cat poops everywhere ready to give up

Question
I have been fighting this problem for 3 years with total failure.  She is physically healthy according to the Vet.  You name it and i have tried it.  I often read about cats pooping in one area, my cat will poop in various places.  Outside the box, and even more so where there is activity and it will be noticed.  There are two cats.  For lack of a better phrase the 'poop cat' will poop by the water/food bowls, the main hallway leading to the cat room and right in front of the litter boxes.  Basically where my older cat has to travel the poop cat will lay it down.  I've been told I am crazy, that cats don't mark and claim property with poop, but I think some sort of acting out along these lines is what's going on.  I recently purchased the Nintendo Wii and have been spending quite a bit of time playing in front of the TV.  I woke up one day to find a nice pile of poop in the exact spot I stand when playing the Nintendo Wii.  I am a very disorganized/cluttered person and have been working hard to get things straightened up.  One section in the living room where I spent hours working and getting it looking clean and neat was met with a pile of poop three days later.  I must add that there are periods (few weeks to a month) that she will use the box just fine.  Usually the misbehaving occurs once or twice a week.  Also when she goes my GOD does she lay a lot of poop down.  You see the pile and you'd think a great dane just defecated.  It is usually firm to a little soft and easy to get up, none soaks into the carpet or anything.  She is a 16 pound cat.  Also the poop cat is younger (about 7) than the older cat (14), both are girls, and the poop cat has all claws, the older cat is declawed.  I must also add that as the years go by the two are growing apart and getting along less and less.  The poop cat has known the older cat all her life.  The poop cat is getting quite dominating over the food/water areas, even with multiple stations.  As the older cat makes her way to food the poop cat is right on it and intimidates her at the food bowl.  She will leave a relaxed sleeping posture from the opposite side of the room just to make an issue with the older cat at the food bowl. After a couple bites of food the poop cat is running the other cat off.  I'm beginning to have to feed the older cat in private at times to make sure she is getting enough to eat.  I am at a loss and giving up.  It can't be said I don't love this cat and I didn't try.  I have been cleaning poop around the house for 3 years.  I am angry and hurt.  I was breaking down in tears emailing shelters to try and find someone to take her in today.  It's easy to think about what must be done, but it is pure torture to actually start the ball rolling.  I'm convinced it is her attitude and she is acting out making a point to me and the older cat.  Any other last minute thoughts?  Are some cats just destined to not get along?  Also another theory but just my thoughts:  Would getting her declawed make any difference?  I know that is a last ditch effort, believe me I don't want to cause needless pain.  But if she had no claws would some of her bullied/dominant edge be knocked down some?  Maybe equalize the playing field between the two cats?  I'm just desperately thinking and would try just about anything.  Sadly I will have to get rid of her one way or another if the problem doesn't stop soon.  My older cat has had a wrecked life and gone through many owners.  She's been a stolen cat, a beaten cat, and a history beyond the 5 owners I can trace.  She is very well behaved, very sweet and friendly and I promised her no more owners.  We are together until the end.  I can't have her all nervous from the other cat much longer.  Now after reading the last lines do not think I am starving the poop cat of attention.  She probably gets twice or more attention than the older cat.  Because of the problems I am really trying to give all I can and then some.  The poop cat is so lovable, will sleep with me (I live alone) follow me everywhere like a puppy dog, lay on her back and loves me to rub her belly.  I call her the poop cat here for clarity, not because I love her less.

Please don't act like I'm stupid and waste time on stock replies.  Take what I say here as given and go from there.  Yes she has been to the Vet and checked a few times.  You would be surprised at the times you tell this to people and they reply: "Have you taken her to the Vet to get checked?"  I want to say Duh can you read?  Also, yes I know 100% that the poop cat is the poop cat.  I spent tons of money on network video coverage to monitor the place, nothing to do with security, but exclusively to monitor the cat movements.  I have much video evidence.  The poop cat is the guilty one, no question.  Sorry for the attitude but my days are getting rougher.  I'm beginning to accept defeat and reality is setting in.  In the beginning they got along, the two cats.   What am I not getting or doing with this situation?  Hooyer

Answer
Hello Hoyer,

I can tell you are beyond frustrated and I assure you I am not here volunteering my time, of which I don't have very much of it free thus the often very late replies, to hand out stock answers.  I will start by saying I have honestly never experienced a problem as severe as this with my own cats but I am more than willing to do my best to help you out.

First, and this will suck for both you and the poop cat, but she needs to go back to litter training 101.  It's going to require about 6 litterboxes, a commitment and a lot of patience but it sounds like you're willing to try anything!  While cats are smart and can use bad litterbox habbits to make a point, I don't think that's what is going on here as it's gone on far too long for that.  It's possible this is how it started out but now she has just gotten to a point that it's habbit to go wherever she feels like it, unusual for the normally clean cat but absolutely not unheard of!  

You have allready answered most of my usual questions for this type of problem but I have a few more.  What kind of litterbox and litter do you use?  How many litterboxes do you have and where are they situated?  How have you been cleaning the area's that she has defecated?

This may seem drastic but she needs to be kept in your bathroom for now until we can get her using the box regularly.  With of course her litterbox and water dish, free feeding is out for now so that you will have an idea of when she is going to go.  You will learn her digestive system better than she knows it ;)  By doing this you are creating a smaller living area for her and by using her natural instinct not to poo where she sleeps she will be forced to use the litter box.  You need to buy Cat Attract litter, it is generally for use with problem pee'ers but does work for poo too.  She needs to be fed once a day only, most cats, dogs, people etc will eliminate the previous days food one hour after they've eaten the new meal.  This will help you monitor her bowel movements, doesnt that sound like fun?  ;)  It's going to take a week or so of the once a day feeding to regulate her system which is where the bathroom comes in, by keeping her in here you are going to be sure she is using the box and it sounds like your older cat will get a much needed break from her.  We all spend 1/4 of our day in the bathroom plus an extra visit or two to see her so I am sure she will not be neglected.

If you are currently using uncovered boxes, cover them and vice versa.  Some cats want the privacy, others hate the closed in boxes.  You should also provide her with two boxes, if space allows, yup you read that right!  I have had more than one cat who wants two boxes, one for peeing and the other for pooping.  Some will also not touch a box that another cat has used nor will they go if there is even one mess in it, so what I would recommend is staying on top of the boxes as much as possible.  Since you're in the bathroom and, I believe, cat attract is flushable this should be easy enough.

She should remain in the bathroom until you are relatively certain you've got her system down, it really shouldn't be tough as mentioned it is generally an hour after eating so I would feed her around 6-7pm.  Once this is settled start letting her out during the day but putting her back in the bathroom to eat and then use the box, I would do this for another week or so.  After that I would begin to let her out during the day, put her back to eat but then let her out immediately after leaving both the litterbox in the bathroom and one that is fairly close to the bathroom.  By this point in time she should be back in the habbit of using the box regularly but by knowing her system you will be able to monitor where she is when she should be about to go and best of all you will catch her in the act if she is about to eliminate inappropriately.  She *should* be trained by now but if she is not and you can catch her 'in the act' grab her up and immediately put her in the box.  During the first few weeks that she is out of the bathroom you should have a variety of boxes out in a variety of places, they should be convenient for her to get to.  Over time you can remove one or two but for your situation I would have no less than four boxes in the home.  Keeping in mind that having four is not going to make them go more so it won't be more cleaning it will just be spread out a bit more.  This will help avoid recurrances if she is particularly picky and this may have been what started all of this in the first place.

I have used this type of training with more than one cat and it works like a charm.  It is a lot of work and takes time but I agree that you can not continue to live like that.  If I do not hear back from you and for some reason this does not work, which it never hasn't for me, and you still want to place her I would highly recommend NOT calling your local shelter but calling your local cat rescue group.  These people would never put a cat down for something like this and would put the time in to make sure she gets trained and off to the right home.  Most times they can be found online for any particular area, I would just do a search for  Area, State/Province, Cat rescue and you should get something.

Now as for your second problem with the bullying I would be giving both cats rescue remedy in their water every day. This will help calm both of them. It is my experience that the worst case scenario between two cats that live together if they truly don't get along is that they will stake out their own territories in the house and stick to them.   If she continues to bully after the training she should get a firm NO!(with or without a squirt bottle), abruptly picked up and given a time out.  She will quickly begin to associate her own bullying with the unpleasant feeling of quickly being picked up and taken away from her food, toys, pets of whatever it is she was doing.  This is much easier to fix than the other issue.

The other thing I would worry about here is the health of your older cat.  You mentioned having thorough check ups done on the younger one but often what will happen in a cat dynamic is that when the matriarch starts to decline in health the 'new' younger cat will begin to fight them for the top spot.  This is a phenomena I've seen many times and it is often the first clue that someone is unwell, cats are SO good at hiding from us that they are sick but they can not fool their own kind.  It's possible I am way off base here but again I've seen it happen and it is exactly as you describe.  With 10+ cats in my house at any given time even the youngest will begin to pick on the cat that isn't feeling well, it's part of establishing the hiarchy.

I wish you the best of luck and I do hope I have helped.

Natoma