Cat not pooping in litter box

Please help! I know you l suggest I take her to a vet. But I can’t catch her over even hold her with both hands!  She was using her litter box, but quit when I got a fresh batch of litter. So I replaced it with Naturally Fresh. She is using the litter box again, except goes poop on the doggie pad. She also is extremely messy with the litter! I had her box in a crate. But she won’t use it when it is in the crate. She was feral the first two months of her life, then four foster homes after that! I adopted her when she was 4 months old, October 10th. She is now a year old. She is still very scared. The minute I open an outside door, she runs and hides! We live in Vancouver, WA.

Hello!  It'll obviously be no surprise when I say that cats can be extremely picky in their toileting habits. If a cat is trying to wee and making no progress, it could be a dire emergency so run any suspect behaviour past your emergency vet. This often taken for constipation. The substrate (litter) is often a biggy, as well as being overlooked (or not), The material of the litter tray itself can be significant for some cats; also, scary objects in the vicinity, social interactions with other cats in the house if present (where do they pee / poo?) and with humans.  Some cats need to bury their poo. Pain while toileting can also throw them eg hip pain, exacerbated by straining or climbing into and out of the tray, not to mention internal facts such as  constipation, pancreatitis or even cancer. It is generally advised to provide several litter trays, including covered ones if possible, in different locations in the house for each cat.   If a cat already likes to poo somewhere, it may help to put a box there rather than trying to change their preferred location. Cats in multiple-cat households can have a particularly difficult time as sharing toileting spots is difficult and complicated for cats. In short, if you observe messing or the litter or straining, beat in mind that it could be pee or poo and contact your vet immediately for a rapid assessment.  Best of luck.

Repost as the above is difficult to read. 1) If a cat is straining to go to the toilet, please contact an emergency vet as struggling to urinate in particular could be a real emergency 2) Toileting spots are very important to cats and factors like the substrate / whether or not they are overlooked / nature of the tray / stress levels can be extremely important, as are social relations with other cats sharing the space.  Your vet - and indeed, articles in our blog and also iCatcare run by bladder expert Sarah Caney, can tell you more. 3) A choice of litter trays (bare minimum of one tray per cat plus one) is recommended. 4) Pain eg arthritis, cystitis, and also stress can play a big part in a cats' willingness to toilet so a vet exam / investigations may be important. I hope that this helps.