My cat won't bury her poop, any ideas?

I have a kitten that's almost fully grown about 10 months old and she doesn't bury her poop. We've tried everything, from scooping her paw to partially cover it, different litter and different litter boxes. I've looked online for solutions but nothing works. All she does is do her thing in the box and scratch about 6 times on the walls of the box (the one she has now is enclosed but before that we had an open litter box that was 3 times her size when we first got her) sniffs it, does it again, sniffs and then walks out. I'm on top of it every single time to show her to bury it, sometimes its partially covered and I praise her on a good job but the next time she doesn't do it. We also have another cat that's 3 and a half years old and we have no problems with him. We have separate litter boxes for the two of them.

She's an adopted cat we got her from the shelter and she was born into a home that had 10 other cats. She was about 5 months old when we got her. As far as I know the cats were taken care of but the quantity was overwhelming.

Unfortunately some cats just don't like to bury. There could be any number of reasons why, though perhaps she wants to keep her scent potent because she doesn't want her buddy using her box? 

If she doesn't want to bury I wouldn't push her to do so. You don't want to make going in the litterbox a stressful experience because it may turn her off to the entire concept and make your floors look very inviting. What you can do is try and minimize the effects of her unburied poop. Having a covered litterbox (as it seems you do) will help tremendously with the smell. You can also add a deodorizer to the litter to absorb some of it. Finally, regular scooping is your best friend. Everyone should clean their boxes at least once a day but you may want to do it twice. A litter locker is a great solution for those with cats who need more frequent scooping. It looks a lot like a trashcan with a plastic divider in it. You just scoop into the top, shut the lid, and pull the divider so the waste falls through into the plastic bag. The divider helps to keep the smells locked in. Then, every couple of weeks you just tie it off and throw the bag away! 

She's not abnormal for not wanting to bury, it's just not her style. Try to work around it as best you can.

Good luck and welcome to TCS!  

not all cats bury their poop.  Yours may just be one of them.  I've got one too, as do many people.  Is that really a problem ?  I guess it could be if she's got stinky poop , which is a whole other issue)

Usually what happens in our household is one of the other cats will bury it if they happen to come by and need to use the box before I clean it, which is twice a day, BTW.

I have found that conventional litter box's are still way to small for most grown cats. I use a sterlite storage container, the long under the bed kind, as our litter box. Seems like she is TRYING to bury, but doesn't have the room. Maybe try something bigger.

On the other hand, she IS using the box. I'd be happy with that.

Welcome to TCS
 

One of my cats barely buries and oh mine, it smells really bad. I have no choice but open windows in the middle of winter when she finishes her business.
 

Many of us have one that doesn't bury. My middle cat sounds the same as yours - he's excellent at scratching the sides of the box once he's done, but he doesn't touch the litter. My other two are fastidious in their litter habits, and one of them will bury anything that's been left exposed. Thankfully their poop doesn't smell since they're fed a raw diet.

My adopted cat wont' bury her poop in the litter box. The odor was horrible.  The solution was to change her diet to dry food that had no grain in it.  These foods are a little more but so worth it. It cut the odor down by 90 percent. Thank you PetSmart for the advise.  Another thing.  in the pet store go to the wellness items. There are suppliments there with probotics that help with this problem...good luck.

You might try changing the litter to see if that would help encourage her to dig, but the bad news is that some cats just DON'T bury their waste, EVER! My male, Burt, has never buried his in a litter box and never will, he's almost 13 now. They feel secure and confident enough about themselves that they don't have to 'hide' their scent from predators. It is strange though, if he goes outside, he WILL bury it out there! He must just feel safe in our house! I must tell you though, our other cat, Casper, gets disgusted though, and I've seen him sniff and go in and bury Burts!

My cat Mabel is the same ,she won't Bury her poop, but will cover her wee I've tried everything . Now I just remove it straight away. She is a rescue cat. And was taken from her mother too early that's why I think she does this because she hasn't been taught by her mum.

My Philippe does not bury his poop either .  Most of the time Mei Li will do it for him . It cracks me up ..

During my cat's last visit I asked her about this same behavior. My 2 year old named Nacho hsd the habit of not covering his poop and I just thought it was normal! She told me that cats only do this if they don't like the type of litter or the litter box is too small.

First I tried changing his litter and he didn't seem to change his behavior, so I went back to his old litter and got a larger litterbox. I got a large storage bin and cut a large entrance square in it. I made this change in August and he has covered his poop ever since! Perhaps changing the litter or litterbox size will work well for you too

My newly-adopted cat doesn't bury his poop, either. With him, though, he tends to make his deposits in the corners, which limits the directions he can scoop fresh litter from. I get the impression that he wants to, but can't figure out how. I once saw him nearly bury his left foreleg trying and failing to bury a deposit. My resident cat has started to do it for him.

DearDonnaVT said:

 
My adopted cat wont' bury her poop in the litter box. The odor was horrible.  The solution was to change her diet to dry food that had no grain in it.  These foods are a little more but so worth it. It cut the odor down by 90 percent. Thank you PetSmart for the advise.  Another thing.  in the pet store go to the wellness items. There are suppliments there with probotics that help with this problem...good luck.

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Hello. May I ask which specific food you switched to that has no grain in it and helped with the smell?