TMI Cat Poop Questions

[Deleted]

Tell me this was an isolated incident please.

Litter is clean. Cat uses box. No new stressors. No change in diet. No odd behavior outside of these incidents.

The other night my husband observed Noah with poop on his butt and he was struggling to wipe it on the floor to get it off of him. He did, my husband cleaned it up and threw it away. It was normal looking in its shape and consistency. This had never happened before.

Then last night I was picking up some clothes that I had left on the floor near my recently used suitcase and found that Noah had hidden poo underneath my clothes! I know it was Noah because TK's poop is different and also because Noah always tries to cover up his vomit.

At the same time I make this discovery, my husband, half a country away, discovers cat vomit in HIS suit case. Again, we know it was Noah because TK doesn't vomit and Noah hides vomit.

So, what's going on? We furminated him recently so I didn't think it is hairball related. Is he sending us a message that he hates suitcases? Is something wrong with his butt? Did he poop on my clothes on purpose?

FTR we were only gone 36 hours and he had plenty of food, water, fresh air and seemed fine when we came home. H travels a lot for work but that is nothing new.

Thanks for reading!

[DorkFish]

The only times my cat has pooped outside of the box has been a dirty box or known stressors so I'm no help sorry :/

[karinothing]

Hmm, I have no clue but it sounds like he may be made about travel. Crazy guy! You could always take him to the vet to be sure. I know I am no help.

[Deleted]

So if he is punishing us for traveling WWYD? We have a bunch of weekend trips coming up and I usually don't call in the sitter unless we're gone for more than 2 nights. Call in a sitter?

[mrssavy42112]

How many litter boxes do you have? The vet told me I should have 1 more than the # of cats. Leaving the cats alone for >24h is not OK in my books. Besides the fact that my cats eat twice a day & I don't leave a continuous bowl of food out, what if something happens? They get caught in something, hurt, start showing signs of something wrong...no one will know. They should be checked on at least once a day. There are some issues, like a blocked bladder, that can seriously injure or even kill a cat in a few hours (according to my vet), which is why they shouldn't be left unattended for prolonged periods of time.

Plus, I have 3 cats and even after 8 hours the boxes are filled up with poop. Cats don't like to use boxes that are dirty, as you know. So after 36h+ worth of poop/pee in there, I could see why they'd go outside.

[Deleted]

Jun 6, 2012 14:53:41 GMT -5 mrssavy42112 said:

How many litter boxes do you have? The vet told me I should have 1 more than the # of cats. Leaving the cats alone for >24h is not OK in my books. Besides the fact that my cats eat twice a day & I don't leave a continuous bowl of food out, what if something happens? They get caught in something, hurt, start showing signs of something wrong...no one will know. They should be checked on at least once a day. There are some issues, like a blocked bladder, that can seriously injure or even kill a cat in a few hours (according to my vet), which is why they shouldn't be left unattended for prolonged periods of time.

Plus, I have 3 cats and even after 8 hours the boxes are filled up with poop. Cats don't like to use boxes that are dirty, as you know. So after 36h+ worth of poop/pee in there, I could see why they'd go outside.

2. I know we need another but we're really short on space right now. I'm working on rearranging some things so we can make it work. I'm militant about cleaning them though.

Thanks for your thoughts on the cat sitter. I hadn't really thought of that before. They do love the sitter.

[cricketwife]

Jun 6, 2012 14:53:41 GMT -5 mrssavy42112 said:

Leaving the cats alone for >24h is not OK in my books. .

That's a bit overboard for me. Please don't let her make you feel guilty. I think it's perfectly reasonable to leave your cats for a couple of days.

I'm not sure what to tell you. Usually it is stressors or a dirty litter box for the poop issue. Is there maybe a stressor that you're overlooking?

The throw-up issue is a bit different to me (ie. not a behavioral issue). Some cats are just "thrower-uppers" as I like to say. I have one who throws frequently and nothing really eliminates that.

Sorry not to be more help.

[Deleted]

Jun 6, 2012 15:04:50 GMT -5 cricketwife said:

Jun 6, 2012 14:53:41 GMT -5 mrssavy42112 said:

Leaving the cats alone for >24h is not OK in my books. .

That's a bit overboard for me. Please don't let her make you feel guilty. I think it's perfectly reasonable to leave your cats for a couple of days.

I'm not sure what to tell you. Usually it is stressors or a dirty litter box for the poop issue. Is there maybe a stressor that you're overlooking?

The throw-up issue is a bit different to me (ie. not a behavioral issue). Some cats are just "thrower-uppers" as I like to say. I have one who throws frequently and nothing really eliminates that.

Sorry not to be more help.

Oh yes Noah is a thrower upper for sure. I'm hoping that this combo of events are mostly coincedental. But I'll be keeping an eye on him.

[jenny1223]

Weird. My cat just knocked some poop out of his litter box a couple nights ago which has never happened before. Maybe there's some crazy cat full moon thing going on.

[Deleted]

Jun 6, 2012 15:21:55 GMT -5 jenny1223 said:

Weird. My cat just knocked some poop out of his litter box a couple nights ago which has never happened before. Maybe there's some crazy cat full moon thing going on.

I hope so. It was not a pleasant thing to find.

[StJess80]

Maybe he doesn't like the furminator?

Could be that he doesn't like being left alone. A friend's cat "revenge" barfs/poops all the time when she leaves him for a weekend, or if she does anything he decides he doesn't like.

Is he old? Maybe he needs a checkup. Do you think the other one could be picking on him? Perhaps separate them somehow when you are gone?

As for the wiping his butt thing, my first thought was that maybe he has worms. Do cats drag when they have worms, or is that just a dog thing? I'd make a trip to the vet just to rule out anything.

[abramos]

It sounds like they may some separation anxiety? When DH and I leave for more than 24 hrs, we make sure someone is watching them but they get this "anxiety" they will be left alone with no food.

[drloretta]

Our cat had a "wiping his butt on the floor" thing once before we left on a trip. Never happened before or since. It might be a isolated incident. He also is a long-hair, and sometimes gets poo stuck on his tail that eventually falls off in random places. Again, NBD.

The vomit thing could be a quirk of that cat combined with growing stress over trips. We had a vomitor too, and we were finding puke months after she passed even. It seemed to increasingly be associated with us leaving.

I'm not one to have someone keep close tabs on my cat when I'm away from home. For one, he likes being alone. For another, I'm not that sentimental. Hate all you want.

[Deleted]

I'd give the litter boxes a good cleaning and entirely new litter.

I'd double check the interwebs that nothing has changed with the food, even if you didn't change brands. We had a problem when Nutro (I think?) changed their ingredients. Puke everywhere. Took a while to figure out what the problem was (and a lovely $400 vet bill with a diagnosis of "I dunno").

Normal cat owners leave for up to a weekend. Promise.

[mrssavy42112]

Jun 6, 2012 15:04:50 GMT -5 cricketwife said:

Jun 6, 2012 14:53:41 GMT -5 mrssavy42112 said:

Leaving the cats alone for >24h is not OK in my books. .

That's a bit overboard for me. Please don't let her make you feel guilty. I think it's perfectly reasonable to leave your cats for a couple of days.

I'm not sure what to tell you. Usually it is stressors or a dirty litter box for the poop issue. Is there maybe a stressor that you're overlooking?

The throw-up issue is a bit different to me (ie. not a behavioral issue). Some cats are just "thrower-uppers" as I like to say. I have one who throws frequently and nothing really eliminates that.

Sorry not to be more help.

I wasn't trying to make her feel guilty, I was just sharing my opinion, which is what forums are for. And from the OP's response, I don't think she took it that way anyway.

I totally understand that not everyone has as much of a concern as I do. They're small & don't talk. So if they hurt themselves, they certainly can't call for help. I in no way am trying to equate the value of the life of a cat to the life of a human, but it wouldn't be right to leave a person who is incapable to caring for themselves unattended for that long. It's happened to me firsthand with one cat. When I came home from my normal work day, I had to run to the animal hospital for emergency surgery. The vet said if it had been a few more hours, she wouldn't have made it.

I guess my cats really are like my kids

[SallySparrow]

Jun 6, 2012 15:04:50 GMT -5 cricketwife said:

Jun 6, 2012 14:53:41 GMT -5 mrssavy42112 said:

Leaving the cats alone for >24h is not OK in my books. .

That's a bit overboard for me. Please don't let her make you feel guilty. I think it's perfectly reasonable to leave your cats for a couple of days.

I wouldn't leave my cats along for over 24 hours, either. And especially if her cat is having some behavioral issues that might be because of being left alone for so long, I think the suggestion Mrssavy made is valid. I don't think she was trying to make her feel bad, but if the OP thinks that being left alone might be what's stressing them out, then why wouldn't having the cat sitter come in be a good idea?

OP, even if there isn't a stressor that's obvious to you, the cat could be stressed out by any number of things. I would probably have the pet sitter come in while you're gone on your upcoming trips, try a Feliway diffuser if you don't already have one, and maybe pick up a calming collar and see if any of that helps. Hopefully you'll get it figured out soon!

[SpicedApplePie]

If you plan to be gone regularly over the summer, I second the recommendation for a Feliway diffuser. It worked wonders for my cats' apparent stress.

We have someone check on our cats 2x/day because we meal-feed them different foods. If we free-fed them, I would probably have someone check on them every other day if we were gone more than 2 nights.