Not covering the litter box contents.

My wife and I recently adopted 2 kittens (brother and sister) from a rescue centre. They are now 5 months old and despite initial shyness and typical kitten mischief everything has been fine up until now.

Our female kitten has decided that she doesn't want to cover up her poo anymore. Why? We don't know. This has only started in the last few days. Their litter box is clean, sifted on a daily basis and fresh litter put in every 3 days. We use the same litter that we did from day 1 (Catsan Hygene - the one that absorbs the odours)

There has been nothing to scare them, no change in routine and they are eating the same food. Neither of them are ill and her brother is not picking on her (apart from the usual 9pm play fighting madness !)

My wife and I cant work out why she is not covering her mess up and wondered if anyone else could shed some light on this new strange behaviour.

My 5 month old cat started doing this for a while when we first got him. The smell would spread through the house quick because he wasn't covering it up. The vet told me it was his way of marking his territory without peeing and pooping everywhere. He was letting his scent out. He did this for about a month, then he started to cover it up again. My vet told me that both male and female cats sometimes do this to let other animals know that this is their home, especially if they are new to your home. If there are other behavior problems you should go to the vet, otherwise this phase should pass in time. My only solution to the problem was that I switched to a multi cat litter, and a covered litterbox. I also cleaned the litter everytime he went. Soon he started covering his business, so I don't have to clean quite as often anymore.

I've got two cats and Rosie never covers hers, and it's been said that she's showing that she's the alpha cat between her and Sophie, but Sophie goes on straight after her to cover her "package" up for her

Hmmm, that's really interesing about marking their territory. Pushkin will often not cover his up, and it really stinks the place out! Better than spraying though I suppose!

Not all cats will always cover their tray, some go through phases and some just never do it

My two do a half-hearted job at covering, but I think its because their favorite litterbox is a touch too small. By this I mean they would have to turn around and dig since they like to pee along the edges, and they would rather scratch at the hood than do the extra work. They have a bigger one with plenty of room, but of course, they don't like it as much!

In the wild, the dominant cat of the area never covers his "pile"... It's a sign of dominance.

Looks like you guys have a new owner

I have sibling kittens going on 5 months old. The male never covers his either. I have two boxes with liners in them. I still use the non clumping since they are still kittens and then clumping still scares me to use it yet. However the liners are always clawed to pieces. He claws like he is covering his mess, but doesn't touch the litter instead shreads the plastic liners?

Have read about the dominance thingie as well. With multiple cats, the dominant one won't cover. With only one cat, if he doesn't cover, he's trying to tell you he's dominant over you!

I just wanted to ask akbeck98: why are you hesitant to use clumping litter with your kittens?

Got a little worried cos my boy is 2+ mths and I've been using clumping ever since he was born!

In our house, Toby, the alpha cat, WILL cover his poops (He is a very clean cat) but Tedy (the more passive cat) does only half the job. He was an outdoor cat till we got him at aprox 6 months....so we just figure he was lazy about it.
Whenever Tedy uses the litter, Toby will go and inspect and then cover it for Tedy.
Tedy did not have very "clean cat habits" when he came here....even as far as bathing himself...and Toby woulld actually spread eagle himself on top of Tedy`s body and wash him from head to foot. (Still does sometimes) He`d even turn Tedy`s ears wrong side out cleaning inside them!

wow....

My senior cat used to cover up everything in the litter box. However a few years ago he stopped doing that. Although he does seem to do some weird blessing ritual over the contents of the litter box with his paws.