I tried Feliway and everything else I could think of, but one of the females stopped using the cat box and substituting the couch instead. The two males are gone now, but the little female has never returned reliably to the cat box. She pees there, but poos in the house.
I’d like to offer a suggestion regarding the pooping outside the litter box issue. I have only really dealt with this situation once (or more accurately, with one kitten who pooped outside the litter box many times), but the pooping outside the litter box is a great big deal breaker for me and I spent many hours frantically Googling around the internet desperately seeking advice.
When I say that it’s a “deal breaker” for me, what I mean is that it stressed me out like nothing else I have ever had to deal with. Years ago we did have a cat, Mr. Fancypants, who would poop outside the litter box if he was ticked off at us, but he didn’t poop on the couch or our beds or even in the tub, but rather pooped near the litter box, but not IN the litter box. That was, well, not ACCEPTABLE to me, but I could handle it.
This pooping pooper I’m talking about developed a litter box issue caused by diarrhea, which caused him to make a mental link wherein pooping in the litter box = pain, so stopped using the litter box and instead used, oh, the middle of the rug or the end of the couch.
It was delightful.
So I desperately Googled around, looking for ways to fix this issue, and I saw pretty much the same suggestions, which spurred me to give it a try.
Firstly, I am quite sure that you took Poopin’ Petunia to the vet to make sure that she has no medical issues. But just in case you fell off the feline turnip truck, I’m putting it out there.
Now, assuming that she’s perfectly healthy according to the vet, this is what you do. You decide on a small room in your house where you can relocate the pooper for several days – a bathroom is the perfect size for this. You put the cat, her litter box, and her food and water in the bathroom. And then you keep her in there for at least three days. She’s not going to be happy about this, and neither are you. It SUCKS. (Side note: I highly recommend using Cat Attract litter while doing this, too. Might not help, but then again it might – and it certainly doesn’t hurt.) (Other side note: if you don’t have a small room/ bathroom that you can use, you could also do this with a large cage, as long as it has room for food, water, a litter box, and room for the cat to lay down.)
Most of the places where I read this suggestion said that you only go into the room to scoop the litter box and to check the food and water a few times a day; otherwise you don’t go into the room at all. This didn’t work for me, because the cat I was retraining to use the litter box was a SUPER love bug and it was driving us both crazy to just leave him in there without giving him all the love he was desperate for. Instead, I went into the room several times a day, sat with him and told him what a great cat he was, etc etc.
The first day he was kept in the bathroom, he didn’t poop in the litter box. The second and third, he did. I made a big fuss over him every time I scooped the litter box and found that he’d used it; I told him how smart he was and petted and kissed him like crazy. At the end of the third day, I opened the door to the bathroom and invited him out into the rest of the house. Unfortunately, he pooped on the rug a few hours later, which necessitated a trip back into the bathroom for a couple of days.
At the end of day two, we moved him up to the foster room (which is bigger than the bathroom, of course) to see how he did. He did fine, used the litter box okay, and then we started giving him access to the rest of the house for longer and longer periods of time. In the end, he was retrained to use the litter box completely (THANK GOD) and except for a couple of accidents caused by stupid things that were completely the fault of the humans rather than the fault of the cat, there were no more problems.
So if you have the room and the inclination, I would highly recommend that you give the litter box retraining a try.
Edited to add: Lisa has retrained her cat using a crate, and this is what she said (in the comments to this post)
Regarding retraining your cat to use the box, I have successfully done # 5 using a large crate. I put it in my bedroom against a window so Sammy (the “felon”) had a view and could be by me at night. She was crated for about 4 weeks. In the beginning she had just a few accidents in the crate outside the box. I used puppy pee pads on the crate floor so it was easy clean up. She also had a wood shelf that gave her the perfect spot to look out the window and she spent most of her time there. The first week or so I let her out only briefly. I watched her litterbox habits and her like a hawk. If I’d just seen her use the box, especially #1 and #2 I let her out for a while. I also gave her treats for using the box and for going in the crate. By the end of her “incarceration” she was spending several hours uncrated, but only when I was at home. The first week she did have a few accidents also outside the crate when she was free. After 4 weeks, I gave her freedom on the weekend when I knew I’d be around. I left the crate in my room with the door open and the other cats (I have 5) gradually started to use that litter box, too. I finally folded the crate away a month later. Sammy hasn’t had a relapse in 2 months now.
I have used Tidy Cats litter for several years. When I started Sammy in the crate, I mixed the TC with Cat Attract and gradually back to just TC. I was religious about scooping that box and keeping it clean for her. Prior to this, with 5 cats, they did fine sharing two covered litter boxes. I’ve now added a 3rd box and none of them are hooded. None of my cats are small. I just have to put up with more litter getting flung out of the boxes.
I also changed their food. She had this problem for months and as time went on, her stool got worse and worse. I knew she was uncomfortable. I got her changed over to Nutro Natural Choice senior and her stool got firmer and firmer and less smelly and she seemed to have an easier time of it. Now all the cats are on it and my senior guy who had gotten a little too thin in my opinion, has filled out some.
Sammy had been checked at the vet for both urinary tract and bowel issues (including parasites) and was clean.
P.S. I tried additional boxes and Feliway and neither worked before I had to crate her. I still have no rugs out where she can get to them and she ruined several before getting crated. My floors are hardwood and tile, which was a blessing during this because that’s relatively easy to clean though she did potty on the bottom of both cat trees AND my bed (several times and twice with me in the bed!). I have a foam mattress topper. I had to take it off at least twice to clean with Odor Mute (powder mixed with warm water). I also had to treat my mattress. I finally got a waterproof mattress cover so the mattress was protected and then put the foam topper on top of that (recently took the mattress cover off because it makes the topper slide some). She also peed a few times on one of my couches and I had to take the cushions off and clean them with Odor Mute (that stuff works – highly recommend it). Sammy is very lucky her mommy loves her very much!!!