My cat is too stupid to understand how litter is supposed to work

Status
Not open for further replies.

CatLover49

All Cats Are Special
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 8, 2018
Messages
2,312
Purraise
3,800
Location
Reidsville NC
Okay, it's getting to a point where ideas are being repeated, or my points are being lost. I have a tote. I need to put a hole in it. That's where I'm at and what I'm doing. I'll post again when I have something new to say. At the moment it's still the same. I will keep you posted. Chillax and breathe. The cat isn't dead.
The reason I had mentioned in one of my post about a longer box is because my cat...awhile back was getting litter all outside the box...And I thought umm im gonna get a longer litter box n see what happens..So I purchased a big long litter box...n it helped alot...So NOW when he kicks his litter around after he uses it..it dont go all out in floor....But thats for the box idea ...
 

kittenmittens84

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Sep 30, 2019
Messages
618
Purraise
601
Okay, it's getting to a point where ideas are being repeated, or my points are being lost. I have a tote. I need to put a hole in it. That's where I'm at and what I'm doing. I'll post again when I have something new to say. At the moment it's still the same. I will keep you posted. Chillax and breathe. The cat isn't dead.
Just offering my experience....
 

Antonio65

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 27, 2017
Messages
6,049
Purraise
9,669
Location
Orbassano - Italy
Hitting the cat or pushing her face in her has absolutely no effect on her behavior other that making her afraid of you.
I totally understand A Anajana , she hasn't been rude intentionally, but out of exasperation. Those who have found themselves in a situation when you have to mop all the floors several times a day, clean pieces of furnitures, walls, everyday, for weeks, or months, can relate to her totally.
We all know that shoving a kitty's face in their own dirt isn't something to do, but try to imagine what a similar horrendous routine might make you feel like after a long time.
I know it, because I went through it, and it's absolutely exasperating!
 

PushPurrCatPaws

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
10,061
Purraise
10,250
I totally understand A Anajana , she hasn't been rude intentionally, but out of exasperation. Those who have found themselves in a situation when you have to mop all the floors several times a day, clean pieces of furnitures, walls, everyday, for weeks, or months, can relate to her totally.
We all know that shoving a kitty's face in their own dirt isn't something to do, but try to imagine what a similar horrendous routine might make you feel like after a long time.
I know it, because I went through it, and it's absolutely exasperating!
I'm sorry, but I feel this is beyond "exasperation". Anyone who feel their cat is too stupid, selfish, "****ing retarded", etc., and who purposely leaves a dirty litterbox and then shoves her face in it and hits her hard on her behind, and who thinks the cat is doing all this purposely, is a bit beyond mere exasperation.

...
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?
...
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?
How about cleaning the litter box many times a day.

That is a photo of a filthy litter box and a description of something I would never do no matter how exasperated I was.
 

PushPurrCatPaws

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
10,061
Purraise
10,250
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.
You said yourself you stopped cleaning the box regularly. Therein lies part of the problem. I don't blame the cat for trying to dig around, or "locate", clean litter in a filthy box for days on end.


I guess that's all I'll say. I tried earlier in the thread to make this point gently. Oh well.
 

CatLover49

All Cats Are Special
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 8, 2018
Messages
2,312
Purraise
3,800
Location
Reidsville NC
I totally understand A Anajana , she hasn't been rude intentionally, but out of exasperation. Those who have found themselves in a situation when you have to mop all the floors several times a day, clean pieces of furnitures, walls, everyday, for weeks, or months, can relate to her totally.
We all know that shoving a kitty's face in their own dirt isn't something to do, but try to imagine what a similar horrendous routine might make you feel like after a long time.
I know it, because I went through it, and it's absolutely exasperating!
I agree...but I would still clean the box...
 

lucicat

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Sep 9, 2019
Messages
312
Purraise
370
I have found this thread mildly disturbing myself, it’s the tone of it. I get that it’s frustrating, I had a cat track poop around a couple times and it pissed me off. But I didn’t go around telling others what an asshole my cat is!
Im hoping that the OP can find it in them to see this as an issue to solve not as a cat being “bad”.
 

war&wisdom

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Aug 2, 2018
Messages
1,048
Purraise
1,298
Location
Rockville, MD
I was so pissed I shoved her face in it and hit her hard on her behind. She shrieked and ran off
I know you were frustrated, but this type of response is psychologically damaging for your cat. You also said that you "smack her with a towel" and throw water on her to get her to stop. It sounds to me like her behavior might be exacerbated by the stress of your responses.
 

CityCatMom

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Dec 4, 2019
Messages
50
Purraise
31
I'm sorry but I'm absolutely appalled by the way OP talks about her cat and the way she is treating her. She is being unnecessarily cruel. I almost wonder if you should even own this cat or if you should re-home it. You have no respect for your cat - she is a living being just like yourself. Think about how you are talking about her. Cats are very intuitive and can sense your anger and feelings about them. It's really disheartening to see you not express any remorse about your actions. You clearly have anger issues and you are taking them out on this poor cat!
 

war&wisdom

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Aug 2, 2018
Messages
1,048
Purraise
1,298
Location
Rockville, MD
The point here is to help the cat and by helping the owner you help the cat and even though OP is frustrated and made mistakes people do that sometimes and can learn. She is here asking for advice. Lets not flame her.
It sounds to me like the OP's reactions to the cat's litter box habits could very well be making the cat more stressed and thus increasing the behavior.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #74

Anajana

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Nov 30, 2019
Messages
73
Purraise
77
I totally understand A Anajana , she hasn't been rude intentionally, but out of exasperation. Those who have found themselves in a situation when you have to mop all the floors several times a day, clean pieces of furnitures, walls, everyday, for weeks, or months, can relate to her totally.
We all know that shoving a kitty's face in their own dirt isn't something to do, but try to imagine what a similar horrendous routine might make you feel like after a long time.
I know it, because I went through it, and it's absolutely exasperating!
At least I'm not alone here. The empathy is greatly appreciated, especially in such an antihuman forum. I'm a dude, but you're fine there. I never actually said, so not your fault there. Anyway It's hard to be getting dressed for what was planned to be a hard day at work on Black Friday, and just say it's okay, cats do that. No, it isn't okay. And after close to five years I'm very VERY tired of it. It can be time consuming to clean sometimes because it gets so bad some days I have to shake out the mat and seep and mop the entire floor. It's worse when she tracks poop on the carpet. It is really hard to live with, especially knowing this isn't a special needs cat. This isn't a one off deal, either. She isn't sick, she's had many vet visits this year, and there's nothing chronically wrong with her. She's just extremely stubborn and not incredibly intelligent. I really think she has the instincts to use the litter bow and to cover her mess, but she doesn't actually know how to do it. That's the feeling I get.
 

CatLover49

All Cats Are Special
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 8, 2018
Messages
2,312
Purraise
3,800
Location
Reidsville NC
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.
View attachment 309998
Have you spoke to a cat behaviorist???If only by looking online and seeing what cat behaviorist say about this type behaviour....Cause if you are like me you dont have money for cat behaviorist or we wouldn't be on here...Maybe look online about cats digging in the litter box for long periods of time..If you haven't already..Im just trying to help...Ive been do little research not alot today but what I did read about is cats can become obsessed with their litter box...Also that when they was a kitten n watched their mama cover up her stuff...of course they learn some from watching her..but my point is the some cats may look at their litter box as a place to play...
 
Last edited:

CatLover49

All Cats Are Special
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 8, 2018
Messages
2,312
Purraise
3,800
Location
Reidsville NC
Have you spoke to a cat behaviorist???If only by looking online and seeing what cat behaviorist say about this type behaviour....Cause if you are like me you dont have money for cat behaviorist or we wouldn't be on here...Maybe look online about cats digging in the litter box for long periods of time..If you haven't already..Im just trying to help...Ive been do little research not alot today but what I did read about is cats can become obsessed with their litter box...Also that when they was a kitten n watched their mama cover up her stuff...of course they learn some from watching her..but my point is the some cats may look at their litter box as a place to play...
Maybe this article will be of some help below
Screenshot_2019-12-05-18-18-29.png
 

CityCatMom

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Dec 4, 2019
Messages
50
Purraise
31
If it's been five years, you should consult a cat behaviourist or seriously considering rehoming this cat. She sounds like she needs extra patience, time and understanding which you don't seem like you have. I have been frustrated with my cat MANY times. There was a period where she was very aggressive, another period where she binge ate and threw up, and yet another period where she was meowing constantly to go out. I have lost my patience and walked away from her many times but I have never hit her. Just like hitting your child is never ok, hitting your cat is NOT OKAY either!

If you're constantly hitting your cat with towels and such, of course, the poor thing is probably terrified, doesn't understand why that's happening and is probably EVEN MORE stressed as a result! More stress = worse behaviour.

You really need evaluate why you even have this cat and whether your willing to live with her "not incredibly intelligent" habits. Maybe this isn't for you.
 

Antonio65

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 27, 2017
Messages
6,049
Purraise
9,669
Location
Orbassano - Italy
Have you spoke to a cat behaviorist???If only by looking online and seeing what cat behaviorist say about this type behaviour....
This, or talk to an acupuncturist.

I have a kitten now, she loves to bite in reaction to any attempt of cuddling her and the situation is getting unpleasant. I'm going to see an acupuncturist next week, she said it might help.
Acupunctur isn't just for physical issues, it seems.
 

Antonio65

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 27, 2017
Messages
6,049
Purraise
9,669
Location
Orbassano - Italy
At least I'm not alone here. The empathy is greatly appreciated, especially in such an antihuman forum. I'm a dude, but you're fine there. I never actually said, so not your fault there.
Yes, I took my chance, and I got it wrong, I'm sorry ;)
In my humble opinion, this forum is far from antihuman, in fact on several occasions people here have been very supportive, like I hadn't found them before elsewhere, even in the real life! But I understand that you might have felt yourself under attack.

Anyway It's hard to be getting dressed for what was planned to be a hard day at work on Black Friday, and just say it's okay, cats do that. No, it isn't okay. And after close to five years I'm very VERY tired of it. It can be time consuming to clean sometimes because it gets so bad some days I have to shake out the mat and seep and mop the entire floor. It's worse when she tracks poop on the carpet. It is really hard to live with, especially knowing this isn't a special needs cat.
I can relate to your problem because a year ago I had a kitten (took her when she was about 5 months of age) who started pooping soft, and the poor thing would leak poop everywhere, even while she was walking.
When I would wake up in the morning, the first thing I had to do was to turn all lights on and check where the poop stains and drops were, and clean everything, everyday, morning and evening, for nearly two months, trying to hide the mess from my wife. I had to be quick early in the morning, before she would wake up, wiping all surfaces and walls, and mopping all floors, and sometimes I had to lie to her about the mess for the sake of peace at home. Believe me, saying that the situation at home was very tense is an understatement!
Eventually the matter became unsustainable, and after trying all possible solutions (several tests and visits were done, all was clear, supplements, change of food, etc) I had to take the worst of the decisions and I rehomed her. Well, the kitten stopped nearly immediately in her new home, and I know she's lovely and cute, her family is happy.
In a hindsight, rehoming her did her good, though it sounded cruel in that moment, it turned out it was the best treatment for her. I think that sometimes the chemistry between a cat and their human doesn't work. This might have been one of those wrong combinations.

What do you know of her origins, first days and early life? She might have lived in a difficult environment, with poor or lack of education from her siblings or other cats.

She's just extremely stubborn and not incredibly intelligent. I really think she has the instincts to use the litter bow and to cover her mess, but she doesn't actually know how to do it. That's the feeling I get.
Cats are intelligent, yours surely is, but has a bad litter box habit because, as someone has suggested, she might have never learned how to use the litter.
I would talk to a behaviorist or an acupuncturist.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top