Going outside the box....

Question
My 6 month old kitten Mac is such an amazing kitten! I love him to pieces but for the past month or so he has pooped outside of his litter box EVERY single time he goes to the bathroom! And after we got him neutered about 2 weeks ago, he has been peeing outside the litter box. What is weird is that he only uses the bathroom in the room where his litter box is, and he often goes RIGHT beside of it. I've tried switching his litters, using hooded litter boxes, open boxes....I just have no clue what to do! The vet says he is healthy and that nothing is wrong with him. He did have tape worms, and we recently got rid of those. I have no idea what to do! My other kitten who is 2 weeks older has never used outside the box, not once. I don't want to punish Mac for this, but I don't know what else to do!

Answer
Hi
This is not bad behavior it is just learnt behavior or a reaction to something. Urinating or pooping outside of the litter box is usually a reaction to something which has made them feel insecure about their environment. urinating etc makes the place smell like them and is comforting for them. May be the kitten now associates the litter tray with either the worms and feeling unwell or the upset of going to the vets. Sometimes just little things can make them react like this.

It may be that you will have to go through the confinement litter training with him for a week see here on my page about this
/cat-poo.html
Here is my general page about litter box training too for further info.
/cat-litter-box.html

It may be that he just to become more confident with the litter tray and know that it is not going to harm him.

By the way do you have separate litter trays for your cats? this is often another cause of this behavior.

Best wishes
Kate