Hi everyone! My cat, who’s about 9 years old, has started pooping right by the front door. It started with the odd little poo every now and then, but now it’s happening almost all the time. For a while now he’s had diarrhoea, and it stinks to high heaven – it’s really unpleasant to clean up.
We’ve tried:
- Changing the mat (since he always goes in the same spot on the rug)
- Using repellent spray
- Switching to unscented litter (as he started this when we changed to a scented one)
- Just removing the new mat altogether because he messed on it after only a week.
He’s still weeing in his litter tray without any issues.
He’s an indoor cat, but he goes outside with us occasionally when we’re chilling on the patio.
We wondered if he might be stressed because our 18-year-old dog has separation anxiety and starts howling the moment I leave. We’ve tried using a natural calming spray for cats and dogs. It hasn’t really worked, other than the cat seeming a bit less on edge and more confident, but the pooping continues! On top of that, he does it in the evening when we go to bed and my mum doesn’t take him into her room with her (he used to sleep with her). We thought that might be the cause, but the pooping didn't actually start at the same time the sleeping arrangements changed.
Does anyone have any ideas? Have you experienced anything like this? We’re desperate and properly fed up with cleaning up poo – we’ve already had to chuck two mats straight in the bin because they were so gross.
