Expert: Dear Tabbi - 7/14/2009

Question
Hi

I have 2 cats which have always been house cats. Always shared a litter tray no problems, until last summer (while they still lived at my mums house). I had relationship troubles and moved in with my mum for a few weeks (i used to live there with the cats since they were kittens, but moved in with my boyfriend a few years after they were born). Anyway, when i moved in with my mum last july for these few weeks, suddenly, one of the cats started pooing at the end of the hall every night without fail. My mum was furious and threatened to get rid of them. I moved back in with my boyfriend after 4 weeks and they continued to poo in the hall every night, but only once everyone was in bed. My mum resorted to throwing them out the house. I decided to bring them to my house to live, where they have continued to be house cats and seemed to be very happy, getting much more attention than they did at my mums. The pooing in the hall never happened since they started living here. Only now, on the one year anniversary of them starting to poo at my mums, they have started it again! (i say they as i dont even know which one is doing it, as we are always asleep when it happens). I dont know what to do about it, it seems seasonal. We have a kennel at the end of the garden which we used last year for the transision of getting them used to this home (so they didnt feel thrust into a new house) Im thinking maybe a spell in the kennel for a week now may solve this problem? Its the only thing i can think of as i have ruled out a UTI and i have sprayed disinfectent which neutrilises the odor and also puts cats off the area and they still continue to do it there. The place they are doing it is even about a meter away from their food bowls! (they have always been in the same place with no problems) I honestly cant see why they would be doing this, they get so much attention here, they are always on our knees every night! What can i do?

Thanks for your time

Sally

Answer
Sally,

Usually the problem is that one of them is telling you that something is wrong or that they are upset about something. Sometimes you need to be a detective to figure out what the problem is.

There are a number of reasons it could be for the cat's behavior, and since I cannot put all the information into this reply, I am including some links to good articles about improper elimination.  They will have good information that you should find helpful in dealing with the cat's behavior.
(copy and paste or type the whole links into your address bar)

http://cats.about.com/cs/behavioralissues/a/outsidebox_two.htm

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

http://www.apbc.org.uk/article10.htm

Tabbi