My cat tries, but she just stands outside the box scraping the bare carpet for 20-30 minutes... or until the noise wakes me up, whichever happens first... trying to cover up with non-existent litter. I used to think cats were intelligent, but now I'm reconsidering ever owning another one after this.
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any experience with cats that don't cover their stool in the litter box
- Thread starter fel-d1
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Not the case in my home.
Chynna is 14 years and she is definitely the dominant cat here. Abby is 8 years and she runs from and yields everything to Chynna if Chynna wants it.
Chynna is what I call a shoveler and she would dig her way to the Orient if there wasn't a hard plastic bottom at the bottom of the box. LOL She digs right down to the plastic, does her business and then piles all the litter she can over the top into a mountain.
Abby on the other hand has never covered her litter. She hates getting her paws dirty. When I first got her she was 4 months old and she would try and balance on the side of the box with all 4 of her legs so that she didn't have to stand in the litter. She couldn't quite manage to balance with all 4 paws on the side, so she begrudgingly put one leg back into the box and stands on her tippy toes. Then she does her business and literally leaps out of the box and goes on her merry way. Sometimes she makes a bit of an effort by getting out and scratching the floor, or jumping into the bathtub and scratching in there. But 99.9% of the time, nope... never covered.
Chynna will go in after Abby sometimes and cover it for her though. Not sure how often she does that, but I've seen her do it a few times.
Some kitties just have bad potty habits. I know some adults that don't flush
name: Abby
coat type: short
face type: non flatface
origin: home breed
age: June 19, 2004 (8 years)
pedigree: No. Orange and White DSH Tabby with amber eyes
name: Chynna
coat type: medium short
face type: non flatface
origin: abandoned kitty (tenants moved out and left her behind)
age: Approx 14 years
pedigree: No. White DSH with green eyes
I have to interject here to brag on my kitty. Most of the cats I have had in the past have done a very acceptable job of poopy covering, but Maggie takes the cake. When she's done, (after she fiddles about in there for what seems like ages) her potty looks like I just scooped and raked it, every time. First time I saw it, I thought ..good job! thinking it was an isolated incident, but no..she's a meticulous pooper.
She comes from a cattery where she lived with many cats for three years, so maybe that had something to do with it?
She comes from a cattery where she lived with many cats for three years, so maybe that had something to do with it?
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Marcie LOVES to dig in her litter. We were using clumping litter for awhile and she covered her poops and would spend about 10-15 minutes digging around just to make sure. Now that we have switched to Feline Pine, she still digs for a looooong time, but she doen't cover her poop.
Prego is a shoveler too, but even with all that digging he never covers anything. He also scratches the box itself and on the floor. Silly boy!
There is three reasons why a cat will do that:
a) As said before, it is a dominant cat who wants to show the rest this is his box
b) The cat never learned as a kitten because he was for example taken away from his mother too early
c) He does not like to touch the litter with his paws. He ll mostly scratch the sides of the box then.
If it is b) teach him by showing. When he went to the box, show him as you cover it yourself. If it is c) then try a different litter. a) is the hardest to fix. But there must be reason why he s showing so dominant. Are there other cats in the house? coz that might just be it. Dont know how to fix that one though, sorry. Often though, you ll find male cats showing this behaviour for whatever reason, and females of the same household going in after them to bury it, since they are a bit more neat
a) As said before, it is a dominant cat who wants to show the rest this is his box
b) The cat never learned as a kitten because he was for example taken away from his mother too early
c) He does not like to touch the litter with his paws. He ll mostly scratch the sides of the box then.
If it is b) teach him by showing. When he went to the box, show him as you cover it yourself. If it is c) then try a different litter. a) is the hardest to fix. But there must be reason why he s showing so dominant. Are there other cats in the house? coz that might just be it. Dont know how to fix that one though, sorry. Often though, you ll find male cats showing this behaviour for whatever reason, and females of the same household going in after them to bury it, since they are a bit more neat
Originally Posted by gailuvscats
I read somewhere that the more independent the cat, the more likely he won't cover his stuff. I have a cat like that, but fortunately the other two will cover it for him.
This would explain why Oberon, the patriarch, stopped covering his poop and pee after we got Sparkle and Lily!
Cheers, from
SwampWitch
