The culprit may have been discovered...

During one of my road trips last week, my wife discovered two times that one
of the cats had taken a dump outside the litter box. She mentioned it to me,
but there wasn't any way to determine the culprit - 4 cats have access to
these boxes. The trip I just came back from has proved to be enlightening.

My boy Spot, the dominant male, is very close to me. He's always quite happy
to see me when I get home. When I was preparing to leave Thursday morning,
Spot sat on the sofa, next cushion over from me with his back towards me. I
had already taken most of my gear to the van, so he knew I was leaving. I
called him by name and he ignored me. When I reached over and scratched his
back between the shoulders, he drew forward away from my hand and looked
over his shoulder as if to say 'Don't!' Spot was very obviously pouting. He
pretty much snubbed me as I prepared to leave and walked away when I bent to
give him a head scritch on the way out.

That afternoon there was a turd pile beside the litter box. Same thing again
on Friday. Today, I'm home and no turd pile. Spot was his usual attentive,
loving self. I'm curious to see if this persists on my next road trip.
Perhaps I'll get some local runs and be home every day for a while. If it IS
Spot, I wouldn't have a clue how to modify what is obviously a reaction to
me being gone. I suppose a daily crap in an inappropriate place is less
damaging than some of the stuff he could do.... Anybody else ever have a cat
react badly to their number one human being gone?