Cat refuses to bury his poop. Also poops down his leg.

[ramon sola]

Rockwell is approximately 3 years old and has been living with me since November.  He's a sweet cat, a stray from off the street, and was emaciated when he found me.  Now that enough time has gone by, there has been some interesting behavioral issues I'm noticing:

He doesn't cover his poop.  It isn't like he isn't trying, he'll swat at the litter (sometimes) to cover it, but ultimately he'll end up just scratching at the edge of the litter box for a few seconds and give up.  Before moving to a box with a taller lip, he would kick the litter out of the box.  Is this normal?  Is there anything I can do to help him learn?

Periodically he'll assume what I call the 'poop position' and accidentally poop down his leg.  He seems nonplussed by this and will not try to clean himself.  Aside from this is incredibly gross, is there something I'm doing wrong that I can correct?  Also, how does one clean the poop?  I tried baby wipes and it does only a modest job at getting it off.

I'm diligent about cleaning the litter (once a day) but I'm hoping to fix this issue.  Your thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

R.

 

[red top rescue]

Some cats with dominant personalities do not cover their poop.  They leave it to advertise their presence and claim their property, so to speak.  In his case, there may be a problem with the size of the box or the depth or type of litter.  You might try some other varieties and a larger box.

As for pooping down his leg, that should not happen if the poop is formed, so it sounds like he has diarrhea.  Some cats have both hard and soft poop and the soft may pass first, thus running down his leg, but that should not be a normal occurrence.  I would suggest taking him to the vet for a check up and bringing along a fecal (poop) sample, both hard and soft if he's doing both at once.

As for cleaning him, it's very odd that he would not clean himself, as most cats are very fastidious.  What I would do in that case is sit his rear end in the sink or bathtub and use a spray attached to the faucet to spray off the offending material.  You can use mild dish soap also, like Dawn original blue (safe for animals) and be sure to rinse it all out, then lightly towel dry him.

One bit of advice, before attempting that, do clip all 18 claws to avoid bloodshed should he decide to be uncooperative.

 

[plan]

For what it's worth, when my kitten was having litter box issues, the kind people here gave me a whole bunch of suggestions, and it was a combination of things that helped solve the problem....BUT my kitteh was doing exactly what yours is doing, kind of batting around at the sides of the litterbox and not covering up his poop.

That stopped instantly when, on the advice of a fellow forum member here, I went out and got Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract litter. My kitten suddenly began using the litterbox 100% of the time (instead of going back and forth between eliminating in improper places and in the litterbox), and surprisingly, he became absolutely fastidious about covering his poop.

Now he buries it so thoroughly that I refer to daily litterbox cleaning as "panning for poop." I really have to look for it because he does such a good job of burying it. For some reason, he also loves to watch me cleaning the box, like he's either fascinated by it, or he finds it amusing that I have to clean his poop.

I have no idea if that will work for you, but maybe it's worth a try. Good luck.