Never thought it'd happen to me but it's happening now and i'm panicking

I went away for vacation in Italy for about 9 days and came back. Apparently while I was gone Leo had taken the habit of doing his business in the living room every now and then instead of going downstairs where his litter box is - Now I'm back home and I still see him use the litterbox when I'm around but it hasn't stopped him from going on the ground when I'm gone.

Today while I was at work my parents were over and he apparently squatted right as they looked at him and went on the ground again.

What is causing this? Will he stop after a few days? Could just be one of those things where he's upset for a few days after I've returned. Everytime I come back from vacation he's always a bit upset for a few days but he's never expressed it by going in the living room when he has litter boxes downstairs.

That's 3 litter boxes mind you! It's not like there isn't ever a clean one for him to use.

Has anyone dealt with this kind of behavior after coming back from vacation?

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The little monsters 3

I have only left my cats once in two years and that was just overnight. They had plenty of food and water. That was when Grace started chewing my wood furniture. The disruption of their schedule must have upset her because she continued to do this. She seems so tough, but she has to have consistency or she gets stressed out. Both my cats nibble the fur off their bellies. At this point the vet and i believe it is behavioral. She said one in 5 cats that she sees does the same thing. Both my cats do this. It is almost a ritual with them. They make a lot of noise doing it too. I don't know how to help them stop.

Sorry your cat is going outside the box. That must be very upsetting. Brian gave some good advice you can try. Good luck.

Separation anxiety is common in pets -- both dogs and cats. Cats, especially love schedules and routines and by your leaving, you disrupted that, causing stress in your kitty. It doesn't matter how many litter boxes you have, there needs to be one on every floor of your house and an extra one somewhere. It sounded from your post as if they are all on one floor. As Brian suggested, move one into the area where he is going.

Bengals, especially, create a very strong bond with their owner. That bond broke when you left for 9 days, which is a very long time for a kitty. You may want to check out http://www.spiritessences.com and see if there is an holistic formula that might help with this issue. Please do not scold him when he goes in the living room. That just adds to the stress he is feeling. Reassurance and love is what he needs -- because he doesn't know if you're going to leave him again. Bengals are super instinctive!

Hope this helps.

As big-toothed, scary-clawed predators go.. they can be extremely sensitive to changes in their routine.

Love and praise, perhaps a little counter-intuitive in the circumstances, is the way to go, along with trying to second-guess any reason that Leo might have an issue with litter trays or their placement.


Good luck.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

What's odd about this is that I go on vacation once a year for the last 4 years and this is the first time this has happened. If it was a regular occurrence every time I left I wouldn't be as worried. I remembered reading that cats will go in unusual places to tell you that something is wrong so I called the vet clinic to ask about possible causes and they mentioned that I can bring him in for a urine sample to make sure nothing is wrong if it happens again. I'm working from for a few days and the weekend to help him get used to having me around as I think that should cure the problem.

As for scolding him, I learned long time ago that's not possible with this cat. He just licks your finger if you wag it at him calling him a bad kitty
He has been a tad more frantic with the meowing lately so I've been carrying him around more often which seems to calm him down.

As for the litter boxes, I've had them in the basement for 4 months and now and he's used them properly without any accidents and he had no problem going down 2 floors to use them in the middle of the night so I don't think he just got tired of going down so far all of a sudden.

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The little monsters 3

My two are 3yo now and this year I had litter tray issues with jagger. I took him to the vet to rule out anything medical and they said it appeared it was stress. The only reason I could think off was the foxes that we've always had issues with in our garden but this year seemed worse as one of the babies looked like it was thinking about moving into one of the borders.

When jagger needed a wee he was highly vocal about it and then would go in front me where he shouldn't.

I introduced a new litter tray indoors although their trays had always been in the conservatory and I'd never had any issues with them using them before, the indoors one is definitely preferred.

Sometimes you have to go with the flow and not fight it!

I also put jagger on zylkene for a month to calm him down and the border is being opened up to discourage the foxes from hanging around our garden.

Did anything else happen while you were away? There may have been a combination of factors leading up to this issue, not just you going away. Is there a new cat or wild animal hanging around your garden? Changes in the house or anything? He definitely sounds agitated and stressed.

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Clare
Hendrix and Jagger, Brown Marble Boys (born 18 August 2013)
Hampshire, UK