It could be his way of trying to show you a problem. I had a cat who'd urinate by me or where I "hung out" often, which was by the couch. This went on for a week, then one day she went on a piece of white paper that was sitting on the floor. There was a LOT of blood in the urine that I didn't notice when she went just on the huntergreen carpet because wet, it all just looked dark and I'd clean it up before it dried and could show.
I took her to the vets and she had a MAJOR urinary tract infection and the vet told me that cats and dogs both will try to show you the problem by doing this type of thing.
Maybe you should take a stool sample, put it in a clean baggie and take him and it to the vet to see if it's trying to show you a problem. He just can't say OUCH to let ya know. :)

Possibly. Hopefully not, since I don't have any spare cash for a vet.

A health problem makes sense, but you're right about no vet cash.

poo.

No! No more poo! Sick of the poo!

rats?

Rats clean. No poo near them.

Just in case there isn't any...uhmm..blood that comes with Socrates's little gift as the last comment suggested, you should invest in a spray that humans can't smell, but cats can...and they HATE it. I had to put foil on my bed to keep my old cat from using it. Then I picked the spray bottle and didn't have anymore problems.

Pet Smart should have it.

yeah, what she just said,...o.o

Now that he has soiled the spot with his scent, you're going to have trouble stopping him from coming back there. There's a product called natures miracle that will get rid of the scent & possible help stop him from thinking it's the spot.

The others could be right...he might be having a health problem.

Yeah, i know about "returning to the scene of the crime"...I've had cats around most of my life. These two really are the dumbest ones I've ever seen...

Oh man. Ok. Here's a big fat lot of marginally solicited advice from me, a guy who just went through this to the Nth degree.

Ok. Here's the steps you need to take to correct the problem. We'll just take it for granted that when it's not being a little shit (no pun intended) you like it and have no desire to get rid of it.

1. Make sure the litter is clean and his box smells nice. This means using a decent grade of litter (not the super cheap clay shit) and at least once a week make sure you empty the box completely and clean it out with soap and water. You may have to try a couple new brands before she finds one she likes.

2. Make sure you clean up the area she went in *completely*. That means to clean all the poo/pee up as well as you can and then use an organic enzyme cleaner, like the previously mentioned "Nature's Miracle" to get the rest. After that, follow up with Citrus Frebreez (or similar Citrus de-scenter, like All). The important thing is that it's Citrus. Cat's don't like the citrus smell, so won't feel inclined to go there. Don't think you can get away with just the Citrus spray and not the enzyme cleaner. If it still smells like their feces, that will override their adversion to the citrus. Trust me.

3. If the problem continues or just moves somewhere else, it's time for a trip to the vet to check for any infections or problems. I know you ain't got the cash, but you'll have a lot less cash if you have to start doing shit like pulling up the carpet because the amonia ruined it or replacing your shoes because you squished cat shit in them with your toes. Oh, and it'll cost money to responsably surrender a cat, and if she has a litter box problem, that puts her on the short list to get euthanized.

4. If she has problems, follow the vets advice, if not, it's litter retraining time! Woot! This involves basically restricting her to a single room of the house with food and litter for a month. A good place is the bathroom, that way she still gets regular visits, but no real freedom to crap somewhere other then her litter box. After that, you can let her out for short, supervised visits, confined to a single room of the house (other then her bathroom). If she does it again, you put her back in the room for a month, making sure she's actually using the litter box regularly. Oh, and make extra special sure the litter box is clean and inviting every day she's confined with it, otherwise you're actually training her to hate it. If she doesn't keep to the litter box in the bathroom, then she needs a pet cage. You can buy or borrow one, but make sure it's tall enough for her to have a place to lay (little shelves are typically built in), with enough floor space for her litter box on one side and food/water on the other. She will not shit where her food is, so that forces her to use the litter box. Proceed with the cage as above. The whole process will take about 3-6 months.

Yea, I'm currently in the retraining phase right now. We've gotten to the point where he's allowed out, unsupervised for the evening, but has to stay in the cage all night and day until we get home.

I'll be happy to answer any other questions you may have. :)

OH! VERY IMPORTANT!

Do *NOT*, I repeat, DO NOT "discipline" the cat. She will have no idea what you're doing. You'll actually only reinforce the behaviour if it's stress induced (which is the case if it's not medical), hurt the trust that the cat has for you and undermine you efforts to retrain the cat later, if it comes to that.

Negative reinforcement will only make a cat withdrawn and violent. This doesn't help the problem in any way.

Trust me. I've owned and trained lots and lots of cats over the years. Negative reinforcement will work marginally well (though not very) with dogs, but it will get you exactly nowhere you want to be with a cat. You have to establish trust and respect with a cat, and if you hit him, handle him roughly or yell at him, it can basically take you right back to square one and negate all your previous efforts and add one more hurdle to the process.