Hi all, we have a 5 months old BSH sterilised male, who joined us a month ago from a breeder. He had excellent litter box etiquette from the beginning, but suddently a few days ago he started getting poo on his hind paws after using it

Sometimes he poops 2-3 times in different places of the box - a little bit here, a little bit there - so when it comes to burying it he can't help stepping on some. Other times he poops, smells it, turns his back to it and places his hind paws next to it and uses his front paws to shovel litter backwards. But in moving around, he ends up stepping on it, and sometimes breaks it up.

We clean his paws with pet wipes (once with water and soap) but he really hates it, even if we give him treats, wrap him in a towel, hold him by the scruff, cover his eyes, speak in soothing tones. It's very distressing for us and for him, and we don't want him to associate this torture with using the litter box. But aside it being unhyegienic for the house, it's also not great for him to ingest all that as he cleans himself.

We have the Litter Robot 3, which is pretty big, and he's pretty small, so we know it's not down to size - and he didn't do it at all till a couple of days ago. Also, it is self cleaning and we also run additional cycles all the time, plus manual scooping just to be sure - hence the litter is always pristine. We use a mix of two clumping litters that work quite well.

We thought of stress, but we can't see a difference in his behaviour, or any changes in our routine that would explain it. He only just started doing that a couple of days ago, whereas for 3 weeks prior since he's been with us he didn't do it a single time. We're also thinking of firming up his stool, since he went from kibble and half a pouch to a full pouch a day since he is with us, and his logs are a bit on the soft and smelly side. Another idea is to give him treats when he doesn't soil his paws.

We have scoured the internet and this sub but everybody says 'get a bigger litterbox' or 'keep it clean' or 'get clumping litter'. Any other advice this community might have? Heartfelt thanks from us and the furry one! Pic for tax.

https://preview.redd.it/sg5tbvwkspnb1.jpg?width=1771&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=adf3c1f1ad010bc197c53e078044659fc1905ff5