Need some help with a cat problem

So, for me, this is a little awkward but...

We just adopted a cute little cat named (tentatively) Cara. She's about a year old and came to us from a foster family.

The first night (Friday), as per her foster mom's suggestion, we kept her together with her litter box and food so she didn't need to try to remember where it was and all that. The second day (Saturday), we had the box in its normal location and she used it, so we assumed she knew where it was. But the next night (Sunday) she defecated on our bedroom carpet... twice.

We showed her the box, thinking she may have forgotten where it was. We also cleaned it, thinking maybe it was too dirty for her liking (though it had only been a day or two since cleaning).

Monday and today has been the same- she uses the box like normal during the day, but at night she defecates on our carpet.

We did remove the lid. It was a covered box and we had read online that cats may feel cramped due to lids, and taking the lid off might encourage them to use the litter. Having read that cats won't do their business where they eat, I also placed small bowls of her food in the two places where she has done this, to see if it will help for tomorrow.

Is she just stressed from being in a new place? Will she stop this on her own? The weirdest part to me is that she'll use her litter fine all day until a particular time at night. I've never had this problem or any problem like it with the cats I owned growing up, and so I'm really confused. Obviously, we are getting quite frustrated.

Some additional information:
-We bought the same brand of food she was eating at her foster home, though her feces is not as solid as it should be. Is this also stress related?
-Our apartment is small but pretty loud due to the old pipes in our building and the loud air conditioning.
-When she does this, she obviously knows it's bad, because she will spend her time hiding and running away from us for a good while until she becomes comfortable again.
-Her nails were incredibly long and sharp, so we clipped them Sunday without incident (beyond the normal grumpy reaction of a cat). I know that declawing cats can have some gnarly effects on them, even related to excretion. So could clipping her nails have been a catalyst for this?

I really appreciate you taking the time to read this. Of course we have done some reading, but it really helps to hear personal experiences as well as to talk about our specific situation.

Thanks FishLore!

 

Her loose stools are probably stress related, I doubt clipping her nails started it. Did her previous owner say anything about this behavior at night? It could be that she is young and never did use it at night. Is she lose in the apartment during both day and night?

 

Did previous owners let the cat outside at night? All this behavior could be stress related, she is in a new environment and may take a while (weeks) to get comfortable. If not, You may need to confine her at night with the litter box for a while and see what happens..

 

Are you using the same litter brand as the previous owners? Whenever I change my cat's litter she refuses to use the litter box and will meow aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall night long until I change it back.

 

Are you using the same litter brand as the previous owners? Whenever I change my cat's litter she refuses to use the litter box and will meow aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall night long until I change it back.

I knew I was forgetting something! Lol that is a huge possibility too

 

Hi, thanks for the responses. The foster mom did not mention this type of behavior at all. But, she is coming from a home that apparently had a lot of cats, so it's possible this was happening and the owner had no idea who the culprit was. I do know that she was never allowed outside, even at night.

Our apartment is just our bedroom, our bathroom, and one contiguous living room/kitchen/dining area. There isn't really a way to "confine" her with us at night, since we are night owls and will be out in the open area until late. The only confinement we could get is to put her in our room or the bathroom by herself. Would this be okay? She's a very social cat, and I worry her being alone would upset her further. I do like that idea though.

And yes, she is loose in the apartment both day and night. As I said, because of the arrangement of our living space she is either in a small area alone or in an open area with us.

Edit: I don't know if the litter is the same- I would have to ask. I had ruled that out as a problem, since she is in fact using it part of the time. But I guess it never hurts to check into.

 

Aww...my cat has pooped in my bedroom before too. I've had her close to two years and this has only happened a couple of times. I blamed it on a sick tummy. But she could have been mad at us for some reason. I think she will get better, I would make sure her litter stays clean, cats are very serious about their "business". Make sure she has enough litter that she can scratch and scratch til her hearts content.
Good Luck!

 

My cat has done the same when she had something wrong with her. She was letting me know, "hello look what's wrong with me!" Come to find out she had worms. Worms was cured and the meds affected her by giving her a UTI. Then she made sure I was looking and used the bathroom in front of me again. But you say she does it on a sneak. Have you examined her droppings? No worms or anything like that right? Just soft...hmmmm really got me thinking. Do you play with her and does she have somewhere high for her to chill on to survey her new domain? Play and cuddle time will make a cat come out of their shell. One important thing...is she fixed? If not she can be marking. Some cats use spray, some use poop. Lol we know you're here doesn't mean we want to smell you lol jk but keep us updated and good luck on your new kitty.

 

Lol we know you're here doesn't mean we want to smell you lol jk but keep us updated and good luck on your new kitty.

Haha true! We do play with her, though maybe she needs some more. She gets lots of cuddles because she's a very social cat and wouldn't allow otherwise. As for worms, she got dewormed shortly before coming to us and I haven't noticed anything in her stool. For high places, there isn't really anywhere she's supposed to be, though we've caught her on top of the fridge a few times.

I'm hoping he isn't sick and is just stressed. Her foster mom made it sound like she is very healthy.

 

Is she fixed though?

 

Oh, yes, sorry. I missed that one. Yes, she is fixed.

 

The worming is probably why her stool is looser than normal...after the initial worming medicine they then have to pass the dead worms which could take a week or so. You say she is really social so maybe she doesn't want to let her new family out of her site at night to go use the facilities? Is there any way you could put a second box in the bedroom to see if that solves the problem?
Also the best toy I ever got my cats: cheap $1 laser toy at the dollar store! Even the big cat comes running when I get that thing out and boy does it ever give them the exercise they need!

I was just thinking...if possible you may want to take a stool sample in to your vet to have her checked again for worms since there are different kinds that take different meds to get rid of. I know my poor rescue kitten had to get 2 different kinds to get all his! You can ask if you can just bring the sample and have it tested (saves you the cost of an office visit if everything checks out okay)

 

She always does it while we are out of the room, so it couldn't be that she doesn't want to leave us. But the second box might be a good option. So is the sample. So far so good tonight - we have the door to our room closed, so she can't get in to her normal "accident" place. But the night is young!

We also have a laser pointer! She loves it ("loves" being subjective). We also got her one of those long pieces of fabric on a pole, with feathers at the end. She gets scared of it if you wave it around, but if it's just lying on the ground she'll drag it places with her XD

 

My new kitten plays fetch, ONLY with his favorite mouse (which reminds me I better find a backup just like it). He plays fetch better than my dogs do actually !
Hoping your kitty's behavior starts improving soon. Sometimes it is so hard to figure out the "Why's" when you bring home a new little family member!

 

So, for me, this is a little awkward but...

We just adopted a cute little cat named (tentatively) Cara. She's about a year old and came to us from a foster family.

The first night (Friday), as per her foster mom's suggestion, we kept her together with her litter box and food so she didn't need to try to remember where it was and all that. The second day (Saturday), we had the box in its normal location and she used it, so we assumed she knew where it was. But the next night (Sunday) she defecated on our bedroom carpet... twice.

We showed her the box, thinking she may have forgotten where it was. We also cleaned it, thinking maybe it was too dirty for her liking (though it had only been a day or two since cleaning).

Monday and today has been the same- she uses the box like normal during the day, but at night she defecates on our carpet.

We did remove the lid. It was a covered box and we had read online that cats may feel cramped due to lids, and taking the lid off might encourage them to use the litter. Having read that cats won't do their business where they eat, I also placed small bowls of her food in the two places where she has done this, to see if it will help for tomorrow.

Is she just stressed from being in a new place? Will she stop this on her own? The weirdest part to me is that she'll use her litter fine all day until a particular time at night. I've never had this problem or any problem like it with the cats I owned growing up, and so I'm really confused. Obviously, we are getting quite frustrated.

Some additional information:
-We bought the same brand of food she was eating at her foster home, though her feces is not as solid as it should be. Is this also stress related?
-Our apartment is small but pretty loud due to the old pipes in our building and the loud air conditioning.
-When she does this, she obviously knows it's bad, because she will spend her time hiding and running away from us for a good while until she becomes comfortable again.
-Her nails were incredibly long and sharp, so we clipped them Sunday without incident (beyond the normal grumpy reaction of a cat). I know that declawing cats can have some gnarly effects on them, even related to excretion. So could clipping her nails have been a catalyst for this?

I really appreciate you taking the time to read this. Of course we have done some reading, but it really helps to hear personal experiences as well as to talk about our specific situation.

Thanks FishLore!

Do you know about the nitrogen cycle?

Cause I do not know anything about cats!

But I find rather amazing how this place and its people can be generously helpful...

... Good luck!!!

 

We also got her one of those long pieces of fabric on a pole, with feathers at the end. She gets scared of it if you wave it around, but if it's just lying on the ground she'll drag it places with her XD

Had me cracking up b/# I never knew the name of it either. Lol it's a scratching post. My cat is obsessed with aluminum foil. Everytime he hears it, he's in your face ready for you to ball or up and throw it so he can play fetch. He's also a better fetch mate than my dog. !
I also love how everyone on this site is so helpful.

 

Since she's a new kitty, a vet visit is probably a good idea anyway. You can go over your concerns there and they can run the stool test plus any other tests she may need (FELV) plus she can get her shots. As for the stool, it is probably loose due to stress. The stress may also be why she is pooping outside the box. If she's used to other cats, she may be nervous being alone at night. As for the boxes, it is recommended that you have one for each cat plus one extra. Someone mentioned marking and you mentioned that it was an apartment. Any chance that the previous owners had a cat that marked the bedroom floor? If you were really interested in that you could obtain a UV light. Or you could just try to clean the carpet where she is going. If there is urine in there, it usually goes down to the pad though. The de-worming may cause loose stools. Was she de-wormed because she had worms or as a preventative? As for the type of litter, yes cats can get upset if it isn't what they want. If that were the case though I doubt she'd use the box at all

 

Not sure if anyone else suggested this, but instead of trying to make her stop have you considered putting a litter box where she is going at night? Preferably a second box, not just moving the one she already has... If you don't want to invest in another box because of how small your space is, you could use a storage container temporarily instead.

Then it would be an agreeable situation for you, as you can clean the litter box easier than whatever she's going on. If she goes on the bed, put the litter box on the floor as near the bed as possible.

From that point if she uses the litter box in the spot she's going the bathroom in, start to gradually move the litter box away from the spot (a few inches a night, nothing extreme) See if she follows the litter box or ignores it in favor of the spot she's been having accidents on.

As others have said this could be a health issue she's trying to alert you to as best she can. It could also be stress, and it might be something she grows out of with comfort. However if it's behavioral and she continues to do it, the longer it goes on the harder it will be to get her to stop - cats are very stubborn. If you get up and feed one at 3 am one night because it starts crying, it could expect to be fed at 3 am every night for the rest of their life, waking you up to be fed.

 

You've gotten a lot of good suggestions. It can take 3 or mre wks for a kitty to settle in. I don't know what you're using to clean the soiled area, but cat's sense of smell is mind blowing phenomenal so you need something like Nature's Miracle that will break down all enzymes and pheromones. She may adjusting to being alone. Cats in a group situation, or colony, have a tight social order. They will snuggle together at night. Getting her checked out by your vet is number one. My husband's kitty was really bent out of shape when we moved in together. If he left clothing on the floor, George would leave a present. The first time we went on vacation, he left a gift on MY pillow. Good luck, patience will win out. They are sort of like 2 yr old kids.

 

Thanks to everyone for the responses. Thankfully, she has stopped with the accidents and I think is settling in much better. She's not quite 100% at home with us yet, but much better!

She was checked by a vet before coming to us. She was in a foster family situation so a lot of those tests were already done. Though, it wouldn't hurt to take her anyway.

Thanks again! I will hopefully post a picture of her "enjoying" our fish tank soon.