I have been struggling with this situation for over 3 weeks. He literally plays with the litter and searches for his feces and kicks it outside the box and keeps playing with it around the flat. I am seriously considering giving him up. Other than the cost of sand that I have to add everyday. I have to vacuum 3 times a day!!! Please, if anyone knows how to deal with this issue please help! I use the foam mat that captures litter but he is determined to spread the sand everywhere to the point that he fills it up!!!!
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3-5 month old cat "plays" in litter box how to stop it!
- Thread starter morganalefae
- Start Date
Get a Buddha dome and a litter mat. That litter box has a staircase built in that will catch his poop if he kicks it out & you can sweep up his litter off the stair case with a mini broom & dustpan.
Realistically though this sounds like a kitten behavior & is no reason to give him up! However if you can give him back to a no kill shelter that will find him a forever home where he won’t be returned like an item of clothing from a store; I say do it now. Cats have a hell of time being adopted past 4 months old, every one wants a baby kitten!
I fostered my cat and he was adopted with a note explaining how he was loved & if for any reason she couldn’t keep him; we would take him back. She returned him after a few weeks because the 3 month old kitten peed out of the box a couple of times!!!!
She offered to maybe take him back after he was neutered. No way in heck!!!! She obviously wasn’t prepared to own a pet! Pets are a commitment for the rest of their lives; not just while things are ideal. They are not inanimate objects. They are thinking, feeling beings, who love their families! It took my poor guy 6 months to recover from his seperation anxiety from that failed adoption enough to be comfortable in a room without me for extended amounts of time. So if you think for a second that it doesn’t cause the pet trauma, think again.
That being said I had to rehome an adult cat after 6 months of trying. Turns out she was a mostly outdoor cat and my indoors only flat was not the place for her at all. My x-in-laws adopted her & she lived the rest of her life roaming their neighborhood happily. So sometimes rehoming is what is best for cats. In kittens it is more tricky becuase by the time they hit 5 months no one wants to adopt them & hardly anyone wants to adopt a 4 month old. They incorrectly think the cat is an adult & they really are not adults until around 2 years. Which is why I said what I did about giving the kitten back if it is still a baby.
Realistically though this sounds like a kitten behavior & is no reason to give him up! However if you can give him back to a no kill shelter that will find him a forever home where he won’t be returned like an item of clothing from a store; I say do it now. Cats have a hell of time being adopted past 4 months old, every one wants a baby kitten!
I fostered my cat and he was adopted with a note explaining how he was loved & if for any reason she couldn’t keep him; we would take him back. She returned him after a few weeks because the 3 month old kitten peed out of the box a couple of times!!!!
She offered to maybe take him back after he was neutered. No way in heck!!!! She obviously wasn’t prepared to own a pet! Pets are a commitment for the rest of their lives; not just while things are ideal. They are not inanimate objects. They are thinking, feeling beings, who love their families! It took my poor guy 6 months to recover from his seperation anxiety from that failed adoption enough to be comfortable in a room without me for extended amounts of time. So if you think for a second that it doesn’t cause the pet trauma, think again. That being said I had to rehome an adult cat after 6 months of trying. Turns out she was a mostly outdoor cat and my indoors only flat was not the place for her at all. My x-in-laws adopted her & she lived the rest of her life roaming their neighborhood happily. So sometimes rehoming is what is best for cats. In kittens it is more tricky becuase by the time they hit 5 months no one wants to adopt them & hardly anyone wants to adopt a 4 month old. They incorrectly think the cat is an adult & they really are not adults until around 2 years. Which is why I said what I did about giving the kitten back if it is still a baby.
Oh and a automatic litter box, a large storage tub with a hole cut in the center of the lid (as a litter box) or a large plastic office/desk mat to put under the litter box so you can sweep it up & put the litter back in the box may solve your problems. Maybe you can get a large section of vinyl flooring you cut and place under the box so it catches the litter instead of your carpet. My guy’s boxes are in the bathroom for the hard floor. Have you tried giving him large storage tubs instead of a litter box so he can’t kick the poop out?
Here is my high sided litter box my cat still kicks litter out of & his large storage tub litter box. I would at least try the large storage tub/bin.
Does your cat have 2 boxes? Is he just a vigorous kicker or is he actually playing with his poop?!?
My cat is a hyper twerp but he has never played with his poop!
Here is my high sided litter box my cat still kicks litter out of & his large storage tub litter box. I would at least try the large storage tub/bin.
Does your cat have 2 boxes? Is he just a vigorous kicker or is he actually playing with his poop?!?
My cat is a hyper twerp but he has never played with his poop!
Thank you so much for your advice! It is just that I've had 4-5 cats before him but non were that mischievous!! and to be honest, I would not send him to a shelter. I found him on the street as a stray kitten in another country and I brought him home. It was just getting really stressful when I wrote what I wrote earlier. The buddha dome and the large storage litterbox are amazing ideas! To answer your questions. He has one litterbox and he is both a vigorous kicker AND scoops his poop out to play with it.
I get it about a cat driving you nuts! Dante drove me nuts when he was around 6 months old & I had no idea how to deal with his insane amount of hyperness.
ok I can’t really help you with the playing with the poop. That is a new one!
Maybe try bribing him? Like giving him a treat every time you see him use the litter box and come out of it without a fuss? Or just pick him Up, whenever he tries to play with it, and tell him he is silly. Then play with him in another room?
Does he have a lot of toys? 2 hexabugs (the mice are a favorite but the classic hex bug works to) going at once on a hard surface always entertains my hyper twerp. Have you tried giving him rabbit fur toys to play with instead of his poop? No idea why but cats go nuts for rabbit fur (I wish there was an ethical alternative for this one!) Things like da bird or petfit4life make great wand toys to help tire him out with.
You can also try giving him a large cardboard box or jumbo gift bag or large tub to play in with tissue paper or newspaper to bury his small toys in (instead of his litter box.) It is how I entertain my twerp on rainy or I’m sick days. You can even try giving him cat safe Easter grass (though I had to cut mine up in tiny little bits so my string obesssd cat wouldn’t eat it.) He loves digging for his toys under the tissue paper (or cat safe Easter grass.) I put some noisy toys (crinkle balls, jingle balls) a catnip toy or two and some rabbit fur mice and let him go nuts. He drags toys in and takes them out and buriethem. The box or tub contains the mess but the jumbo bag spices things up. If he really wants to bury
ok I can’t really help you with the playing with the poop. That is a new one!Maybe try bribing him? Like giving him a treat every time you see him use the litter box and come out of it without a fuss? Or just pick him Up, whenever he tries to play with it, and tell him he is silly. Then play with him in another room?
Does he have a lot of toys? 2 hexabugs (the mice are a favorite but the classic hex bug works to) going at once on a hard surface always entertains my hyper twerp. Have you tried giving him rabbit fur toys to play with instead of his poop? No idea why but cats go nuts for rabbit fur (I wish there was an ethical alternative for this one!) Things like da bird or petfit4life make great wand toys to help tire him out with.
You can also try giving him a large cardboard box or jumbo gift bag or large tub to play in with tissue paper or newspaper to bury his small toys in (instead of his litter box.) It is how I entertain my twerp on rainy or I’m sick days. You can even try giving him cat safe Easter grass (though I had to cut mine up in tiny little bits so my string obesssd cat wouldn’t eat it.
) He loves digging for his toys under the tissue paper (or cat safe Easter grass.) I put some noisy toys (crinkle balls, jingle balls) a catnip toy or two and some rabbit fur mice and let him go nuts. He drags toys in and takes them out and buriethem. The box or tub contains the mess but the jumbo bag spices things up. If he really wants to buryAttachments
If he really wants to bury his toys you can try cutting newspaper into small bits so he can bury his toys in something besides litter.
