Stubborn indoor cat pooping in mulch

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NikkiB84
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Stubborn indoor cat pooping in mulch

Post by NikkiB84 »

So we have four cats, two of them are 14 years old and the other two are 4 years old. All have been fixed. We have 6 litter boxes in our garage and a cat door in the sliding glass door so they can go to their boxes freely. One of my younger ones has taken to unfortunately using the mulch in the only outdoor area we have on our property, which is a townhome. Before that, we had large decorative stones, about the size of large marbles to ping pong balls, and he’d dig those up and poop in them as well. I have absolutely no idea why and it’s incredibly frustrating as well as absolutely disgusting. I’ve tried EVERYTHING! I clean the litter frequently, I have sprayed the mulch with peppermint oil, lemon juice and apple cider vinegar to deter him from the smell and finally I decided to cover the mulch with old sheets….well the as$h0le decided that it would be cool to just poop on top of the sheet! I don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve thought about outdoor cat deterrent spray but theres mixed reviews about its efficacy saying the cat didn’t care or it attracted the cat even more, as well as some people say it smells really, really bad. I’ve also thought about lava rock but can’t afford to fill it all in, plus I don’t think it would work because we had decorative large pebbles out the before and he even dug those up and pooped in them. We have a three year old who likes to run around out there and play with the mulch as well so I don’t want her getting poop on her hands and inevitably in her mouth. I’m at my wits end and I know I’ll get flamed, but I’m honestly thinking of rehoming him to someone I can trust. I would never put him in a shelter or pound. Does anyone have any suggestions? I’m willing to try anything at this point.
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Ruth B
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Re: Stubborn indoor cat pooping in mulch

Post by Ruth B »

Unfortunately some cats do seem to prefer to do the natural thing and go outside regardless of how many or how clean the trays inside are. As you have found out they can be very persistent if they decide they want to toilet outside, in a way it is lucky your cat has found an area he is happy to use even if the substrate isn't ideal for him rather than have him going all over the grass. His going there will also be marking the area as claimed and will be helping prevent any other cats in the area deciding to use it to do their business as well, which again could be worse.
This may sound strange, but my suggestion is to actually let him go there, as you have found out it is almost impossible to stop him anyway, perhaps plant a small hedge around the area to stop your daughter going into the area he uses and provide her with something to play in instead, something like one of the clam shell style child's sandpits which you could fill with whatever she likes, and then close up afterwards so you know it will stay clean and safe for her.
Unfortunately mulch is an idea substrate for some cats, a large section of my garden is mulched specifically for the cats to use, the do have a litter tray inside, but one even prefers to go out and dig in the mulch in the rain rather than use the litter tray. All I do is just get some new every few month and dig the old lot in and put new down and be grateful they are going in the mulch in my garden instead of on the neighbours lawn.
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