LATE training problem!

Question
I have two cats - one of them is Fate, a tortoise shell, the other Brutus, a gray tiger-striped cat.  Since we've owned them, Fate has been very particular about the litter boxes.  To be honest, we don't clean them out every day, but we do change them frequently.  Most recently, we decided to sell our house and have been particularly worried about Fate doing her thing on the floor.  Just as I had feared, she's doing it more often than before - never urine, just droppings.  We always change both litter boxes at once and this time, we changed them 9 days ago and cleaned them out completely before Xmas.  She's already started going on the floor on the 9th day.  There are two litter boxes and we keep them in a closet downstairs along with their food & water.  Any suggestions?  I tried separating the litter boxes tonight so that one is on each side of the food & water instead of them being right next to each other (thinking that maybe Fate doesn't like Brutus' litter box being so close).  These cats are just over 5 years old now - is there anything we can do at this point?  Thanks!

Answer
Adam,

Cleaning the litter pan once every 9 days for two cats does not sound frequent enough, to me.  I would use less litter and scoop them once a day and change them weekly.

Also, I am including a link to a super article on cats inappropriate use of the litter pans.  You might read the article and see if there is anything that has happened to change Fate's approach to litter usage.

http://www.netcat.org/housesoiling.html

Also, I would pick up an enzyme based cleaner specifically for pet odors and stains (available at your friendly neighborhood pet supermarket) and make sure any area Fate has used inappropriately is cleaned with this type of cleaner.

Good luck and seasonal regards... Norm.