Why is my 17-year-old cat pooping on my bed instead of her litter box?

Hi. Poor Zuzu. Usually when kitties defecate, or urinate, outside the box, they are trying to tell us something, if she isn't urinating, that is definitely a concern. Most likely though, she is going somewhere or she would be a lot sicker. I recommend getting her seen as soon as you can. In older kitties, some of the common problems we see include kidney disease, high thyroid, cardiac disease, diabetes, UTI's, or cancers. So in a case like this, blood and urine will help us rule a lot of those out. So to start I recommend an exam and labwork. Good luck

Poor kitty! In a 13 year old cat, I strongly suspect that she has a medical problem causing these issues. Some common possible causes would include hyperthyroidism, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease. I would recommend taking her to the vet for an exam as soon as you are able to - he/she can do blood work and a urinalysis to help diagnose the problem and get her started on appropriate medication to treat it.

I'm sorry that you are dealing with this frustrating problem! I'm glad to hear that she is reliably peeing in the box, but pooping outside the box is also, of course, problematic. Have there been any changes in the home that she might perceive as stressful? Any new pets, a major change in your schedule, holiday visitors, etc. All of these things could contribute to this type of behavior. Make it a point to spend a few minutes a day with her, just giving her attention. Engage her in play with a wand type toy, or just sit and pet her and chat to her. Sometimes some reassurance can be really beneficial. Also, make sure there is a litter box on every level of your home, (every story--basement, main floor, upstairs, etc) and if you have multiple cats, the number of litter boxes should be the# of cats plus 1. ( so 3 boxes if you have 2 cats). If she's not been to the vet for this issue, take her in. If she has arthritis, etc or is otherwise painful, pooping may be uncomfortable and therefore she may not be completely "finishing" when she is in the box. Or, its also possible that she may have a neurologic condition that is affecting her ability to know when she needs to poop in time to get to the box. Here are a couple of articles you may find helpful as well. https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/common-cat-behavior-issues/litter-box-problems https://www.petcoach.co/article/inappropriate-elimination-urination-defecation-spraying-in/ Thank you for asking PetCoach!

That has to be frustrating for you! Even if you’re absolutely certain that the problem is behavioral, you need to have your cat examined by the veterinarian to make sure there isn’t an underlying medical problem. There are a number of medical issues that could be causing your cat to feel uncomfortable about pooping in the box. If she experiences constipation, for example, she may associate the box with her discomfort and attempt to go somewhere else. If your cat is older and has arthritis, it may be difficult for her to perch on the litter substrate in order to eliminate solids. If you have a covered litter box, she may feel cramped in there while perching in position to poop. There are a number of intestinal problems (inflammatory bowel disease for example) that commonly result in cats defecating outside of the box. Sassy may experience cramping and the discomfort causes her to try to eliminate wherever she is at the time. She may also become so uncomfortable that she can’t make it to the box. I recommend taking her into your vet to rule out a medical reason behind this, and if it is ruled out, your vet can discuss behavioral techniques to get her to poop in her box. Take a sample of her feces with your for the vet to examine.

I am sorry to hear about Sadie. There are several different possible causes for the accidents. You don't mention if this is urination, bowel movements, or both. With urinary accidents we can have changes in habit due to urinary tract infection, bladder diseases, kidney disease, diabetes, and thyroid disease. Fecal accidents can occur due to a variety of problems including constipation, intestinal parasites, anal sac infection/impaction, inflammatory bowel disease, or other bowel disease. If your kitty is having urine and bowel movement accidents then we would be concerned about things like arthritis causing discomfort resulting in her not wanting to travel all the way to the litterbox. We can also have cognitive decline in older pets that can lead to accidents, or anxiety issues. I would recommend an exam by your vet to try to pinpoint the underlying cause which will determine the treatment. In the meantime, I would consider moving a litterbox into the room she likes to spend her time in!

When cats get older, they can develop health problems such as arthritis. Arthritis would cause it to be painful for Elvira to crouch to go to the bathroom, and so she goes to the bathroom and gets out of the box as soon as she's done to get out of her painful position. Given that this is a sudden change in behavior, I would have her seen by a vet for this. The vet can diagnose if she is suffering from something such as arthritis causing this behavior, and can prescribe treatment for it. Please do not give her any human medications, as many are toxic to cats and are fatal if given. The vet can prescribe her safe pain medications if needed.

Dexter is adorable! Thanks for including a picture and giving such a thorough history. Unfortunately, it is very common for older cats to have changes in their bathroom habits. The first thing I would recommend would be to have your vet examine Dexter and check a fecal sample on him to make sure that there isn't a medical cause for him to be defecating outside the box. Older cats commonly have arthritis along their back which may interfere with their comfort getting into the litter box or squatting to defecate. If Dexter has ever had pain associated with squatting to defecate, he may associate it with the litter box and may avoid the litter box for defecation. So, I would recommend having your veterinarian examine Dexter to see if they find any signs of arthritis that may benefit from medication or other treatment. If your vet can't find a medical reason, then the next step is to look at litter box issues. Even if a cat has been tolerant of a slightly dirty litter box previously, sometimes this changes as they get older. That may mean that if there is ANY urine or stool in a box, then they won't use it. Why this sometimes involves only stool and not urine, we can't always tell. But the first step in any inappropriate elimination case is to make sure that there are the "correct" number of litter boxes in the house which is the number of cats plus one, so that would be 2 boxes in your house. Those boxes must be cleaned at least once daily. Some people use an automatic cleaning litter box for one of their boxes to make sure that there is always a clean box. Cats tend to dislike covered or lined litter boxes, so I would eliminate those if they are as issue. This handout deals mostly with inappropriate urination, but has some good suggestions for litter box issues. veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=633 Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.