A couple of months after we adopted Khan, and he was getting used to the place, he started having little accidents on the bathroom rug that sits in front of the litter box. (It's part of one of those matching sets that includes a contour rug around the toilet. ) We thought at first that maybe he was having trouble making it into the box, so we experimented with lower-profile pans, but he wasn't having trouble getting into either of the other two litter boxes (which are in different areas of the house). We also thought that maybe he didn't like sharing a box with the other cats, but that turned out not to be the case either.
Every time he'd leave his calling card on the rug (which was always Number Two, btw), we'd clean it up and then put the rug in the washer. It would take about a day to hang dry, and we started noticing that on the days the rug wasn't there, either no "accidents" would appear outside the litter box, or, we'd find one centered on the little contour rug (which was about 3 feet away from the litter box). Whenever both rugs were in the wash, there were no outside deposits. It actually took us several weeks to get wise, but we figured out that he just prefers pooping on the rugs. He doesn't do it on any of the carpeting throughout the house (which is just berber), or on the foot-wiping rugs by the front and garage doors; he only goes on the thick, cushy throw rugs in the bathroom. I guess the final experiment would be to put one of the rugs someplace unusual--say, the living room--and see what happens. For now, we've decided to go "rugless" in the bathroom. Maybe sometime I'll experiment with different types of litter to see if there's a texture he prefers. Or if I see a big sale on shag carpeting, I'll stock up.
By the way--he's going in for a checkup on Tuesday afternoon, and I want to bring a stool sample. So I told my husband to "Putout the rugs on Monday!"--just temporarily. :-)
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3 comments:
I'm so glad to have found your site! I followed Khan's story for a while when he was at Shadow Cats and I knew he'd been adopted! It's so great that you have taken him in! I'll keep reading for more updates!
Thanks, Ronda! Welcome!
Update--the rug trick worked like a charm. I set out the little contour rug this morning and right after I got home from work, Khan's stool sample appeared there. If only it was that easy with every cat.. I'll post on how his checkup goes tomorrow.
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