Playing in the litterbox?

[gapeach]

Zoey has one litterbox in our bathroom. For awhile she kept trying to use the bathtub if she was in the front of the house. So I got her another litterbox and set it up in the laundry room. A few times she's used it. But as of yesterday, every time she goes in there...she digs like mad ..flinging litter EVERYWHERE! She's not doing any business in it now, only using it as a toy. I think I cleaned it up at least 4 times last night. She would watch me clean it and dig again. Sometimes trying to play with the broom or digging while I was trying to clean! I want to discourage this but don't want to scare her of the litterbox. Should I just remove it and go back to one? We live in a mobile home, so it's not like the walk to the box takes very long for her! I could go back to catching her at the tub and redirecting her to her box.

 

[laralove]

Does she have other toys and things to keep her playfully occupied? 

 

[gapeach]

LaraLove, she has boxes, a paper sack, a ball of yarn, several balls (that she keeps losing, they're her favorite) some bottles and socks that she likes to wrestle with. We haven't bought her a lot of toys but she has many household items that she finds fun!

 

[baconman]

My cat did that for a long time as a kitten but the older cat would come over and give him a bap on the head when he did it. Not that I encourage that but it might be something you have to deal with in the mean time until she grows passed it. A lot of kittens do it. You might want to try putting the litter box in a upside down card board box with one side cut down for the entrance. Just so you have walls to contain the litter in the box. Some litter boxes have higher walls on three sides and some have snap on heightened walls. Might be something that at least saves some clean up time.

 

[GemsGem]

This is completely normal kitten behaviour. I know it a complete pain when they keep making a mess and they find it so much fun. But the good news is they grow out of it with age.
When you see her playing in the litter tray you could try to redirect her attention on to one of her other toys by playing with her. Like for example rolling her ball across the floor for her to chase instead

 

[gapeach]

For some reason she only does it in the laundry room litterbox. I'm considering just taking it out. The only reason I added it was because she used our bathtub as a litterbox a few times. If I catch her scratching in the tub I redirect her to the box. She never digs like this in the original box. Does she really need two?

 

[GemsGem]

Here's a tip to stop her going in the bath tub. Try putting the plug in the bath and filling with just one inch of water. Cats hate getting wet. So after a couple of times of jumping in and getting wet, she will soon learn not go in the tub

 

[baconman]

I guess she doesn't need both. I would be curious to see if she still played in the new box if you put it next to the original box. Maybe it would help the association. If she is not going in the tub anymore and keeps it to the original box then maybe you can just phase it back out. If the tub thing keeps up, maybe its time to just keep up on having the door to the bathroom shut. Deny her the access.

 

[gapeach]

Thank you, I removed the second box and we'll see how it goes. I really don't understand why she associates the tub with the litterbox, she drinks the little bit of water that's in there.