My cat pooping and peeing outside of the box

Question
About 3 months ago I got 2 kittens from a shelter, one male, one female.  Both cats have been using the litter box, but recently my intact male has taken to peeing and pooing in different places.  He peed in my large purse about 2 weeks ago, and today pooped twice on the carpet in my dinning room.  The first time I used vinegar and water to try to clean the poo out of the carpet, and then went and made sure the litter box was clean, but he did it again later tonight.  I want to know what the reasons that he is doing this could be, and how I can prevent it? Thank you.

Answer
Jessica,

There are many reasons the cat could be doing this. He may be coming into heat, he may have a medical problem, he may be mad at you, or he may be stressing about somthing...to name a few.

Here is an excellent link to different articles on improper elimination that you may find helpful and interesting:
(copy and paste, or type the whole link into your address bar)

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

I hope this helps. I know that can be an annoying problem.