So recently our cat Miles has started pooping outside the box. We clean it once or twice a day, no change in litter and no change in the boxes location or apartment arrangement. He used to poop right outside the box if it wasn't cleaned everyday, but we've been sure to clean it religiously, but now he seems to be going in random places around the apartment. Once in the bathroom next to the toilet, and once in the living room in a corner. He's getting up there in age, and is around 12. He still pees in the box, but not poop. What's up with that? Any ideas? Is he getting senile? He's also a master of the scarf and barf...

Sounds like it could be a senile thing, or maybe he's got something going on medically? A vet visit would always be my first thought with unusual elimination behavior, especially with cats.

Ps. Our cat is Myles too, just with a "y"!

Here's a pic of the master for entertainment:

MGoBlue wrote:

Sounds like it could be a senile thing, or maybe he's got something going on medically? A vet visit would always be my first thought with unusual elimination behavior, especially with cats.

Ps. Our cat is Myles too, just with a "y"!

Yeah, I figured... He's so awful at the vet. He was feral, so I have to sedate him to take him in. He gets horribly aggressive. Ours is named after Miles Davis. Yours?

He is adorable.

Our cat from long ago (I had a Siamese named King) when we moved into my grandmaw's old house he started pooping all over the place. She had had poodles before inside and we think he was covering their scent with his.

We couldn't stop it, so unfortunately we ended up rehoming him. :/ My mom just couldn't deal since she had just had my brother. You know almost 20 years ago.

Another musician, Myles Kennedy. He is the lead singer for the band Alter Bridge and also who Slash used for his singer on his most recent solo album.

We avoid the vet for Myles if at all possible also. He's not wild, he just is horrible about the transport there. We have a soft carrier for him and I had him on the passenger seat of my Mustang that I no longer have. He peed in the carrier and it soaked right through. Never got rid of the smell of cat piss! He loves riding in the car outside his carrier, but it's not exactly safe and then what would I do with him once we got to the vet?

Oh wow! Cat urine in the car! Ug! Don't want to think about that... I forgot to mention he pees in the box no problem. I honestly think he would maim the vet if he could and certainly murder a tech or two.

my cat did this jut outside the box when she got older as I do not think she knew when she was finished ie she left a trail but she did not go anywhre else in the house.
My other did this poop around different places right before F Luekemia sorry for the shock there but maybe a vet trip is in order. (no worms in the presents right?)
I used to take the cats in the car in my pillow case I used the night before. Then they smelled me and could not look around when in the car we placed in the passenger foot well. Usually about 15minutes and a head would popp out to investigate and when we got to the vet we picked her up and placed back in the case. My other we did the same but he was in the pillow case and usually on my lap he curled up tight and played dead.

No worms, presents are all formed and normal. I just made a vet appointment, I hate to think of our old grump getting sick! Our best strategy so far has been a suitcase. He likes to nap in them so as soon as we get one out, he just jumps in. So we let him jump in, zip him in and carry him, we discovered that when we snuck him into a hyatt. It's only a 5 min walk to the vet, so I'm not worried too much about him in there. Plus it used to be a game. We'd close the lid and go to a different room in the apartment and open the lid and SURPRISE! Now we're in here! He thought it was great fun...

Jen you had me laughing with tears by SURPRISE!
Good luck keep us up to date!

MGoBlue wrote:

Another musician, Myles Kennedy. He is the lead singer for the band Alter Bridge and also who Slash used for his singer on his most recent solo album.

Pretty awesome music there!

jbrown1028 wrote:

MGoBlue wrote:

Another musician, Myles Kennedy. He is the lead singer for the band Alter Bridge and also who Slash used for his singer on his most recent solo album.

Pretty awesome music there!

One of my favorites! We actually ran into him (Myles) after an Alter Bridge concert. We were walking back to our car and he was standing outside the tour bus talking to a couple fans. Super nice guy. I just hit myself for not getting a picture!

Lol! Did you tell him you named your cat after him?

wpskier222 wrote:

Lol! Did you tell him you named your cat after him?

Haha, I thought about it afterwards. How weirded out would he have been...

Yeah totally! Lol... That's one of those things that you respond, "mm k?" to and walk away ha ha.

So I made him an appointment with the vet, but in the meantime, switched up his food and added some wet food daily. Hubby used to be in charge of cat food and bought them iams or whatever crappy food was on sale. I switched them to totw cat food, dry in the morning and wet in the evening and he's like a whole new cat. He still occasionally goes just outside the box, but has mostly been using it. The biggest change is his attitude. He is much less grouchy and actually wants to play. He's got more energy and his coat looks so much better and he's even slimming down to a healthier weight. I ended up canceling his vet appointment he was doing so well. He eats less and actually leaves food in the bowl now, I think the higher quality food must just be more satisfying. He hasn't done scarf and barf since I switched either. So, I guess grain free is good for kitties too.

My fat cat occasionally poops outside the box. I think it was from the smell of the cat litter. I use tidy cat, but bought one that was scented, don't think she liked it too much. Went back to the original stuff, and she stopped doing it. But I got to the bottom of the box the other day which still had the scented litter in the bottom, and of course she did it again.  

Neo did this too. Adding more litter boxes and wet food every other day helped her a lot too. It seemed to be hard and she doesn't drink much. However, daily wet food flips it and she gets the runs.

Reading this makes me miss my bengal boy who passed last year. He would walk on a harness and would just walk right into the vet. At least my 2 current cats do pretty good in the carrier and are fine with the vet handling them.

I was going to add an extra box, but it was a last resort solution since our apartment is so open. There is only one really good out of the way place for it.  I'm sorry to hear about your bengal, I will definitely miss our surly boy when his time comes. Have you seen the sad cat diary on youtube? It's hilarious and describes our boy to a tee.

Describes my cats so well too.

Oh my, I had not seen that before, but it is very funny. It reminds me of my cats when they can see silver in their dry food bowl, they cry about it. Or eating the plants. Or how long it takes them to decide to do something.

My favorite parts were the belly scratching, exactly 3 times, and the torment of the water bowl lol.