots the she's peed and pooped in.  Some good products that are highly recommended are "Zero Odor", "Urine Erase," "EnyzmD," and "Urine-Off" odor and stain remover. Follow the directions on the label, but that is really the only way you are going to stop her from going outside the litterbox again.  Even if she's perfectly healthy, she will continue to urinate outside the box as long as those stains and their odors are still there.  

Good luck, and also keep in mind that she's 17 yo, and she may have some simple senility.  Most cats older than 16 will exhibit some senility in some fashion, and she may just have a little "Kitty Alzheimers".  Hopefully getting one of the above stain eliminators will make a difference, though, and everything will return to normal.  

Savannah