pooping outside litter pan

Question
We have a 1 yr old rag doll that doesn't poop in her litter pan very often.  We have been working on fixing it  for about 8 months now.  She poops mostly not in the litter pan but once every 8 days or so in it.  We have tried all litters possible including cat attract.  She does pee in it (thank god).  We got her on non clumping non scented and she pooped and covered it up for about 2 weeks but then slipped back to her old habit.  We have three litter pans with different litters and she does not prefer any one. She always poops near them.  They are located in the basement bathroom that hardly gets used.  The laundry room is in a closet in the bathroom. I have recently (today) read that the noise from the laundry might scare her, but she still always pees in them.  I will try to move them away from the laundry noise, but do you have any other suggestions?  Thank you

Answer
Hello Jeremy.

That is a tough one. It seems that you have tried everything! I am including a link for a good article on 'housesoiling' (copy and paste the whole link into your address bar):

http://www.catsinternational.org/articles/housesoiling/index.html

I've had cats that did not like the feel of litter and would not use a litterbox at all. But your cat will pee in in it so it's not that. The one thing I would try is a piece of plastic sheeting with litter on it. Your cat may not like to climb into a box to poop. With some cats you never know what goes through their mind and what their association with poop to the litter box is.

If the article doesn't help then it may be time to speak to a professional cat behaviorist. There is one in San Francisco that only specializes in litter box problems. She has even written a book on it.

Also give your vet a call. Sometimes they have some ideas that be of help to the problem.

I Wish I could be of more help.
Carol