Cat pooping in water dish

Question
My male cat who is roughly 11 years old has recently started pooping in the water dish.  Can you explain why he would do this?

Answer
Jeremiah,

That is a new one!

Usually when cats poop around the house they are telling you that they are upset about something. But with an older cat it may be a medical or mental problem.

Have there been any changes in your household? New pets? New people? Older cats don't take stress well.

Your cat is about 60 years old in humans years. Some cats get 'kitty alzheimers' or start getting a little senile.

You should take your cat to the vet for an 'older cat checkup' to check the function of his kidneys, liver, and thyroid. Things start giving out and it's best to catch any problems with his health early. Sometimes when there is a problem that causes pain when they use the litterbox they associate that pain with the litterbox and go elsewhere.

Also older cats start getting arthritis which makes it painful for them to get in and out of a litterbox.

Please don't think I'm saying something is wrong with him, but it is never to early to be prepared and aware. And it's best to rule out a medical problem causing the unusual behavior before attempting to try to correct it as a behaviorial problem.

I am including some links that may be helpful for you. 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

http://www.geocities.com/heartland/pointe/9352/litterboxhelp.html

I hope this helps. And be sure to love him an extra lot. As they get older and experience changes in their bodies they get frightened by them and they need your reassurance that everything is still OK in their world.

Tabbi