I've been fighting this battle for a long time and this is a long post, so please read all of it before commenting. I'm going to post pictures of her yet because she doesn't deserve praise. I've had a brown tabby for about 5 years now. I had her spayed when she was 4 months old, and 7 months ago she needed a $5,000 surgery to remove her vertical ear canals. I QTip them daily and she has completely recovered and is used to the routine. She doesn't like when I clean her ears, but she let me do it.
This digging issue started when she was a kitten, and it doesn't seem to be exasperated by surgery. So my problem is that my cat is so stupid she can't figure out how litter works. Yes, really. She is litter trained and uses it...after she digs for hours sometimes. No, I'm not kidding.
In her kittenhood I would notice little piles of litter she kicked out of the box either in the morning or when I came home from work. It wasn't much and I could just sweep it up, so I assumed it was just her overcompensating for her then tiny limbs As she got older it only got worse. I thought she was digging to make noise and get attention, so I cuddled and played with her more. There wasn't a difference though it didn't get worse.
She developed a complicated potty ritual where she digs one way until it's all puled on one side, then she switches paws and digs the other way until it's all piled on the other side. She will go back and forth as it spills out the whole time. I have to physically remove her from the litter and lock her out of the bathroom sometimes to make her stop. I'll let her dig a spot, potty, and cover it. When she covers it she goes back and forth again, and I've tried squirting her with watter, throwing water from the shower, smacking her with a towel, and throwing things at the box to startle her. This works for a while, but every time I find a new way to stop her she just ignores it. Usually by the second or third time since knows I'm not going to hurt her so she just keeps right on digging. This became habit for both of us.
Eventually, when she was about 2, I wondered if it was the litter. At the time she was using Feline Pine. So I switched to non-clumping Johnny Cat. She would still spend forever in there, so I thought clumping litter would be better. So I tried Fresh Step for a while. No difference. The last one I tried was extremely expensive -- Lucy Pet. I actually kind of like this one, so I'm not trying any new litters. The litter isn't the problem -- this stupid cat doesn't know how litter works. So it wasn't attention or boredom, and it wasn't the litter.
At around 3 years old I tried a bigger litter box. Nothing much changed, except that there was more space to move around and she took longer to dump her litter out. But she still did. At this point I realized she was doing it deliberately so I switched back to the old box. Not like it mattered anyway. So I spent the last year or so used to sweeping after my cat uses the litter box. She started tracking poop around the house, so I got to thinking maybe if I didn't clean it daily she'd be grossed out and not dig so much. Of course she didn't care.
But the part I'm pissed off about happened the night and morning of Black Friday. I had to get up early and work overtime, and she made such a huge mess I had to mop! ON MY WAY TO WORK ON BLACK FRIDAY MORNING. I was so pissed I shoved her face in it and hit her hard on her behind. She shrieked and ran off, and I ended up over an hour late to work. I almost lost my job because of how stupid and selfish this cat is! Look at the picture and tell me any of this makes sense. She took out all the litter except the pee clumps I was purposely leaving there! I've done everything I can to make her understand litter is supposed to stay in the box but she's too retarded to care.
She's super cuddly and purs when I pick her up, so she doesn't have a problem with human affection. She is spayed and vaccinated and gets annual checkups, and I paid a lot of money to fix her ears. If something was wrong with her tummy I would have found it, especially as she was going to her check ups and surgical followups. She is completely healthy. I really like her personality overall but but she's ****ing retarded! I have asked her vet but he doesn't believe she's intentionally dumping her litter out. But there's just no possible way this was unintentional. COME ON.
So is there any way I can force my retarded stupid asshole of a cat to leave her litter alone after she covers her poop? She will complain when I remove her from the litter, and sometimes she'll even camp out by the bathroom door and run in and dig more when I go pee. Other times she will make an announcement to tell me she used the litter. If I don't go look she'll go back to digging. Sometimes I have to chase her off after she tells me she's finished. She's so obsessed nothing I do has worked.
Here's a recap: I tried toys, cuddles, and aying more. Didn't work. I tried 4 different types of litter, a bigger box, and purposely not cleaning it daily, and none of it made a difference. She's been to the vet more times than most cats and he doesn't think she's doing it intentionally, but she very clearly is. And for no obvious reason. Look at the pic and tell me this was an accident. Someone please give me an idea I haven't already tried. I should mention the vet also said to ignore her when she meows and digs...this is the result of ignoring her for one night. Ignoring her only makes it worse. So please don't say that. It doesn't work and no one who has a cat will believe you.
This digging issue started when she was a kitten, and it doesn't seem to be exasperated by surgery. So my problem is that my cat is so stupid she can't figure out how litter works. Yes, really. She is litter trained and uses it...after she digs for hours sometimes. No, I'm not kidding.
In her kittenhood I would notice little piles of litter she kicked out of the box either in the morning or when I came home from work. It wasn't much and I could just sweep it up, so I assumed it was just her overcompensating for her then tiny limbs As she got older it only got worse. I thought she was digging to make noise and get attention, so I cuddled and played with her more. There wasn't a difference though it didn't get worse.
She developed a complicated potty ritual where she digs one way until it's all puled on one side, then she switches paws and digs the other way until it's all piled on the other side. She will go back and forth as it spills out the whole time. I have to physically remove her from the litter and lock her out of the bathroom sometimes to make her stop. I'll let her dig a spot, potty, and cover it. When she covers it she goes back and forth again, and I've tried squirting her with watter, throwing water from the shower, smacking her with a towel, and throwing things at the box to startle her. This works for a while, but every time I find a new way to stop her she just ignores it. Usually by the second or third time since knows I'm not going to hurt her so she just keeps right on digging. This became habit for both of us.
Eventually, when she was about 2, I wondered if it was the litter. At the time she was using Feline Pine. So I switched to non-clumping Johnny Cat. She would still spend forever in there, so I thought clumping litter would be better. So I tried Fresh Step for a while. No difference. The last one I tried was extremely expensive -- Lucy Pet. I actually kind of like this one, so I'm not trying any new litters. The litter isn't the problem -- this stupid cat doesn't know how litter works. So it wasn't attention or boredom, and it wasn't the litter.
At around 3 years old I tried a bigger litter box. Nothing much changed, except that there was more space to move around and she took longer to dump her litter out. But she still did. At this point I realized she was doing it deliberately so I switched back to the old box. Not like it mattered anyway. So I spent the last year or so used to sweeping after my cat uses the litter box. She started tracking poop around the house, so I got to thinking maybe if I didn't clean it daily she'd be grossed out and not dig so much. Of course she didn't care.
But the part I'm pissed off about happened the night and morning of Black Friday. I had to get up early and work overtime, and she made such a huge mess I had to mop! ON MY WAY TO WORK ON BLACK FRIDAY MORNING. I was so pissed I shoved her face in it and hit her hard on her behind. She shrieked and ran off, and I ended up over an hour late to work. I almost lost my job because of how stupid and selfish this cat is! Look at the picture and tell me any of this makes sense. She took out all the litter except the pee clumps I was purposely leaving there! I've done everything I can to make her understand litter is supposed to stay in the box but she's too retarded to care.
She's super cuddly and purs when I pick her up, so she doesn't have a problem with human affection. She is spayed and vaccinated and gets annual checkups, and I paid a lot of money to fix her ears. If something was wrong with her tummy I would have found it, especially as she was going to her check ups and surgical followups. She is completely healthy. I really like her personality overall but but she's ****ing retarded! I have asked her vet but he doesn't believe she's intentionally dumping her litter out. But there's just no possible way this was unintentional. COME ON.
So is there any way I can force my retarded stupid asshole of a cat to leave her litter alone after she covers her poop? She will complain when I remove her from the litter, and sometimes she'll even camp out by the bathroom door and run in and dig more when I go pee. Other times she will make an announcement to tell me she used the litter. If I don't go look she'll go back to digging. Sometimes I have to chase her off after she tells me she's finished. She's so obsessed nothing I do has worked.
Here's a recap: I tried toys, cuddles, and aying more. Didn't work. I tried 4 different types of litter, a bigger box, and purposely not cleaning it daily, and none of it made a difference. She's been to the vet more times than most cats and he doesn't think she's doing it intentionally, but she very clearly is. And for no obvious reason. Look at the pic and tell me this was an accident. Someone please give me an idea I haven't already tried. I should mention the vet also said to ignore her when she meows and digs...this is the result of ignoring her for one night. Ignoring her only makes it worse. So please don't say that. It doesn't work and no one who has a cat will believe you.