I don't have child either and don't believe in using antibiotics or any other
form of medication unless absolutly necessary!

I don't question your love or dedication to you cat. Unfortunately it's possible
for different problems to have the same external symptoms. Let your vet decide
if it's serious or not. I've had a lot of cats in my life and have often been
surprised at how things I thought were minor turned  out to belief threatening.

Still remember when when my brother and I were living together and a cat of mine
that normally went outside came back after being out for a couple days. When I
first saw I knew something was wrong when a normally friendly cat growled when I
came near it and hissed and cried in pain when I touched it. I called home to
talk to my brother that happened to be coming home from vacation that day and
demanded that he take his cat to the vet immediately and only got him to do so
after offering to pay the vet bill. As it turned out he had an infection in his
leg from a cat fight which resulted in an infection that would have killed him
by morning and as a result caused a fever that resulted in permanent brain
damage. He was always a sweet loving cat that while still smart was always a bit
slow in the uptake. Talking to the vet that evening  I learned that as predators
a cat will do it's best to hide any weakness or injury since that makes them
prey to other predators. When a cat can't hide being hurt that means they're
very sick. Since then I've made it a policy to take a cat that even seems a
little sick or hurt to the vet ASAP since then.

You should put the litter boxes in a quiet, low-traffic area but also where
you can monitor your cats' litterbox activity for potential problems -
especially if you have male cats.  What they eliminate is just as, if not
more important than how they eliminate it.

If you can't actually see your cats eliminate you won't know if they're
having difficulties.  For a male cat with a urinary tract obstruction, this
can be fatal.

Phil

I wouldn't have thought anal sac problems would cause that, but one of
mine had been doing it several times a week for the last month or so.
It was clear it wasn't incontinence because she'd wander in and out
of the room with the litter box like she wanted to use it but couldn't.
I had thought it was an issue with cleanliness of the box, but I finally
got where I'm cleaning it twice daily (I got a Litter Locker -- it's the
greatest thing ever!), and she was still pooping on the floor every
other day or so even when the box was really clean.

I decided it was time for a vet visit for Mandy, despite how terrified
she is of vet visits, both because of the pooping and because
of a strange bump.  The vet expressed the sacs and Mandy hasn't
gone outside the box once in the week since.  She hadn't done this
before even though she has sometimes needed the sacs expressed
at previous checkups.  So maybe it's coincidence, but maybe your
Toby is the guilty party and maybe he will not have the problem any
more after his sacs are taken care of.

Catherine (human), Mandy (grey tabby), and Judy (brown tabby with white).

(p.s.  I'm not really new to the group, but it's been a long time since
I posted, and it wasn't with this userid.)