My cat over the years has developed a worsening habit of depositing small amounts of poop whenever he sits down somewhere, can someone help me?

Oh but when I look at his ass its perfectly clean. I do not get it.

Vet.

Yes, get him checked out. he could have some incontinence issues. Is he long haired? I have a huge, fluffy Ragdoll and sometimes he gets a little poo stuck on his ultra fluffy pantaloons and I use a baby wipe to clean him up. I shave him in the summer, so this is only an occasional issue in the winter when his coat grows out to maximum poof which is about 5 inces of mega fluffy fur and a tail with a 8 inch circumference. lol

Second the vet.

He has been to the vet multiple times about multiple issues. I just took him about a month ago. He has always had touchy bowels, since I got him. A vet has never been able to solve the problem. Multiple different vets, too. So, it is a recurring issue, but what am I to do about it if a vet can’t even suggest anything? (well, I should say, anything that works).

@Coloma No he’s not long haired….not super short haired, but definitely not long haired. Ive never seen anything get stuck in his butt-area hair.

Kennel him then, or he becomes an outside cat. Not nice options, I know, but he wouldn’t be living with me. This is a health hazard.

First thing I would do is keep your bedroom closed. Not a solution per se, but at least it won’t be on your pillows.

This is a tough one! My big guy also has a dingleberry issue sometimes, but not near as bad as your situation. I have three thoughts:

I saw a pic you posted of him a while back, and if I remember correctly he seemed a bit on the heavy side – though it might have just been how he looked flying through the air. If he is too fat to clean himself properly, this might be part of the problem.

My big guy eats all his dry food out of a ball with holes, by batting it around on the floor. It’s helped him lose weight, but he accidentally licks up hair every one in a while. The hair gets all bound up in the poo and sometimes “anchors” a dingleberry. So if hair is getting into your buddy’s dish or you feed him in a weird way like mine, that might be a contributing factor.

Re: ongoing digestion issues – have you tried non-grain food? It really helped my female’s throwing up problem, and made both cats’ poop much more solid, regular, and way less stinky. Even if you don’t get something grain-free, just changing the food might result in “cleaner,” non-dingleberried poops.

How old is your cat? Cats can develop incontinency problems in old age, much like many human beings do.

Incontinence – My old dog did this the last few months of his life :(

@SadieMartinPaul My cat is 11, at least thats what I think he is by the papers from the Humane Society when I got him a few years ago.

@wildpotato He isn’t fat anymore….he was chubby when I got him, but the vet told me to put him on weight loss food. I did, and he slimmed down, and just the last time I took him into the vet last month, I was told he was UNDERweight. He said that maybe he’s allergic to something, to try a hypo-allergenic diet….so I got some hypo-allergenic wet food and gave it to him, he liked it a lot (he always likes wet food) but it made his poop smell and also softer, so the dingleberry-pillow issues became greater, though he was vomiting slightly less.

@snowberry He cannot be an outside cat because he has no teeth, and no front claws, they were both gone when I got him. I know he’s had a rough past. Which makes me feel worse….so going outside is not an option. A kennel is not an option for many reasons, I have roommates and the litter box must be in my room so I can’t just close my door. Plus, I want him to be a happy cat. Allowing him to be with me when he wants and sleep on my bed when I’m gone, it does make him happy. He is a crazy cat, but I love him, and that is what makes it so hard. I can’t just shut him out of my room. When I do, he scratches at the door and it is worse than poop on my pillow. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Hmm. I think I would keep trying different foods and in the meantime buy a large tarp to completely cover the bed and pillows, then take a ratty old blanket or two and a very washable old pillow and put them on top of the tarp for him to snuggle with. It would at least solve the problem while you aren’t home, and I guess at night too if you can stand sleeping with a tarp over the bedspread. Unless he’s a burrow-under-the-covers kitty.

My ex-roomie has a toothless cat too! It’s so funny when he’s playing and grabs my hand and starts gumming it.

@wildpotato He is constantly gumming my hand, but his favorite things to gum are my nose and eye socket, especially between 4 and 7 a.m.! I am not sure I could deal with the tarp thing all night, and then all day every day when I leave….I mean, I guess that is a solution I had not thought of. But there are other parts of the house he does it too that I could not put a tarp over because my roommates enjoy using them as well (couches, chairs, tables, etc.)....I guess I am more looking for a way to stop the dingleberries period :( :( :(

Sorry my friend. It sounds like he’s nearing the end of his life. Things tend to sort of fall apart at that time. I don’t think it’s going to get better.

@deni What about getting him a cat bed or two (or just folding up some more blankets) and placing them around the shared living space rooms, and then training him to use only his beds and stay off the shared furniture? This is a difficult process with most cats, but totally possible if you keep at it and find the training tool that works for him (spray, foil, sonic device, open umbrellas, Sticky Paws, this thing, etc.).

Other than continuing to try different foods, I got nothin for how to stop the ‘berries entirely. But I guess if he’s already got such a weak stomach changing foods potentially a bunch of times might not be such a great plan…yeah sorry, I got nothin. Cat diapers as an extreme last resort, I guess, but I imagine that would be just awful to deal with.

@snowberry I mean sure, maybe a possibility is that he’s just straight up DYING, but these same things have been happening since I got him, and according to his papers from the humane society, before then too. So his aging could be a factor but I don’t think it’s the entire thing. But I don’t know.

Is he actually pooping ON things, or are they dingleberries? I have had some problems with my cats and dingleberries. I have long hair and that is one of the problems. I find if I keep my carpets vacuumed a lot it tends to really help.

@anniereborn Occassionally if I am away for a night he will actually poop on something. It seems to be for revenge. No I’m not kidding….when I told the vet about his habits he blew me off completely, didn’t believe it, and said basically something like that couldn’t be treated so there was no point in worrying about it. I just stared at him. Regardless, I know the trends I see with my cat, and yes he poops on things when I’m not home for a day or so. But, otherwise, they are dingleberries that he doesn’t seem to notice, that get placed on random surfaces around the house.

Cats have a finely developed sense of smell. They normally bury their poops. They normally don’t like to leave evidence of their defecation behind without trying to bury it in some way. That right there should tell you something because your cat doesn’t do that. At the very least something is not right with your cat. Part of the problem might be in his brain. And maybe somewhere else, such as a sphincter problem.

@snowberry Right, however I’ve read that like dogs, cats can also suffer from seperation anxiety type issues. And when they do, sometimes their line of thinking is “She’s left me, she isn’t coming back. If I poop on her pillow, she will smell it and be lured back to me.” Obviously not how it works for humans, but nevertheless, it does seem to make a little sense for the cat brain. Barnabus has never been a normal cat in any regard. I have never met a cat that’s clingier or needier or more vocal than him. Not what I expected when I bought a cat, lol, but regardless, I guess they’re the cards I have been dealt so I’m just trying to deal with them.

Are there other vets you could try near you? Maybe it is some kind of anxiety. If you are okay with meds for him, they have those. My adopted cat was on an anti-anxiety med for the first 6 months with me.

@deni I have not dealt with poop issues like that.

I had a cat from the Humane Society who seemed mean. He was stunningly beautiful and mostly stayed to himself. He was always underweight and threw up often. My regular vet just brushed it off, but when a new vet joined the practice she ordered a much more in-depth workup. An ultrasound of his belly showed a tumor in his intestines. He didn’t live for long after that, but with some treatments he was much nicer and happier.

I would encourage you to see a different vet and consider a further workup.

@Cupcake Thanks, thats really helpful! It does sound similar to my Barnabear, but he used to be such a fat boy, til I put him on weight loss food as suggested, now being underweight seems to be his problem. My personal opinion is I should have just let him be a fat happy boy, but now with his semi consistent vomiting (though he hasn’t thrown up in like 5 days!!!!) I think he is having trouble gaining any weight back. Honestly I haven’t been impressed with any of the vets I’ve seen for him, and I think there’s been 4 at this point? At two different offices. I hate to keep throwing money at these people that don’t seem to want to really help.

That’s a tough one balancing the decrease in vomiting with the softer poop. Poor buddy.

Do you have friends with vets who could give you a recommendation? Maybe a google search for vet reviews?

You’re a good kitty mama. Hang in there.

The current vet I go to was a recommendation. But, no one really goes to a vet for the problems I’d be going for, so it’s a more basic thing for them. I used to go to Humane Society but wasn’t impressed….and most of my other friends with pets go there. I was considering going to the more natural/homeopathic vet here in town, luckily we have one. I am into that sort of thing and can’t see why it wouldn’t benefit Barnabus as well.

@Cupcake He is seeing the homeopath in the morning :) I stepped in poop last night, my roommate just stepped in it this morning as well, also he woke me up with vomiting in the middle of the night. I’m losing it.

@deni Good luck!!!

They did a blood test and like the vet had thought, he has a hyperactive thyroid!!!!!!!! This explains EVERYTHING and I can’t believe no other vet ever thought of it before. They ran a blood test and 2 days later, today, results came in and I am going to pick up medication that should solve the problem in a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad that you got it all figured out!

OMG @deni! I am so happy for you and kitty. I’m glad you kept looking into it. :)

Thank you guys!!!

@deni Woooohooooo! That is amazing news! I am over the moon for you both

Is he doing any better now?

INCREDIBLE! Thanks for asking! He is putting weight back on and vomiting rarely—a huge difference from the past year. The poop depositing seems to have been curbed as well. None of the issues are 100% gone but they are all significantly better. He is more pleasant and less moody and extreme, seems happier in general. I am so happy. I just have to put a small amount of radioactive gel in his ear twice a day, slightly sketchy but if it helps and he’s healthy then I’m happy.

Great to hear! Radioactive gel, really? Do you mean transdermal methimazole? I didn’t think the stuff was radioactive… I give methimazole (tapazole) to my hyperthyroid kitty twice daily in pill form. I’m lucky she likes Pill Pockets. But I thought the radioactive option was the radioiodine treatment, which is a one-time procedure…?

@wildpotato Well I jumped the gun when I said that, I guess, lol. The one time procedure is the really radioactive one, but when I got this gel they said to wear gloves all the time when handling it because if it gets on my skin it can shrink my thyroid. So I just assumed for it to be able to do that, it had to be radioactive, or something like that. As I type this, he is vomiting next to me. Time to go.