Maine Coon is "still peeing and now pooping outside the box. Help!"

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This is the plea for help on one of the Maine Coon categories on Reddit.com:


"We took him to the vet and he was given a clean bill of health. We gave him gabapentin to help just in case he was experiencing discomfort but he hated it.

We added more litter boxes.

We used cat attract litter added to our regular litter in every box.

We got a bigger litter box.

We changed litter types while still offering the old type (different boxes.)

We got a pheromone plug in.

We took away the dog pheromone plug ins we were using.

We clean with an odor eliminating spray.

He only pees on the tile in the kitchen area and when he pees his feet seem to slide out to where he’s almost sitting. Initially he was just peeing on the floor but now he’s pooping too.

He did get some poop stuck on his butt and we started clipping his privates to prevent this.

Whatever boxes we add our other two cats just use the newest box. I have like 5 unused litter boxes in my house right now.

Please help. It’s so gross in here."

This is my response on Reddit.com. Just my thoughts. If you can improve it please comment. 

The fact that he has a clean bill of health (no bladder infection) and that he at first peed outside the litter box and then added to that by pooping as well, indicates to me that he is stressed and is marking territory to feel better. 

Cats sometimes poop to mark territory so he's not defecating to eliminate waste but to leave a calling card. He wants his space.

You just have to isolate and eliminate the cause of the stress :).

I hope you have stopped the drug.

Two possible causes come to mind: separation anxiety - being left alone for too long - or another cat.

You have two other cats. If you are not away from home a lot, the cause is possibly (I am speculating) stress through territorial issues or intimidation from one of the cats.

If you are away a lot that would compound the problem. I think you have a classic multi-cat conflict problem. Cat stress is more common in multi-cat homes.

Good luck.

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