Tittie Boy shit again today. This time was funny, though.

Now, normally when this happens Tittie Boy walks away like nothing happened. Usually, we notice fairly quickly, if not immediately. We clean it up right away and Tittie likes to come over and watch us. Like its some sick game to him. Proof that he is in fact the master of the house, not us. Look at my bitch cleaning up my shit!

Well, today was a bit different. Jeremy and I had been wrapped up in some important decisions concerning the house today. Homeowners insurance and what not. We were in the living room and did not notice when Tittie Boy went into the dining room and shit.

Tittie Boy must have been patiently waiting for us to notice, like we normally do, then given up on that idea because all of a sudden he let out a loud meow. Jeremy stood up and looked into the dinning room and Tittie Boy was sitting next to a pile of shit. He locked eyes on Jeremy, straightened up as tall as he could while sitting down, sticks his head outward and up and lets out another loud meow. Jeremy took a few steps towards the dining room and Tittie Boy stood up and started circling around the poop area. Jeremy cleaned it up and got out the deep cleaner and then Tittie Boy came in the living and curled up to go to sleep.

So, all we could do this time was laugh about it. Instead of just walking away and waiting for us to notice, Tittie Boy had commanded Jeremy to come see what he had done and clean up his mess. So, not only is Tittie still shitting, he is being blatantly obvious about it now. He does not even try to “hide” it anymore, he just shits right out in the open instead of under the dining table or near a corner.
What really pisses me off about this whole mess is that, 95% of the time, Tittie Boy shits when the litter pans are perfectly clean. Not a single drop of piss or anything in the litter…And he shits on our fucking floor.

He seems to just hate litter. It doesn’t matter what brand, he won’t use it. I don’t think he likes the feel of the litter on his paws for some reason. We’ve watched him when he is in the litter room, from around the corner, and he’ll usually scratch it once or twice from outside the box, then walks away. For months we took that habit as he disliked the litter brand but he does it with every litter we have ever bought him.

I’ve never met a cat that disliked litter. Not a house cat anyway. Wild cats are different. They get so used to going outdoors that it is hard to get them used to using a litter pan but, Tittie Boy and Girl have been house cats since birth. They also were litter trained right away.

We have been racking our brains as to why Tittie Boy stopped using the litter. It could be a number of things. The vet says he is healthy, nothing wrong, so what else could it be? He does not like litter? He does not like litter pans? He is picky about not using the same litter pan as his sister? On and on go the possibilities. The vet said it may be a rebellion act. Usually, cats will start shitting around the house if they are unhappy with something about the home. Mainly, people. He asked if the cats were always left alone at home because that is one of the number one reasons cats stop using litter. Somebody they are very attached to isn’t home with them much. So, they will shit while that person is gone as a statement of being unhappy about it. Even if another person they are also very attached too IS always home with them. Missing just one person may trump having other people home. So, we though maybe Tittie Boy was only shitting in the house because he was upset that Jeremy worked outside the home for 10 hours a day. Jeremy has even made great effort to spend extra time with the cats while he is home to make up for when he is at work. However, Tittie Boy seems to shit the most when Jeremy is home. Go figure.

So I was thinking today, what else could be the problem??? I thought back to when he first started this little nightmare habit, trying to pin point something we missed. A change in the house? A change in the routines? Then I realized I had completely forgotten about letting them play outside once in a while. They are house cats so we never let them outside. For 3 years they were never permitted outside. Then, we started letting them out little by little…

When we stopped smoking inside we would go out on the balcony to smoke. We had starting letting them on the apartment balcony with us to get some “fresh air”. The balcony has high thin railing so they can’t go anywhere. However, they can look through the railing and talk with the other cats in the neighborhood that hang around and watch birds, squirrels, etc. Some of the cats like to lay outside on the stone ledge directly below the balcony and wait for our cats to come out. Then they all just stare at each other and meow and so on. We thought it was really cute.

Around the time of letting them on the balcony, we noticed Tittie Boy had started developing a weight problem. He was always a little “pig” but it had started to really show in his belly. He was becoming a little fat cat. (He weights 12 lbs. now, hopefully by the end of this summer that will drop.) We got a leash and started taking him for walks to help get him better exercise. It took him a while to actually walk around outside. He would always try to climb up your legs or manically scratch to get back in the door. Now, he loves walks. We even take him to the park to hang out and walk around when its warm out. Tittie girl however, is still pretty scared of the outdoors. We tried to take her for walks to be fair but the farthest she will go is on the front porch of the apartment building.

I think that even though we meant well by taking Tittie Boy for walks outside and letting him on the balcony, we may have created a large problem. Cats are hunters and outdoor animals by nature. We may have created a “rebellious monster” by letting Tittie Boy get a taste of the outside world and still keeping him as an indoor cat.

Shortly after letting them on the balcony regularly is when Tittie Boy started shitting in the house. Perhaps he is rebelling about being a house cat? Or maybe he is just pissed off that we won’t let him play with the outside cats. Some of the outside cats are wild and slightly mean though. Plus, some of our neighbors, at the other end of the building, are assholes and like to harass the cats outside by screaming, chasing, and throwing things at them. Our leasing office wants everybody to report strays (So they can have them picked up and destroyed most likely) and also to not feed them….Oops. I love to leave food out for the other cats. I just can’t stand to see a starving kitty. Its like watching a small, homeless child starving in your yard. You wouldn’t give the child food?! Granted, with a child you would call to report it but, still you’d feed it first, right?! So anyway… I digress, I won’t let our cats out to play. I worry because they have never been outside on their own. They were also de-clawed, not by me, so they can not defend themselves. Cats are cunning, they find ways to protect themselves, I know. Still, I worry. Besides, our apartment is, aside from being polluted with animal abusers, located on a major highway. I can not count the number of crushed cats we pass on the highway. There is no way I’m letting them outside. Anyway, I realized that letting them out on the balcony was a mistake. As was taking Tittie Boy for walks. A tease to them. It got them used to being “outside” and interacting with the local strays. Now, Tittie Boy may be harboring a subtle resentment towards us for keeping him indoors. He is still the same Tittie Boy, beyond loving and in constant need of a lap to lay on and a hand to pet him but he shits all over the house. Anyway, its a possible explanation. I really don’t think we will stop taking Tittie Boy for walks though. Although he is healthy, he is pretty overweight.

As a side note:

I’m sure many of you find it weird and boring that I create long posts about my cats’ behaviors but I figure with all the cat lovers out there…maybe somebody will get something out of this. Maybe they are struggling with the same problem: I’m going to kill my cat if he/she does not stop shitting on my floor! And they will take comfort and delight to read about somebody else’s struggle with this problem. Also, this is therapy. If I write about the possible causes as to why Tittie shits on our floor, I’m less likely to kick him! I really would not kick him but sometimes I get so sick of cleaning up shit and so frustrated that nothing stops him from doing it, that I want to scream at him. Instead, I write. He is really worse than a child. At least with a child they wear a diaper, until they learn to take it off. Then once they learn to take that diaper off, you potty train them! I wish I could teach Tittie Boy to use the damn toilet!

Plus, my life really isn’t that interesting at the moment!