cat pooing around the house

Question
Hi my cat is 4 years old and has moved house with us several times, even abroad and has always settled without any problems  we moved here 9 months ago and no problems then 4 months ago we brought a dog into the house and with the right approach they now eat and sleep in same room, the cat goes upatairs when his had enough as the dog is not allowed upstairs, my husband went away 4 weeks away 4 weeks ago for 6 months and not the last 2 days the cat has pooed in the house today was on newspaper that was on the floor, he seems himself in everyway and his still eating is it possible it is the house changing circumstances and what can i do about it?. thanks julie.

Answer
Julie,

If there is not a medical reason for it the most common reason for a cat to do that is because he is very upset at something and that is his way of letting you know.
Sometimes you have to be a detective to figure what it is that he is upset about.

It could be because of your husband  being gone, but usually that is more of a grieving response.

It could be the house. There may be smells from previous pets. There may be something you are not aware of that he doesn't like.

It could have something to do with the dog. Are you giving the cat the same amount of attention? Is he jealous of the dog's attention to you?

It could be the litterbox. Where it is located possibly. Sometimes they will pee in a litterbox but not poop because something startled them when they were using it. The dog possibly? Something you may not be aware of that happened. Maybe put a litterbox upstairs and see if that cures the problem. It would tell you if it is a litterbox problem or something else.

I am also including a link to some good articles on improper elimination that may be of help to you. Copy and paste the whole link into your address bar:

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

Hope this helps.