Cat pooping next to clean litter box
I have two cats. One of them has a problem with pooping next to the litter box, about six inches from it. We've ruled out a few things, namely:
- He is in good health as confirmed by a vet, so not a health problem
- The litter boxes are cleaned daily, so it isn't a sanitary issue
- He only poops outside of the box, he has never peed outside it, so it's likely not an aversion to the litter itself
We have three litter boxes for our two cats. At first they were all covered because that's how our previous cat liked it. After she passed away, we got our two current cats. They are best friends and not territorial at all. Soon after we got them, one started pooping next to the litter box rather than in it. We removed the cover from one of the boxes thinking he might prefer that, and it worked. For a while.
A few weeks later, he started pooping next to the open litter box. I did some research and thought that maybe he just doesn't like to poop and pee in the same place, or maybe he likes a biger surface area. We bought one of those plastic trays that are used in the bottom of dog crates, and placed it next to the box over the spot he had been using to poop and put some litter in it. Our hope was that this would help reinforce the litter as the only place he would poop, then transition back to just the litter box. He used the tray for several months.
And now he has started pooping next to the tray. His brother never goes outside the box and prefers the covered ones anyway, so they don't really have to share the box.
What can I do to redirect his toilet habits back to the litter box? I'm out of ideas and sick of scrubbing the tile.