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At least they were nice enough to invite you into their office to discuss the matter.
She really does own the place
Well you pee into a pot with no plant in it.
Why are you so barbaric?
In my experience, a cat that changes it's behavior regarding pee and poop is trying to communicate something. I would pay extra attention and consider a visit to the vet.
It could also be that she just saw you watering plants and thought, why not. My cats usually go outside to poop or pee and just eventually use the sandbox. When they pee outside, they go for the sinks on the garden and when inside, they sometimes use the WC.
Upvote upvote upvote. Always better to be safe and check with the vet. Also less expensive if you catch a problem earlier. Speaking as someone who has had cats their whole life. OP plz make a vet appointment.
Step one, check the litter box. Any cat raised indoors is usually litter trained by their mother, so there could be something about their litter box they aren't liking. (Too clean/dirty, too small, too open/closed, wrong smell, wrong litter, it's a robot that tries to eat them, etc.)
We got this pellet system, and she uses it, but I don't think either of us like it. We'll probably get her actual litter soon.
Avoid corn based litter like the plague it is
I'm a big fan of Naturally Fresh, which is derived from waste walnut shells. But, of course, try any new litter alongside something you know your cats will use.
I don't recall the brand of corn shit sand we got, but instead of clumping together like it said it would it smeared piss and shit ALL OVER MY FUCKING CAT LITTER MACHINE. I had to do a deep clean to get shit to stop sticking after that.
If it's the big cylindrical pellets, we tried that at one point and it didn't last long. If the cat doesn't like the feeling of it or doesn't feel like it can be dug into to 'cover their shame' they'll often prefer something else.
So, cats don't pee out of their asshole, you might be thinking of birds.
nah i'm thinking about dinosaurs
My asshole cat keeps shitting on the carpet. I even noticed intentionality to it, one night I let him out to hang out with me on the couch, and managed to stop him from pooping on the floor. I let him out the next morning for 5 minutes before I left for work, and he had held his shit all night to poop in the spot he picked the night before. He's my bathroom cat now, it's big enough that I can fit his litterbox, a small cat tree, toys, his feeder, and a seat in it. We chill together all night after work
Putting a cat in your obviously small bathroon for hours upon hours? That sounds like a terribly sad life you're providing your companion with. No wonder they are developing behavioural issues like that.
Don't pretend to know the situation. He's a new adoptee, raised in the shelter from a newborn kitten. The behavioral issue is likely due to anxiety and loneliness. I'm training him that the only acceptable place to poop is the bathroom. I spend 5 hours a day in the bathroom with him, because I give him an extra handful of food when I see him use the litterbox, 2 if he poops in the litterbox while I'm there.
The situation is not permanent either. The story I told about holding his poop happened Sunday night/Monday morning. He's staying in the full-time bathroom until next Monday, and then we're going to try hanging out in the living room again.
That's true, I can't really know the situation and have only the description of the first post to go by which had me a bit worried. The longer explanation draws a way different picture than first one suggested.
So thank you for clarifying that.
Good on you for putting in the effort on training him like that. Cheers
Now that you say it, the concern makes sense. I can understand how it could be concerning, behavioral issues are a common reason for neglect and abuse.
I realized how easy it could be to ignore him if I didn't put equal effort on my end into solving the problem, so I've decided to show him that if it's good enough for me, it's good enough for him. I even eat in the bathroom with him (eating from the seat at the bathroom counter). The only part of the night I'm not in the bathroom is when I'm sleeping, cooking, and smoking a bowl
You're leaving your cat in your bathroom during the day?
you have a "hello shitty" of your own!
how nice!
On of my girls prefers to poop on the floor in front of the litter box. We don't know why, but it's like half the time. Asked the vet, but nothing's wrong with her, it's just her preference. Tried changing the litter, giving her a different box, different location. No difference. Half the time in the box, half the time in front of it. No idea. Cat is crazy.
My male cat likes to walk while pooping and half of it always ends up on the floor as well 🙃
My pup does that! For him, it's because his aim is bad. He'll get all feet on the pee pad, cantilever his little butt over the edge, and think that's good enough.
We ended up getting a set of machine washable bathmats to rotate through, for next to the pee pad.
(he's an old pup, so his bladder no longer lasts the night and no one wants to do 3 am walkies. He's also got doggie dementia, so I'm not worried about training him to have better aim)
A lot of these stories remind me it could always be worse. Cats are funny creatures.
Most of mine are feral so they have unusual behaviors even for cats. Same girl howls like a black metal vocalist at night, first time she did it we were sure there was a wild animal in the house. There was, of course, she just chose to stay.
Flattish rocks, as big as you can get into the pot. Enough to mostly cover up the dirt. That keeps my cats out of the flower pots.
You do have a cute little asshole tho.
nocontext
Ya I don't get to say that often, but this was a perfect opportunity lol
Thanks friend you too!
Any indication that it’s just for funsies? Could be an issue with litter or a health concern if little bug is behaving differently in any other ways too.
We adopted her from a shelter a month ago, so everything is still new. After we move we will take her to a vet to make sure she's alright!
Our indoor/outdoor hates the littler in the litterbox, so when we have a empty planter full of dirt he thinks that's his new litter box, and prefers to pee in dirt.
I tried using dirt for a while but I'm not buying bags of potting soil for him to piss in. I tried digging a hole but our soil has too many rocks, and by the time get passes away I'm going to have an unsightly pit in the yard and its not as sustainable as I thought. He goes inside so infrequently its easier to just keep doing the litter. If not I would consider buying a truck load of dirt, and dump the waste in the uneven part of my property and fill it in over the years.
Fun side fact I still don't know where he poops. I've never seen him poop only pee.
I bought these spikes that you put in your plants to stop that.
this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2026
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