Azshara and litterbox play

[sarah0315]

This question has probably been asked so much, and answered so much, but my search for the forums isn't working for some reason. Azshara, one of my new kittens, plays in the litter box, lays in the litter box, and rolls around in the litter box. She will also dig around about 6 times, peeing in each hole she dug in the litter. The place gets so unbelievably messy with just these two kittens. It's probably very common, but what can I do to get her to know that this is NOT acceptable behavior? The other kitten (Cocoa) Is human shy, so she is extremely attached to Azshara and copies her every move.

Azshara recently caught ringworm from Cocoa, so we've been treating them with medicated shampoo. After the bath she goes straight to the litterbox and rolls around.

 

[saitenyo]

I don't know much about discouraging this behavior, but my solution with my cats was to simply get covered boxes. It really helped a lot. No more litter flying everywhere!

The things you need to be aware of regarding covered boxes are that 1-Some cats may be wary of them at first and some don't like them at all (thankfully mine were fine) and 2-Make sure you keep them clean. They do tend to contain smell more, which is great for you, but unpleasant for the kitties if they're not cleaned often.

P.S. Love Azshara's name. Are you a WoW player by any chance?

 

[herekittykitty8]

I can sympathize with you on this. I once had a cat who did this. She hated playing and so playing in her box was the only form of play she enjoyed. I had to be so diligent about the box. But when I'd leave for a few hours I'd usually come back to clumps of litter (both w pee and poop) all over the house because she'd track it around in her fur. Really unhygenic and gross. Of course, it's a fine line in training them not to do this as you don't want to discorage them from using their litterbox.
Sadly, this girl ended up going back to the rescue where I adopted her from (NOT because of her litter box playing), but had she not have gone back my next step would have been trying out one of those self cleaning boxes just so when she would play and track litter it hopefuly wouldn't have pee or poop on it. They are a bit pricey, but I figured I could justify the
price if I didn't have to scrub the floors and wash the blankets daily.
Good luck!

 

[sarah0315]

@saitenyo Yes I play WoW



__


It'll probably be a bit difficult breaking them of this habit, it's not really a big deal, But it's something I'd rather not have them do, or have the other cats see. She doesn't do it as much, but everyonce in a while I catch her and mak a lot of noise to scare her out of there. So far no accidents outside of the litter box.

 

[yayi]

Originally Posted by sarah0315

Azshara recently caught ringworm from Cocoa so we've been treating them with medicated shampoo. After the bath she goes straight to the litterbox and rolls around.

She wants the feel and scent of the shampoo off her.

I had a kitten doing it until one of the older cats "scolded" him. Perhaps Azshara will be disciplined by your other cats?

 

[my4llma]

Originally Posted by sarah0315

Azshara, one of my new kittens, plays in the litter box, lays in the litter box, and rolls around in the litter box. She will also dig around about 6 times, peeing in each hole she dug in the litter. The place gets so unbelievably messy with just these two kittens.

Midnight will do that. He'll jump into the litter box, roll around in it, and even curl up to sleep in it. He'll spend a lot of time "building mounds" after he uses it, instead of just covering. We have a covered litter box, and that 1 he can't make a mess all over the place with that. Sometimes I'll even catch both Luna and Midnight in the boxes either curled up sleeping together, or chasing each other. Hopefully it's just something they'll grow out of when they grow up.