Cat scraping side of litter tray

[SleepAllDay]

Hi, we have a 14 week old kitten who scrapes the side of the litter tray instead of the cat litter after doing a poo. It’s not normally a problem unless she steps in it, like she did this afternoon and I had to clean her paw.

It can’t be the litter itself, as she happily digs a hole in it before doing the poo. It’s fresh litter, big tray, quite deep. We scoop the poo out often.

Not sure why she does this and how we can help her?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi and welcome to TCS. It could be something she will grow out of - or not. Try taking her paw and covering up the poo and see if she 'gets the hint'.

There are cat's, including mine, that at one point in time or another, have scratched at the sides of the box instead of the litter. Mine did it as an adult, just not all the time. There are other cats - also like mine - that aren't interested in covering their poo (and pee) at all.

 

[Alldara]

Cats cover their poos and pees to hide their smell from predators. Some retain that instinct and some don't.

Cats also use pee and poo to mark their territory so they might leave it uncovered to mark.

Cats also have scent glands in their feet so they like to scratch around the box to say "this is mine."

For me, I had to switch to a faster absorbing litter so that the pee wouldn't pool in order to avoid pee-feet.

Then, for my newer cat Ghost I had to start adding a little extra litter to the box (fill a bit more full) as he just holds his pee longer (gets distracted easily. Will actually leave the box mid-stream if he hears you grab a toy.). So the extra pee falls to the bottom instead of pooling at his feet. Then the bottom pellets soak it up.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I agree that taking her paw and "showing" her the process may help. Or it may not. I've run across the theory that a very confident cat is less likely to cover than a more timid cat, so if your kitten is very confident, you may just have to get a GOOD litter that absorbs well, and deal with it. My girl was fond of corn cob litter, which did an amazing job of odor control, as well.

 

[VAMama]

I had a cat who did that. He hated the little granules of litter getting between his toes, so he scraped his paws on the box.

Also it could be that your kitty doesn't understand the physics of how to cover poo. She may be trying to cover it by some means of the box. You could demonstrate how to bury poo a few times. You'd be surprised by how many cats don't connect the dots on how to do it.

 

[waddle]

I had a cat that would spend five minutes pawing at the side and top of the box, the wall, and the floor. Never in her 14 years did she ever manage to cover a poop, but she sure did try.

 

[IndyJones]

Most of my cats have done that. Indy picked it up from Kabuto and now she just paws at the liner instead of the litter. She never steps in it though.