Boris has had a tendency to invest a great deal of time and effort digging around in the box after he uses it. He seems to be almost obsessive compulsive about covering everything up, trouble is, he is lousy at it.
He will walk around in the box and dig at the sides (and if he uses the covered box, sometimes the ceiling) barely contacting the litter, and thus spending minutes on end in the box before being satisfied with his covering-up job. sometimes he will do this for several minutres, walk out, then return to do it again for several more minutes. I've seen him in there for 5-10 minutes, just digging around after using the box. It ONLY happens right after he uses it, although usually not after he urinates, in fact i can tell what he has done in the box by listening to the length of time he spends scratching.
It is very loud when he does it, because he is often raking at the box itself, but the real problem is that he spends so much time moving around in the box that while he does this he frequently tramples all over what he is trying to cover up with annoying and disgusting results. Now i have to check his feet all the time. I used to take a wet nap or a paper towel and clean his feet off (which he doesn't like, and it is time consuming since it often gets squished up between the pads on his feet etc.....) but now i've taken to dipping his feet into a bathtub with half an inch or so of water in it (he likes this even less, but it is much faster)
It almost looks to me like he has an OC disorder or something when it comes to covering up. it wouldn't be too big a deal if i didn't have to worry about him tracking crap all over my house. it is a pain to have to clean him off when i'm home, and i don't even want to know where he has been walking when it happens while i'm gone at work.
is there anything i can do about this? maybe dissuade him from spending so much time digging around in the box? i want him to keep using it, i just want the stuff in the box to stay there rather then get tracked all over my living room......
He will walk around in the box and dig at the sides (and if he uses the covered box, sometimes the ceiling) barely contacting the litter, and thus spending minutes on end in the box before being satisfied with his covering-up job. sometimes he will do this for several minutres, walk out, then return to do it again for several more minutes. I've seen him in there for 5-10 minutes, just digging around after using the box. It ONLY happens right after he uses it, although usually not after he urinates, in fact i can tell what he has done in the box by listening to the length of time he spends scratching.
It is very loud when he does it, because he is often raking at the box itself, but the real problem is that he spends so much time moving around in the box that while he does this he frequently tramples all over what he is trying to cover up with annoying and disgusting results. Now i have to check his feet all the time. I used to take a wet nap or a paper towel and clean his feet off (which he doesn't like, and it is time consuming since it often gets squished up between the pads on his feet etc.....) but now i've taken to dipping his feet into a bathtub with half an inch or so of water in it (he likes this even less, but it is much faster)
It almost looks to me like he has an OC disorder or something when it comes to covering up. it wouldn't be too big a deal if i didn't have to worry about him tracking crap all over my house. it is a pain to have to clean him off when i'm home, and i don't even want to know where he has been walking when it happens while i'm gone at work.
is there anything i can do about this? maybe dissuade him from spending so much time digging around in the box? i want him to keep using it, i just want the stuff in the box to stay there rather then get tracked all over my living room......