Seriously...Why did my cat take a shit behind the sofa?

[Blue-Jay]

He hasn't crapped any place but his box since the first night I brought him home. Today, I was greeted by the aroma of fresh cat-leavings when I came home from work.

Two possibilities:

1) I just changed his brand of litter from the clumping stuff to a recycled paper & cedar type. What can I say? I like the smell of cedar.

2) He didn't get any stinky canned food yesterday, and he's exacting retribution.

Thoughts?

[Dookus]

1. most likely the litter

OR he's mad at you about something else. When I brought home a new kitty years ago, my old cat shit in my bedroom slippers. Bitch.

[Bertha Venation]

4. I agree. Probably the litter.

Better use what kitty likes. :shrug:

[freetobegay]

9. LOL

Please excuse me I have to go change my pants now.

[Kadie]

21. We had a cat get mad at us for taking a week-end trip

He shit right in front of the front door. How were we to know he left presents for us. Had we known, we wouldn't have opened the door all the way and turned a little mess into a big mess. Just the kind of welcome people look forward to. Oh what a mess.

[Endangered Specie]

2. Cats often shit in bad places in order to protests...

It could easily be both.

Or it could have just been an 'accident'.

[Crowdance]

3. Scaredy cat

Sometimes, if they're frightened while in the litter box, they'll go elsewhere. Skittish things...

[radwriter0555]

5. it's the litter. Cats have issues with litter.

they don't like that cedar crap. they want DIRT.

[Blue-Jay]

8. Dammit!

I just bought two bags of it.

[eleny]

6. the change of litter

hands down, the cat may not like the cedar smell. they're so sensitive to fragrances.

[Carni]

7. I think it was a protest about the litter

I had a cat that left a pile on a suitcase because he knew that signaled he would be alone for a few days.

Cats are very smart and apparently yours doesn't share your love of cedar LOL

[Catshrink]

10. They don't like sudden change....

What you can do is gradually change the litter. Start mixing the new stuff in with some of the old. Over four weeks (or so) gradually increase the amount of new.

My Sam will pee on the bed if I don't keep their boxes clean. Needless to say, their box is always clean!

[RhodaGrits]

11. It's the litter. First thing we ask in response to

that problem - Have you changed his litter?

(Oh, and the cat says cedar is for gerbils).

[thom1102]

12. A bit of both...

Probably too much change. Either alone could be enough.

[Mick Knox]

13. agree with those saying it was a protest crap. nt

[KamaAina]

14. To get to the other side?

Oh, wrong punch line... never mind. :-)

[H2O Man]

15. Because

shitting in front of the sofa would have been in bad taste, and shitting on it would be down-right gross. (You need to think like a cat!)

[dweller]

16. It's Spring! Time for

furniture re-arranging. Certainly, you have the couch in the kitty toilette area.

Move the couch, and store the cedar litter behind it. You will enjoy the cedar scent.

dp

[Hand]

17. Insh'Allah... nt

[AngryAmish]

18. My usual excuse is

that it seemed like the thing to do at the time.

[Kadie]

20. LOL

oh my.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

19. Because you have a girlfriend and he's jealous

[Susang]

22. One more possibility

Cats often defecate in unusual places when they're sick. I don't mean to alarm you, since it probably is just the change in litter your cat is responding to, but if it keeps up, get him checked at the vet.

Our cat started using alternative areas as litter boxes recently and it has turned out that he has a cancerous tumor in his intestine.

[northofdenali]

23. In reply to everyone's "the cat was pissed" answers -

we need about 35,000 cats who HATE REPUBLICANS and can be recruited to "visit" the RNC Convention HQ................. just before the "nomination" (i.e., coronation)..............

[prolesunited]

24. I think it would be even BETTER

if they were all calico cats. Do you think it would drive any of them besides Ashcroft screaming from the room?

[northofdenali]

25. I've got one that will help, too!

http://people.delphiforums.com/wayuphere/SASSY,%20FLAG%20FLYING.JPG

50,000 Calico Cats, flags flying, pooping on the RNC Convention! Yes!

[prolesunited]

26. That's not really my cat

Just a picture I grabbed off the Internet. I don't have a cat. Yours is very nice, though.

[DietVanillaCoke]

27. For the same reason...

That my chihuahua took a piss and shit in my bed in the middle of the night while I was sleeping: because it can.

[NightTrain]

28. In the immortal words of the late, great William S. Burroughs...

"Wouldn't you?"

[geniph]

29. Their noses are like 10,000 times more sensitive than ours

and cedar has a very pungent fragrance even to us. The litter probably downright hurts the cat's nose. And maybe it's the old dirty gym socks under the couch cushions making the cat think that's an alternative poopery.

If you want to use a thin layer of the cedar under the normal litter, the cat might tolerate that. But I wouldn't count on it. Some cats are VERY conservative about their litterboxes. No change of litter is a good change, to the conservo-kitties.

On the bright side, since the cat clearly avoids the cedar litter as a place to defecate, put a layer of the stuff behind the couch to keep the cat from using that area again. ;-)