Problem With Poop

[Darky]

Okay, so..

We got Honey when he was 6 weeks old, and he was perfectly litter trained. He always used it with no problem, which both surprised and pleased me.

Then when he was able to start going outside by himself, I only had his litter tray down at night when he was indoors, and that worked superbly.

For the past month or there abouts, we've gotten rid of his litter tray completely, as we have always done with the cats. He does fine going outside.

However, unlike our other cats in the past, he has not learnt to ask to go out. (Our cat Spike comes up to one of us and leads us to the door to go out, and jumps and knocks on the door to come in again (Honey has learnt to knock now actually, which is quite amusing)

So, only recently (no problems before), he has pooped three times in the kitchen.

I don't really know what to do about it, because it happens at night and I don't really want to kick him out of the house at night. I think he may not go out enough during the day, sometimes he'll go out for a few hours but mainly he just likes to hang around the house.

How can I stop him from using the kitchen as a litter tray?

He goes where the tray used to be, so I cleaned the area very well with disinfectant, but to no avail.

[dinahsmum]

I wouldn't pretend to know all (or any of :roll: ) the answers but here are a few points/suggestions. They're all possibles - don't try to do them all, everyone will get confused, including you!

* just leave the tray down at nights for longer - maybe until Spring? He may just be too young to hold on till morning
* adjust Honey's eating patterns, so he needs to eliminate at a more time more convenient to you
*get into a routine which means he goes out in the evening for his toilet but comes in immediately for a treat/supper and bed
*if you take the try away you can dissuade him from going back to that spot by a) putting aluminium foil on the floor and b) cleaning with biological washing powder, to take away all trace (to Honey) of the smell
* if he has another accident, take the poop out to the garden and put it, half buried, wheer you want Honey to go.

* I think best bet may be to go back to the litter tray for a while, then move it nearer the back door, bit by bit, day by day, then take some of the used content and put it in the garden where you want Honey to go. Once you have seen that he is confident and reliable going outside you can take the tray away.

I hope there may be other suggestions from other members.

Good luck - let us know how you get on.

[Mags]

Cassie is an outdoor cat and I always have a litter tray down for her at night which she very often uses. Personally I think it necessary if you have your cat shut in at night.

Cassie uses a hooded tray, not so conspicuous and masks any smells.

[Grete]

Yeh I have to say I agree with Mags, If cats are in at night and can't use a cat flap to go out then I would make sure there is a litter tray down.

[Darky]

It's just that we've had no problem in the past, with two cats for 9-10 years, y'see, with no litter tray used.

[MrsH]

I personally don't see a problem with having a litter tray available during the night, even with cats that are free to come and go during the day. We have a cat-flap for during the day but I wouldn't like to think of my 2 (now 2 years old) possibly getting stressed if they needed to "go" during the night, so we also have a litter tray which we put down when we go to bed.

We pick it up in the morning and put it in the garage out of the way until bedtime. It rarely gets used by the way. I don't feel that this is in any way a backward step in their development. Just because your other cats don't need to go in the middle of the night does not mean that Honey's behaviour will be the same. How old is he by the way? I get the impression from your post that he is still quite young.

[Mags]

It's just that we've had no problem in the past, with two cats for 9-10 years, y'see, with no litter tray used.
Not every cat is the same in their habits just as not every human is. Imagine if you badly needed to use the toilet in the night and it wasn't there ...... what would you do? (that doesn't need an answer mind!;))...........
It's obvious that Honey needs the litter tray at night so I would be inclined to let him go back to using it..

[Darky]

I didn't say anything against the idea. o_O I was just explaining how previous experience comes into this.


Also, Honey is six months old.

[dandysmom]

I agree that Honey does seem to need the tray at night. Why not leave it down throughout the Winter months and then try DM's excellent suggestions? Good luck, whatever you do!

[smudgley]

I think the answer is in the question!;)

Leave the tray down for her, she obviously needs to go during the night, so you need to make sure she has the opportunity to.

[yola]

Some sound advice there! Good luck :D

[Kay]

I would definitely leave a cat tray down for him at night for as long as he needs it. He may always want to go at night my Angel tends to wait till nighttime and she is 4 years old. Don't know why.