Expert: Dear Tabbi - 8/2/2008

Question
Hi
I, along with my fiancé, are new cat owners. We have two five and a half month old kittens, male and female littermates, that we acquired in May. Within 24 hours of coming to our apartment, they had figured out the litter box which we set up in the bathroom. They haven’t shown any problems as far as using it until about a week ago. They have begun to defecate in random places on the carpet throughout the apartment. It usually happens during the night or early morning, and I find it when I wake up. Their favorite spots are in the guest room, in the front hall, and, as of today, right in front of the bath room door way. This one frustrates me the most, because it was so close to the litter box.
Another thing is their eating habits. They usually tell ME when its time to eat. They demand their food and gobble it down as soon as the bowl touches the floor. But today I put it down and they hardly touched it. I feed them Nutro Indoor Kitten Food, 2/3 parts dry and 1/3 part wet. And I made sure their water was full.
I am disabled, so I spend a lot of time resting because my medication makes me drowsy. For this reason we shut the bedroom door at night because if we don’t the kittens will come in and pounce on us and make lots of noise during the night. They have the entire apartment to play in. My fiancé leaves around 5:30 am to go to his job, and I’ll sleep in until the kittens start ‘talking’ outside the door. At this point I’ll get up and feed and water them. This is when I usually discover the piles of poop.
They are scheduled to visit the vet again on Sep. 8 to get spayed/neutered and declawed. They have been to the vet several times already and have had all their vaccinations. They are free of worms, and have not been exposed to any other cats since we’ve had them. I’m wondering if this is a behavior problem, or a medical/health issue. I don’t want it become habit for them. If you could give me some insight, that would be wonderful. Thanks so much.

Mary


Answer
Mary,

That is a frustrating problem I know. Are you sure it is both cats defecating, or just one with the problem?

It could be a medical issue. They may have an allergy to an ingredient in their food, or an intestinal paraste or problem. I would try completely changing brands of dry and wet food and see if that makes a difference.

The problem could be related to gobbling their food. To prevent that I would get a good quality kitten chow free-feed. That is keeping a bowl full of dry food all the time. That way they can nibble when they are hungry and they won't gobble their food because they know it is always available. That should help the morning wakeups too.

When a cat doesn't use the litterbox he also can be telling you that he is upset about something in the home, with his litterbox, or with "his" people. Have you tried a bigger litterbox? As a kitten grows they need a bigger litterbox so their feet don't get 'dirty'. Try moving the litterbox to a different location. They may not like where it is located. Also leave a nightlight on where the litterbox is located if the defecating is occuring during the dark hours.
Sometimes you have to play detective to find out what is upsetting them.

I hope this helps and gives you some ideas which direction to go.

Tabbi