Strange Litterbox Behavior

[sailon]

I know this subject isn't new, but I haven't dealt with this particular problem before and would appreciate any insights.

As background, I've had Dodger for about 3 months now. He's a 2.5yo neutered male. He seems fine to me in every way and the vet assured me he's in good health.

Until the last week or so his litter box usage has been pretty normal. He always had the habit of pawing the sides of the box some (as well as the adjacent wall), but would always eventually cover his poop. I've never had a cat that pawed the box before, but no harm done, so I just wrote it off as quirk. However, over the last few weeks he began scratching the box more and more and spending less and less time covering his poop. As of today he paws the edges of the box for minutes on end and doesn't even bothering covering his poop.

I've researched what I could on the subject, but the reasons don't seem to apply here. The litter box is the same he's always used. It's plenty big, gets scooped every day, always refilled to a good level, and changed every 2 months. The litter brand has always been the same, and the box has always been in the same place. I forgot to mention that there are no other people or animals in the house.

Dodger's litter box circumstances haven't changed, but he has. He seemed fine with everything for the first 2 months, but his behavior has changed. I don't really care about his scratching the box, though it is loud and annoying, but I would like him to cover his poop.

Any insights and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[susanm9006]

When you change the box are you washing it? It may be that he is picking up odors from the box. You could try lining the box with puppy pads which helps eliminate corner clumps and reduce box odor.

 

[vince]

Don't know if Dodger has any issues, but I have a couple that scratch at the box, the floor and the furniture nearby. They do cover their stool eventually, though. I wash the boxes weekly. I just assumed they're just being thorough. Maybe Dodger is one of those.

 

[sailon]

When you change the box are you washing it? It may be that he is picking up odors from the box. You could try lining the box with puppy pads which helps eliminate corner clumps and reduce box odor.

Thanks Susan. I do wash the box, but maybe not often enough.

 

[sailon]

Don't know if Dodger has any issues, but I have a couple that scratch at the box, the floor and the furniture nearby. They do cover their stool eventually, though. I wash the boxes weekly. I just assumed they're just being thorough. Maybe Dodger is one of those.

Thanks Vince. Maybe I should wash the box more often.

 

[Willowwombat]

My cat Willow has NEVER covered her poop, and yes, she scratches the side of the box instead. It's as though she's saying "Ewww. I'm not touching that."

I clean her box daily and wash it every week or so, and she still does it. As our vet once said, "You could write a PhD thesis about cat litterbox behaviour."

 

[ladytimedramon]

Delilah covers her poo, then wipes her paws on the sides of the litterbox (and when I had a litterbox enclosure she'd wipe on the sides of that). I always thought she was just trying to make sure she got everything off her paws before stepping out.

 

[segelkatt]

I have a LitterRobot so it is always scooped. My cat Jabot does not cover although he digs a hole beforehand. After he gets out he vigorously paws the cupboard next to it. He does this also sometimes after eating in a different area, again a cabinet. It sounds like he is covering his business so I think he uses only one paw to do this. Thank goodness he keeps his claws retracted when he does this or either one of those cabinets would be shredded. I had a cat once who would get on his hind feet and swipe the patio door, no place else, just this one spot on the part that does not move, up and down with both front paws alternately for quite a while, we called it "washing windows" as he did not want to go outside and we would not have let him anyway. I do wonder what is going on in their little heads when they do this.

 

[tabbytom]

Any insights and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

My boy does this sometimes. I think it's normal. Sometimes if hew stands to near to the edge and facing out of the litterbox, he'll also paw the top of the litterbox. Probably he's standing too close to the edge ands during that action, he actually missed the poop but the action counts for it as in covering the poop and therefore you don't see him covering. They need some distance for their arm to stretch to make the covering action and if it's near the sides, the action is out of the box.

 

[Renne]

Maybe he grew up and needs a bigger litterbox to dig around in? It might be uncomfortable for him to dig if it's all cramped.

It sounds strange, but I bought my cat a (human) tub. Lots of space, high sides. They just don't make litterboxes like this! And even in the tub my cat ends up digging the sides in addition to the litter.

Another possible reason is that he doesn't care for the litter enough and now that he's bigger and it's less comfortable, he doesn't want to bother. Changing the litter would help in this case. It needs to be as close to earth as possible. Clumping clay litter works like magic on cats! I've seen even the most anti-litterbox cats start using the litterbox because they loved it so much (and they loved to dig it). I suspect it's the best solution for you. Animals don't hide their stuff because they want to hide it, they do it because they enjoy the activity of digging to cover it up, or so I picked up at the course on the animal psychology. For domestic animals litter is the primary motivating factor.

The last and the most radical solution is to introduce him to another cat who always hides their stuff, so that he can pick up this behavior from another cat.

 

[Alldara]

The reason for burying poop is to hide it from predators.
He's been home with you for awhile, you scoop it regularly and he's never been attacked by predators. So perhaps he lost the will to do it. It can be common in males to not.

Or as he got larger and put on more weight the litter itself could be hurting his feet and he just wants out of it.

The litter formula could have changed, we'd have no way as consumers of knowing.

He could need a second box if you dont already have one. They don't like to poo and pee in the same space.

Is his poo harder? He might have some constipation.

Digging at the sides and walls/floor around is normal. It's a territory marking behaviour and cleanliness behaviour. 50% of cats I've owned do this.

 

[Renne]

The reason for burying poop is to hide it from predators.

Oh, sorry I wasn't clear enough about this. It is indeed the reason, but according to the lectures animals aren't aware of it. We were told that their behavior is purely instinct-driven and that they enjoy the very act of digging. One of the examples we were given: imagine that you bought some milk and you put it into the fridge, just like a fox digs to hide her food for later. But you don't enjoy the act of putting milk into the fridge, it's not why you do it. A fox does enjoy digging (whenever the instinct calls for it) and 'hides' her food to feel good.

 

[Alldara]

Renne What we don't really know, however, is the combination of learned and instinct behaviours.

A better example of instinct would be an infant's grasping reflex. When you touch an infant's palm, they grasp. They grow out of this (in most cases).

A cat digging their poo could be a reflex that most cats developed as a survival instinct. This would likely be because cats who bury their poo are more likely to survive than one who doesn't and therefore to pass on their genes (this is true for those effected by catnip).

However, we've also had generations of cats born inside which already lowers the risks of these types of things. So for cats born from lineage of indoor cats, it's more common to have the gene of not reacting to catnip. (It happens in outdoor cats still, as they may stay with their catnipped friends and still gain the benefits, even though they don't respond to it. So for these cats it's a learned behaviour in a different way)

So for burying poop, is it something genetic like catnip or is it something learned, or a combination thereof? We don't really know. We haven't linked a gene to poop burying.

We do know that some illness or uncomfortableness may prevent burrying behaviour, which is why I listed the other situations that are possible. There's also things such as arthritis (can be early onset as soon as one year old) that could prevent him from burrying poo. That's one I forgot above.