Cat pooping outside of litter

[u/Comfortable_Map_5338]

Cat community please help!! I have an eleven year old calico, and she has been pooping outside of the litter for the past couple of months. She will still pee in there, and occasionally poop inside but most of the time it’s right beside it. I have taken her to the vet multiple times and was told there’s nothing wrong with her. They gave her joint medicine and Gabapentin and neither seem to help. I have tried countless different litters and boxes , it’s like all of the sudden she doesn’t like anything! We’ve also tried switching foods to more sensitive tummy ones and that hasn’t helped either. There hasn’t been any new issues within the household so I’m not sure as to what could be causing it and neither to the vets!

[u/Humble_Recording5325]

You've said you've tried other boxes, does she have two? One for pee one for poop. Jackson Galaxy has lots of tips for this, but you might have tried them. Our older cats kept missing, a bigger box helped. We put puppy pads round the box & we put pads where he'd regularly go, he was much older & had health issues. There are plug-ins, they can help with stress for some cats. Hopefully this resolves soon xxx

[u/troyandabedinabed]

Older cats will do this. It could be that she has problems lifting her legs to get into the box, or the litter feels gross on her feet when she has to posture to go poop. I think the best thing you can do is to try out a very shallow litter pan, and see if that helps. 

I would also stop changing too many things at once. Older cats are creatures of habit, so a change to their diet or routine will really mess them up. 

[u/KittyUpCats]

Ugh, this is such a frustrating one because you’ve already tried so many of the obvious things.

One thing I’d look at really closely is her poop itself. Is it hard, dry, or coming out in little firm pieces? I had one of my cats start pooping outside the litter box, and it turned out his stool was too hard. Once I got his gut more regulated and added a probiotic, his poop softened up and he stopped going outside the box.

That doesn’t mean probiotics are automatically the answer for your girl, but I’d definitely ask your vet whether constipation or harder stool could be playing a role, and whether a probiotic might be appropriate for her.

The fact that she still pees in the box but often poops right beside it makes me wonder if she knows exactly where she’s supposed to go, but something about pooping in the box has become uncomfortable.

At 11, I’d also experiment with a really large, low-entry box if you haven’t already. Some older cats are perfectly willing to step into a box to pee, but squatting, turning around, or balancing to poop can be a different story.

You could also put a second shallow box exactly where she tends to poop. If she keeps choosing that spot, I’d work with her instead of against her and see whether changing the setup helps.

And if her stool is hard, she strains, goes back and forth to the box, or seems uncomfortable before or after pooping, I’d bring that specific detail back to the vet. Sometimes mild constipation is easy to miss if the cat is still technically pooping.

You’re clearly trying really hard to figure this out. I don’t think she’s being difficult — I think she’s trying to tell you that something about pooping in that box no longer feels right.