Psycho litter digging cat???

Well Samantha (Sammy) is home and she is even more gorgeous than I could have ever imagined. She is absolutely in shock, and hasnt wanted to interact with anyone. Shes eating and drinking fine though.

She is also using the box. This is where the problem is: She makes a HUGE mess everytime she uses the box. I dont mean a few grains here and there, I mean she is literally throwing out HALF of the litter everytime she goes.

When can I introduce a covered box?!? I dont want her to refuse the box, since she is so nervous, and Im worried a covered box would increase her nervousness? But the cat room looks hideous! Im actually picking up the litter and tossing it back in the box, because it is way too much to throw out.

Could this be a sign of nervousness or is this just the way she uses the box? Help!

I don't know about introducing the full covered box, but you can probably start by adding small cardboard "walls" around the litterbox. Start with a tiny bit to let her get used to the idea of having the cardboard there, and then slowly start increasing the height of the walls. That might help her get used to the idea of a covered box sooner, and if anything, it will help keep some of the litter in the box!

You could always get a covered box and offer both covered and the uncovered, if you see that she is using the covered than remove the uncovere and see if that helps with the "tossing litter" issue.

My cat is also obsessive about digging in the litter. I wake up at all hours of the night hearing her scratching from across the apartment. She's been doing it all her life. Try putting a covered box in there and help her into it to see what it is. I bet she'll be great.

My boys are HUGE litter flickers! So, to solve this problem, we've resorted to using Rubbermaid Totes as litter boxes, since they have such high sides, they can dig and dig and dig... with no mess on the floor (except for some litter when they jump out, but thats not a big deal) but its very handy and worth it, since they are so cheap. We have 2 of them, but I don't have lids on them, so they jump in and out as they need to!

This is actually the one that we use:
http://www.rubbermaid.com/rubbermaid...d=HPProd100241

I know how you feel! Diesel acts like he is digging to china!

Introduce one and see how she feels - My two adjusted very quickly.

Originally Posted by Malikitty

You could always get a covered box and offer both covered and the uncovered, if you see that she is using the covered than remove the uncovere and see if that helps with the "tossing litter" issue.

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Try leaving the lid off the covered one until she's happy using the actual box, then try adding the cover. I used a covered box with Jaffa when he was about 9 weeks old and he had no problems with it (it even had a door - didn't realise at the time I could have taken the door off) so she may be fine with a covered box.

LOL, sounds like Chynna! She would dig herself to Asia if the bottom of the box and floor didn't stop her!

I had to change to one of those litter boxes that has hinged extensions along the 4 sides. They fold over towards the inside of the box and snap together. When I change the litter and dissinfect I unsnap the corners and fold back the hinged sides and wash out the box. It sure saves on having a mountain of litter on the floor. There are still some grains of litter that make it to the floor but that's because of their paws usually and not because of shoveling.