Covered Litter Boxes

[benjeremy]

We've been having an issue with one of our cats recently. Taz is the youngest cat in the house, a black long-hair cat, very active, and fit. He's been defecating upstairs, not daily, but every couple of days, and the only thing I can think of is that he might not like the covered litter boxes we have (2 boxes, changes weekly among three cats).

When he uses the litter box, he tends to have most of his body outside of the box, and doesn't venture in, unliuke the other cats.

Has anybody else seen this sort of thing? Would it be worth leaving the top off to see if he changes his behavior? Strangely enough, the other two cats tend to prefer covered litter boxes, which is why we had them by the time Taz came along.

 

[yayi]

If it is a recent, sudden change of this behavior, you may want to have him checked by the vet. It could be health related.

However, there are cats who do not like covered litter boxes. Taz may be one of them.

You also mentioned you clean the boxes weekly? You need to scoop at least once a day. Cats will do their toilet somewhere else if the box is not clean. 

 

[catwhisperer1]

I have had a number of cats who perch on the side of a litter pan with only their tail end inside the pan when they relieve themselves.  My guess is that these cats don't want to get their feet dirty.  With these cats you have to use an open litter pan, make sure to use a big enough pan and put enough litter in it that the weight of the cat perched on the edge of the pan won't cause the pan to tip over.

Taz cannot use his preferred method for going to the litter pan in a covered litter pan.

One way you can have an open pan and also less mess is to get a regular litter pan large enough for the cat to comfortably move and turn around in.  Cut the top off a cardboard box that's bigger than the litter pan so you can set the litter pan inside the box and the cat has room between the sides of the box and the litter pan to find his spot and perch comfortably on the edge of the litter pan.  Cut an opening in the front so the cat can go in and out and leave the back and sides tall.  This gives you an  open litter pan while at the same time the high sides and back help prevent litter or waste from being kicked out.  You can put down a small cheap throw rug in front of the opening to the litter pan to catch any litter that gets kicked out through the door.  If Taz should object to the cardboard box then just go with the open litter pan and put a couple of cheap throw rugs under it.  The cheap woven throw rugs commonly found in stores like Wal-Mart are great for putting under litter pans and food dishes, they can easily be shaken out and they can easily be washed.

You might also try to toilet train Taz.  He already has the perching part of the toilet technique down pat!

 

[benjeremy]

Thanks for the advice. We have started daily scoopings of the litter boxes, and leaving one uncovered. 

Training Taz would be difficult. He's been very skittish since we got him. He came from an apartment full of young people (friends of my son), runt of the litter, and is very particular in his behavior. He ONLY sits on my lap when I'm working on the computer... never in the living room (same with our younger son), and barely tolerates being held.

He defers to the other cats when the canned cat food gets served up, though our older cat (Georgette, 18yrs old) doesn't give him the time of day, and the middle cat (Shadow, 7 years old) is about as sweet a cat as you could have (Taz and Shadow do chase once and a while). Still, he remains very jumpy and spooked by everything sometimes.

 

[rosiemac]

Sometimes Rosie walks right in, but then sticks her front paws outside the box to pee