Brady does not like a "deep dish" litter box

2dogmom

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Brady is a fun cat, really. He talks, he knows his name. He "plays" with his girlfriend Tigger all the time, even neglecting his old toy, the track ball.

But one thing is annoying. He seems to like to pee and poo "out in the open". I thought cats were naturally clean, wanting to cover up whatever they eliminated. Not this boy! Heck my dog Zircon is much more discreet about doing his business. Braday eschewed the bathtub size litter box I had gotten because I got so tired of him flinging half the litter out of the box. Instead he startted going on the floor, or even on the lid that I had put next to the box on its side to prevent him peeing in the corner.

So now what I have done is to just sprinkle a little bit of litter (it does not even cover the bottome) and now he seems happy, at least he pees and poos where I want him to. Does anyone else's cat do this?
 

epona

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I am sure he is not the only one, they are all so individual about their litterbox requirements!

Radar is the complete opposite, I was worried there was something wrong with him the other week because he didn't poo for ages (not 'potential medical emergency' type ages, more a 'wonder if I should get him some castor oil' ages) and it turned out that the litter just wasn't deep enough for his liking. When I topped it up to a ridiculous depth he climbed in with a look of relief on his face and produced something... well I won't go into details but it was quite impressive iykwim.
 

shanynne

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It could be a whole bunch of stuff.

Is he a Main Coon? MC's are really big and need more space. You could try using "Cat Attract" to get him to continue using the litter where you want him to.

Is his girlfriend Tigger your 2nd cat? It could be he is doing this as a domination thing. When cats want to show other cats they are the "top" cat, they don't cover their waste, so the other's can smell it and know "he" is the boss.

It could also be he doesn't like the type of litter you were using. When I tried Arm & Hammer (the light fluffy one) my cats hated it and let me know by flinging the waste out of the box. Very annoying.

Have you tried placing cat mats around the box? It gives them something to walk on that helps to clean their paws. My older kitty (10 month old MC) is a "jumper". Once he's done his business, he jumps out of the litter box like he's got the plague and scatters the litter around (my cat mats help catch most of it
but not all of it, so I still have to sweep daily around the area) Anyways, it's like he's saying "I don't want this gunk on me".

Don't know what else to think of right now, but hope it helps.

By the way, you got a bathtub sized litter box?!?!? Wow, I would love to have one. Where did you find it and how big is it exactly, can you give me approx. measurements? Thanks!

Shanynne
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shambelle

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I know a cat that prefers minimal litter in his box.

However, both of mine love deep boxes - which is both good and bad!
 

persi & alley

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Originally Posted by shambelle

I know a cat that prefers minimal litter in his box.

However, both of mine love deep boxes -
which is both good and bad
!
Why would it be bad? I am curious about this. Now that I have two cats using the same box (and with no problems), I just thought I should naturally increase the depth of the litter. Of course I clean it twice as often now but what is bad about having it deep?
 

shanynne

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Originally Posted by Persi

Why would it be bad? I am curious about this. Now that I have two cats using the same box (and with no problems), I just thought I should naturally increase the depth of the litter. Of course I clean it twice as often now but what is bad about having it deep?
It's not bad at all to have it deep. In fact, I like it better. I find that the urine gets absorbed better, i.e., it doesn't go all the way to the bottom (most times) and my cats love to dig.

I think it comes down to personal preferance, if having a deep litter works well for, then stick with it!

Shanynne
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2dogmom

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Hey Shanynne, thanks for picking up on ths one!!

Originally Posted by Shanynne

Is he a Main Coon? MC's are really big and need more space. You could try using "Cat Attract" to get him to continue using the litter where you want him to.
Maybe he is part Maine Coon, we will never know. He WAS born feral in northern New England, and survivied on his own through one winter outdoors before I adopted him so who knows? You can probably tell better than I can by looking at his pictures.

Originally Posted by Shanynne

Is his girlfriend Tigger your 2nd cat? It could be he is doing this as a domination thing. When cats want to show other cats they are the "top" cat, they don't cover their waste, so the other's can smell it and know "he" is the boss.
Opps! Looks like I was too discreet in one of my posts. Tigger is a stuffed toy. I got it when I was fed up with Brady yowling at 2AM. I figured he needed some female company (he ain't gonna get any though cause we are not about to let him out) so I got him a "substitute". He took to Tigger though and
um, do you get the idea? I do not want to post details in case little kids are reading this. Let's just say that Brady "plays" with Tigger about 18 hr a day.


Originally Posted by Shanynne

It could also be he doesn't like the type of litter you were using. When I tried Arm & Hammer (the light fluffy one) my cats hated it and let me know by flinging the waste out of the box. Very annoying..
I think you are bang on on this one and I found out by accident. I tried every kind of litter I could find but he seems to like the Tidy Cats crystals so I am sticking with that.

Originally Posted by Shanynne

Have you tried placing cat mats around the box? It gives them something to walk on that helps to clean their paws. My older kitty (10 month old MC) is a "jumper". Once he's done his business, he jumps out of the litter box like he's got the plague and scatters the litter around (my cat mats help catch most of it
but not all of it, so I still have to sweep daily around the area) Anyways, it's like he's saying "I don't want this gunk on me".
I have but it does not seem to help. Frankly, I think my Brady boy is a pig. Most of the time he does not even try to cover his pee or poo. He still pees once in a while in the lid that I have laying on its side to protect the wall. About 1/2 cup sometimes, I have to pour it into the litter box. And one time I was holing him and supporting his paws on my forearm. After he jumped off I smelled my arm-YUCK! I almost think this has something to do with how he lived his first year in the wild.

Originally Posted by Shanynne

Don't know what else to think of right now, but hope it helps.

By the way, you got a bathtub sized litter box?!?!? Wow, I would love to have one. Where did you find it and how big is it exactly, can you give me approx. measurements? Thanks!

Shanynne
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Yes, it helps a LOT, thanks so much!

I was only exaggerating about the bathub size box. It seems huge to me, about 24" x 16" with 8" high walls. Monseiur is using it now that it only has 1/2" of his favorite litter in it. I got it because he had been flinging the litter all over the place and I thought it would help. Now I think he just plain did not care for the litter. I did not realize that litter is not litter!! But I have seen some threads on how to make your own litter box out of one of those Rubbermaid storeage bins if you really want a giant size one.
 

stephanietx

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I have one cat who doesn't like a lot of litter in the box and one who likes it DEEP (so she can dig to China). So, I have 3 boxes...one with about an inch of litter in it, one with a medium amount of litter in it, and a deep one with LOTS of litter in it. Talk about having me trained!


Stephanie
 

cloud_shade

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I have but it does not seem to help. Frankly, I think my Brady boy is a pig. Most of the time he does not even try to cover his pee or poo. He still pees once in a while in the lid that I have laying on its side to protect the wall. About 1/2 cup sometimes, I have to pour it into the litter box.
If this continues, I would have a vet do a urinalysis. Willow, who has bouts of cystitis, will show me that she is uncomfortable by peeing on the lid right next to the litterbox. Also, be sure to clean the lid with an enzymatic cleaner, like Nature's Miracle, or he will be attracted back to that spot.

And one time I was holing him and supporting his paws on my forearm. After he jumped off I smelled my arm-YUCK! I almost think this has something to do with how he lived his first year in the wild.
Did it smell like urine, or was it worse? If it was worse than normal urine, it could be that his anal glands need to be expressed. While this can be done at home, I prefer to leave it to the vets as it is a very dirty job.
 

icklemiss21

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Like mentioned above, it may be a medical problem (they associate the litter box with pain from peeing so won't use it) so if you don't solve it soon, it would be best to consult a vet.

It may be that as a feral/stray, he is used to using a gravel type surface that isn't deep and doesn't feel secure using it.

It may be that box is too deep and he doesn't like climbing in and out of it.

As for covering, some ex-ferals don't cover as they still mark their territory, and some non ferals just don't cover! Bumps was away from his mum too early as a kitten (stray) and hadn't been 'trained' by her in many things so he doesn't cover (Magnum goes in and does it for him
)
 
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2dogmom

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Thank you so much for your advice.
What is confusing to me is that he is not consistent. We have an unfinsihed room where I have him set up, and currently he has one BIG hooded box, one "normal" size tray, and one shallow plastic thing I made out of an old laundry basket by cutting off anything that was higher than about 3/4 inch. I find that if any one of the two larger ones has more than about 1", he will not go in there. Now that I have figured out that he does not like the litter to be deep I have about 1/4 to 1/2 " in all three, and he switches around between all three. Maybe once a month he'll pee in the lid. And I have not cleaned anything with enzymatic cleaner (yet). I am happy that he is confining himself to something that was intended to be connected with him peeing or pooing. I am beginning to think that as an ex-feral he just has some habits that are not familiar to me as a casual cat person.

I will definitely do a urinalysis, for that it is probably a good thing that he pees in that lid.

And I am sure it is not anal glands. If it is antyhing like the smell of dog anal glands I am all too familiar with it!! It is nothing like cat pee!

Again, thanks all for your advice!
 

cloud_shade

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Willow was never consistent either--it was just on occasional that she would pee outside the box. When I finally took her in for a urinalysis (I had been putting my energy into my much sicker cat at the time), it showed blood in her urine.
 
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