The box isn't covered. Up until this weekend he did not have a problem
doing both in the same box. I was using the Special Kitty Brand (which they
use at the vets). Special kitty is Wal-Mart's store brand. He used that
without a problem.

He is staying at the vet's for a couple days and they're going to see if
they can't straighten out the problem. They will have him on flagyl and see
if he'll poop in the box there. If the stool is still soft, he said there
may be a food allergy issue. He also said this may have been why Tumbleweed
was in the shelter to begin with and I told him that this is Tumbleweed's
first home as he was born at a vet's when the owner couldn't keep the
mother.

Thanks for your advice!


On 11/6/06 6:58 AM, in article
, "Rene S."
wrote:


Deborah Trujillo wrote:
In early September my husband and I adopted an 11-month old gray tabby
neutered male from the local shelter. At first he wouldn't eat (he had a
brother at the shelter who was the same way at that time) so I took him to
the vets and learned he had diarrhea so he was on Flagyl for a week.

He was also on antibiotics in case of any intestional problems. A couple
weeks ago I took him in because of a bald spot above his paw. A skin scrape
revealed some bacteria - however, no ringworm turned up in the fungal
culture. He was on antibiotic medication for this for 2 weeks until Friday.
Saturday he pooped right outside of his litterbox which I attributed to
confusion as I had just purchased a pad to put under it. We have stone tile
floors in our house and had a rug under the coffee table until yesterday
when he pooped on it 3 times. I thought at first he didn't like the
different cat litter so I replaced it with Jonny Cat (I used that for our
last 2 cats with no problem).

He again last night pooped on that rug and also pooped in the bathroom my
husband uses as well as the day bed in our back bedroom. He has had
diarrhea which I attribute to the antibiotics and we've never had this
problem with him before. The box is scooped every day and dumped out and
cleaned once a week.

I'm at my wits end and my husband is ready to get rid of the cat (if that
happens we'll take him back to the shelter which is no-kill).

I have a call in to the vet but does anyone have any suggestions?

How many boxes do you have? Some cats prefer to have one box for #1 and
one for #2. Is it a covered box? Some cats don't like covered boxes.
Can you call the shelter and find out what brand of litter they use and
try that? Also, I haven't used Jonny Cat, but perhaps it has too strong
of a smell and he doesn't like it. A brand like Everclean has a
scent-free type that doesn't have any of the strong perfumes some
brands do.

Also, are you using an enzymatic cleaner, like Nature's Miracle, to
clean the areas he goes on to make sure the scent is gone?

Rene