Stopped using litter box

Question
I have 2 cats, brother and sister about 10 years old.  The female has always been afraid of people except for our family and the male is complete opposite, he goes outside all the time and does anything for attention.  They use to get along great but for the past few years they have been growing further and further apart.  Almost 2 years ago the female started pooping in mostly 2 areas of our home (both on carpet, it has always been a normal type poop.  She seemed to be using the box for urine but almost every day she would poop in one of the two spots and occasionally in other areas of the house, then she started peeing occasionally on a blanket, on my curtains that hung to the ground so I finally got her to a vet (she was very frightened), he tested her and found nothing, she also licked herself bald in 2 spots so he thought she might have OCD.  He gave her a pill to take 2x a day.  This was too traumatic for her so then I switched to an ointment.  The medicine seemed to make her drowsy and less herself and weird enough she started to pee everyday on the couch, on a blanket, on the bed, on the curtains, wherever she could.  I took her off the medicine and called the vet he suggested changing the medicine but again couldn't guarantee and said it would take a month to see if it worked.  I haven't started her on anything, I did a little research and decided to put a towel in a box and sure enough she now pees on the towel and she seems to have stopped peeing around the house.  I change the towel every day and it seems to have worked.  She does however still poop in the same two places.  I did try to switch litters and give her her own box but this towel is the only thing that seems to be working.  Will I have to do this for the rest of her life and how can I get her to stop pooping on the rugs?  Our family loves her but we are at our wits end.

Answer
Denise,

Your cats are 56 years old in human years and sometimes they get 'kitty Alzheimer's' which make them act differently. It is hard to say what is going on in your kitty's mind. Her actions sound as if she is very stressed about something and the licking herself is an emotional problem.

I would take her to another vet for a second opinion (even though it is traumatic for her). It possibly could be a medical issue causing the behavior and not a behavioral one that the first vet missed or didn't test for.

I am including some good links about elderly cats: (copy and paste, or type, the whole links into your address bar)

http://www.sniksnak.com/resources/geriatric.html

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=1&cat=1310&articleid=610

I hope this helps.

Tabbi