Does your cat use the litter box when you clean it?

[kee and sephie]

I had
I had a lion head rabbit that would aggressively charge me every time I cleaned her cage or cleaned out her litter box. My experience is that rabbits are even more territorial with their space than cats.

I have a lion head rabbit also! I'm really lucky with him, he's not territorial at all. He used to be when he was younger; he'd bite my husband if he tried to take Phineas out of his hutch .

 

[allmykitties]

Found out about a possible origin for Cosette (my tortie who showed up one cold night, sick and starving) ... turns out that there was a hoarder house on the street one block over that got torn down, displacing about 20 cats.  (Apparently, they took the house down but didn't have a plan for the cats.)

So I'm wondering if that might be part of why she is always first in the box when we clean (and sometimes *while* we clean)--that she never had had a clean box before she came here, and the novelty is just overwhelming. 

 

[muffy]

Yes. Buddy and Muffin would sit and watch me changed the litter in the box and as soon as I was done they would use the little box They were my little stinkers. 

 

[tallyollyopia]

When we first got Rose someone had to hold her while I cleaned the litterbox (no one else seems to be able to) because she was mortified when her messes were uncovered. She would dart into the litterbox and frantically scratch to try and cover what was exposed while I was scooping. She got used to it over time, and now the kittens (I say "kittens", but they're over a year old now) are endlessly fascinated by me cleaning the boxes and will watch, avidly, as I clean. They always explore when I'm done, but they don't always use it right after. 

 

[detroitcatlady]

My cats always want to use the litter the moment I go to clean it.

When I dump it out and change the litter sometimes 2 of them will try to use it at the same time. They usually don't go hardly at all, just a tiny little bit to "mark their scent" even if they just got done using the box a few minutes before.

My cat Pumpkin loves to dig in the litterbox, especially when the litter is fresh out of the bag. When he was a kitten he always seemed annoyed when I would scoop his poop out and he couldn't find it

 

[laura h]

Comet is kind of wierd. He pees in it just before I clean it. covers it all up. I change the litter. Then he immediately poops in the clean box.

<brat>

 

[DreamerRose]

Mingo sometimes does it too, but not all the time. I think the sound of us scraping the litter stimulates them to go. Kind of like hearing running water will do it to children, and all my life, if I put my hands into water to wash dishes, I have to dry off and run for the toilet.

 

[csts]

My little diva girl Sakura ALWAYS has to go into the litter box first after I clean out the box and replace the new litter, even if all she does is dig and scratch around. She comes to "supervise" whenever she hears me cleaning her specific box, too.

 

[banana queen]

Yes, every time, without fail, the second I finish cleaning one, there is a cat using it. Sometimes they don't wait, and use it as I am cleaning it. Either that, or they are digging in it.

 

[bob 1978]

Yup, Mine, too.  It's not only that they prefer a clean litterbox, it's also about the interaction and desire to play with you.  Even when I'm washing and refilling my boys' water bowl, one of them come up and lies down on the water bowl mat so I can't put the bowl down - I think they are just natural imps.  I'm convinced they're clairvoyant - no matter what I have in my mind to do, they are there first, absolutely could not be more in the way, and with a look like "Whatta ya gonna do now???".

 

[jennielouises]

Yep every single time. My hubby cleans the tray (we are ttc so I can't due to toxoplasmosis) and she immediately gets in and has a poo! She also seems to wait till we wake up in the morning or get home in the evening to have a poo. We say it is a closeness thing!

 

[bandit0505]

Yes, Bandit and Duchesse have always used seperate hooded boxes and bandit will always pee in his straight after use however when duchesse see's me cleaning the tray she alwaysjumps on the lid and pees right on top of it! She never pee's on top of it when im not cleaning it though so why she feels the need to do itt when im cleaning i'll never know haha

 

[Amandajayne268]

I have four cats and four trays. They each have their favourite tray but use whichever is closest generally. I've two females that race to use the weekly cleaned trays but they don't care if I pick out the nasty stuff and add more. It's only when I do the whole lot is the competition on between the two ladies.

 

[daisyd]

Gracie will quickly run to her food and eat when I clean the litter in the mornings so she can make sure she can go! It is annoying when they have to go as soon as you clean the box however prob like us and a clean toilet too ! I have trained get a bit and just before I clean it I will point at the box and say : come on gracie go to we' hubby laughs when she responds and does a we !

 

[nahui]

My kitten, Tita, usually sits next to the litterbox while I'm cleaning it (surely to supervise if I'm doing it right ) and just as I finish cleaning up, she'll jump right in, but usually just to play around in her litterbox and only sometimes to actually use it.

 

[ericsmom1000]

My two litter inspectors always pee after I clean. That's their way of approving the cleaning and new litter.

 

[golondrina]

Cucumella also stands by why her litter box is taken care of and "visits" it immediately afterwards. I am never sure whether she approves or disagrees with such interference in her private domain.

 

[mama africa]

I have a covered litter box; I remove the cover first and clean it before I empty and clean the box. When I put the cleaned cover on the floor Missy hides under it and waits patiently the cleaning of the box. When I finally put the cover on the cleaned litter box, she rewards me by using it within a second.

 

[muffy]

My cats used to wait until I finish scooping and then use the box. I had 8 of them and had 9 litter boxes. They did not all use it at the same time. Who ever was walking by when I was scooping would stop and wait for me to finish. You gotta love them!

Muffy