Cat won't poop in his tray

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Matt MacLeod - 22 Aug 2005 08:33 GMT

Our cat has decided that he no longer wants to go in his litter tray.
He usually puts his front paws in the tray then does his business,
depositing it on the newspaper that we have now put down on the floor.

He doesn't go anywhere else - it's not as if he's pooping all over the
house, but it's quite odd that he does it so close to, but not in, his
tray.

Any suggestions??

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Sean - 22 Aug 2005 09:07 GMT

>Our cat has decided that he no longer wants to go in his litter tray.
>He usually puts his front paws in the tray then does his business,
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
>Any suggestions??

Bring the cat over to the little box, and rub their paws in it. Keep doing
this until the cat starts using the litter box. This is how I trained my cat
to do her business in the litter box instead of on the carpet. Also make sure
the surface of the cat litter is smooth (this will make it much more likely
that your cat will use the litter box again, since they seem to prefer a
smooth surface), and keep it clean, of course.

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Camilla Baird - 22 Aug 2005 09:12 GMT

> Our cat has decided that he no longer wants to go in his litter tray. He
> usually puts his front paws in the tray then does his business,
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Any suggestions??

There can be several reasons for this behaviour.

Does he not use the tray at all? neither for urinating nor defacating?

Has he always done this? or have you changed the tray? the litter? Is
the tray big enough for him?

He could also have some pain related to urinating and/or defacating
which he associates with the tray - a vet should have a look at this.

Camilla

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Matt MacLeod - 22 Aug 2005 09:41 GMT

> Does he not use the tray at all? neither for urinating nor defacating?
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> He could also have some pain related to urinating and/or defacating
> which he associates with the tray - a vet should have a look at this.

He does seem to urinate in the tray - at least I haven't had any nasty
surprises elsewhere in the house - and he does sometimes defacate in
the box, but maybe 3 out of 4 times he goes on the floor next to the
box.

I wondered if it was down to a change in environment - that cat is my
girlfriends who I'm looking after for a month. We're two weeks in so
far - at first he was fine, and went in the tray, but he's gradually
getting worse.

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Camilla Baird - 22 Aug 2005 09:55 GMT

>> Does he not use the tray at all? neither for urinating nor defacating?
>>
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> - at first he was fine, and went in the tray, but he's gradually getting
> worse.

He obviously wants a clean tray every time. :-) I suggest you give him
one more tray, so there is always a clean one to use. The tray(s) should
be cleaned for clumps at least once a day.
Camilla

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Matt MacLeod - 22 Aug 2005 12:25 GMT

> He obviously wants a clean tray every time. :-) I suggest you give him
> one more tray, so there is always a clean one to use. The tray(s)
> should be cleaned for clumps at least once a day.
> Camilla

I thought that this might be the case but we've been pretty good about
keeping things clean - we've been cleaning up as soon as we've seen
there's something to clean. For instance, his tray was clean last
night, and I woke to find that he'd gone on the floor again.

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Camilla Baird - 22 Aug 2005 12:43 GMT

>> He obviously wants a clean tray every time. :-) I suggest you give him
>> one more tray, so there is always a clean one to use. The tray(s)
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> there's something to clean. For instance, his tray was clean last night,
> and I woke to find that he'd gone on the floor again.

Have you had him checked by the vet?
Camilla

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