Our 'Tidy Cat' is not so tidy.
October 20, 2015 11:59 AM   Subscribe

One of my kittens has taken to kicking *alot* of clay litter out of the litter box when she does her business. Why? Can I alter her behavior?

Our newly adopted kitten, Jacqueline, has begun kicking large amounts of litter with her forearms out of the litterbox and onto the bathroom floor. It's like she gets caught in a loop or something. She never used to do this and we haven't altered the kittens' litter, litter box, or anything else. We did rotate the litter box but it's back to normal now (lengthways beside the commode) and she still does it.

How can we alter her behavior so she doesn't do this? Is this a phase she'll grow out of?

Details:
- she's about 3 months old now
- neither kitten has had any difficulty using the litterbox; they poop and pee in the box and there have been zero accidents; we've been lucky that they've been so good about this.
- the other kitten, Jake, covers his poop just fine
- our litter is a non-clumping clay-based litter because we were told clumping litter is a danger to kittens (they lick it off their paws and it clogs their digestive tract); the brand we use is "Tidy Cat".
- cleaned the litter box on Sunday; my partner did this for the first time but I described how I do it to him and he followed my instructions - no change there.
- our litter box is large and open - no cover. We like this because it's easy for them and it's easy access for us, as we scoop and deposit the waste into the Litter Genie *right away* (or as soon as we get back from errands).
- We recently had the venting fan cleaned and fixed in our bathroom but I don't see how this would affect her behavior.
- Can I lift her out of the litter box when she gets in caught in a loop (as I see it)? Or is this an important task she needs to complete?

Just to reiterate: this is new behavior on her part and I'm hoping to deal with it asap so that it doesn't get entrenched. She was covering her waste just fine prior to this new behavior.

Thanks in advance.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome to Pets & Animals (20 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
She might just be stronger now that she's older. One of my cats started doing this at a certain age too. Get a taller litter box and the problem will contain itself. This is the one I have, but it's also large all around and might not fit in your space. Look for something with that amount of height.
posted by joan_holloway at 12:02 PM on October 20, 2015 [3 favorites]


Best answer: you might have luck tempting her with a treat to short circuit this. basically you can only train them to do other things- not just stop some behaviors. you need a new behavior- jumping out right away- to encourage.
a tempting treat and special unusual sounding word (used in conjunction with treat at first) together to reinforce desirable behavior. I use gooooood girl in a very low tone I don't normally use. now sometimes she gets just the word good, and sometimes there is also a treat.
posted by TenaciousB at 12:06 PM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I, too, have the kiddy pool litter box linked above due to too many cats needing lots of litter, but I miss being able to use a top entry box like this:


posted by foxfirefey at 12:07 PM on October 20, 2015


Best answer: I use a "clever cat" top entry litter box because Cosgrove and Little Kiwi are very vigorous in burying their business. Jasper, I found out quite recently, likes to squat over the top entry hole as though it were a toilet bowl, then turn around, stick his head inside, and bury his business lightly with one or both front paws (although he does go all the way into the box to urinate).

While this doesn't completely eradicate the competitive litter tossing events, it reduces the scatter by a magnitude of about a billion.
posted by janey47 at 12:07 PM on October 20, 2015 [5 favorites]


Best answer: This is a Thing with quite a few cats, most of whom seem strangely uninterested in our remonstrations. Some options:

1) As joan_holloway says, a taller litterbox.
2) Putting the litterbox inside a bigger container, if there's room for it. My parents have done this to deal with a cat who has similar obsessions.
3) Put the litterbox on top of a container lid, if you don't have vertical space for #2. That will at least keep the litter from going all over the floor.
posted by thomas j wise at 12:08 PM on October 20, 2015


Best answer: After years of my various cats doing this on and off I've come to the conclusion that it's just fun. I've even seen one of my cats go in, rub his feet vigorously around in the litter with his toes spread wide to really get in there, then go outside and pee in the garden.

The way to fix it is get a box with either very high sides or that is totally covered. Then she can do her 3-dimensional cat-litter whirlwind inside, making a giant racket while doing so, and the litter just bounces off the walls and ceilings of the container. The cover clips on and off our huge covered litter tray very easily so it's about 99.5% as convenient as the open one used to be, more than made up for by less mess everywhere else.
posted by shelleycat at 12:09 PM on October 20, 2015 [4 favorites]


Best answer: oh hey also I do occasionally holler, "YOU'RE FINE, IT'S BURIED, STOP OBSESSING" when Cosgrove or Little Kiwi get into their loop. It doesn't seem to bother them or make a bit of difference, but it makes me feel better.
posted by janey47 at 12:09 PM on October 20, 2015 [7 favorites]


Best answer: I have cats who occasionally like to dig and toss the litter around, as well as one who sometimes does her business over the edge of the box. I contain the mess with Wee-Wee Puppy Pads (the boxes are in my bathrooms and laundry room). They're not Martha Stewart level of decorating, but they make everything easy to clean up.

When the kittens are old enough, do consider clumping litter - I have one very dainty-pawed cat (appropriately named Daenerys) who hates the feel of coarse litter on her paws and will pee and poop right beside the box - or at least dig like crazy - if it's full of coarse litter, but she loves the sandy-textured ultra-fine litter.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:11 PM on October 20, 2015


Best answer: Some cats just like to dig. This litter box with tall sides might be helpful, although I will tell you up front, it doesn't stop my little enthusiastic digger. I basically just have to sweep every day.
posted by stennieville at 12:11 PM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Can I lift her out of the litter box when she gets in caught in a loop (as I see it)?

My experience is that this is a good way to get cat piss all over your hands. You'll never catch them 100% of the time because you have to sleep sometimes and kittens poo so so much, so I doubt you'll ever stop the behaviour. It's just too self-reinforcing and satisfying.

When mine start really going for it in the litter tray I just mutter to myself "brain the size of a walnut" until they stop.
posted by shelleycat at 12:13 PM on October 20, 2015 [4 favorites]


Best answer: I have to ask, what exactly does that cat plan to do with those ears? Fly to Paris? Find work as a coat rack? =D

Our cats have had more success in altering our sweeping behavior than we have had in altering their digging/kicking behavior. We do find that using covered litterboxes controls the problem to a (usually; generally) acceptable extent.

Personally, I think they do it because a) it makes an interesting sound and b) interesting sounds are fun. The life of a housecat has got to be pretty boring (if the amount of time ours spend loafing about like fur slugs is any indication).
posted by kythuen at 12:24 PM on October 20, 2015 [7 favorites]


Best answer: A DIY litter box from a storage tote, with or without a lid can help a lot. Cats are easy to train young, and deal with change much less well as they get older.

Having tried many brands, our favourite litter is World's Best. It clumps well, has low dust and doesn't seem to spread as much as clay. If you scoup often, you won't use as much either. Perhaps as they get older.

Puppy pee mats are great for cats who have lost their aim, particularly as they age, but they don't contain litter especially well.
posted by bonehead at 12:24 PM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


(partner here)

My read of it has been: (a) she's bigger and stronger now, (b) she's developed a scraping style that has more of a paw-curl that tends to fling litter rather than just bulldoze it around the box, and (c) she finds it fun.

I have lifted her out of the box when it's obvious that she's done poopin'-or-peein' and is simply stuck in a scraping loop; but of course that only works when you catch her at it. And I'm wary of breaking up the party too much because they are very good about using the litter-box and I don't want to dissuade them from it by causing anxiety.

It happens more when they both go in to poop simultaneously, which happens surprisingly often: they're always "whatcha doin'?" curious about what the other is up to. Which suggests maybe a second litter-box, but I bet then they'd simply still follow each other into the same box...

I just mutter to myself "brain the size of a walnut" until they stop.

That's pretty much where I'm at; and then eyeroll, sigh "oh, kittens", and sweep the bathroom floor again.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:28 PM on October 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


The only thing I have found that helps is a top entry box. A cheaper and better solutions is a large Rubbermaid container with a hole cut in the top. Seriously genius.
posted by Sara_NOT_Sarah at 12:33 PM on October 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


Our cats do that, with the added complications that one likes to perch on the edge of the box and often misses the box completely, and the other one has an issue that our vet calls "butt-raise," in which his butt will rise up while he is in the act of peeing, and it ends up spraying the wall behind the box. Raised sides and top-entry boxes are no longer a solution because the other cat has bad arthritis and can't climb over much.

We gave up and kludged together a container for the litterbox from a large cardboard box (one side cut out to allow entry for the arthritic cat) lined first with taped-on garbage bags, then taped-on puppy pads. This enormous contraption contains the kicked-out litter and other things that get kicked out, and the various pee spots.

The only issue we have now is that one of the cats is very fastidious and if we forget to scoop the box daily, lets us know that he is unimpressed by carefully pooing just outside the box, about two inches away from the puppy pads.
posted by telophase at 12:51 PM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


I used a large, deep covered cat box and put one of those rubber boot mats with the nubbies on it at the entrance to the pan. The rubber mat did a good job of collecting any excess spillage and also at cleaning their paws as they exited the box.
posted by fimbulvetr at 1:06 PM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Are you completely committed to clay litter? We use wood pellet litter and it cuts down on this very problem a LOT, especially for our Bramble who goes pawing crazy in the litterbox - she paws at the litter, at the sides of the box, at the wall, at anything she can paw at and would make a hell of a mess with any kind of loose litter (World's Best did NOT go down well here!). Wood pellet litter turns to sawdust as it gets wet, so you clean it backwards - you scoop out the poo and then shake out the sawdust every few days. We use this litterbox but there are loads - it might work for you, especially with a kitten so young that she could adapt to a different litter type!
posted by ukdanae at 1:52 PM on October 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


2nding the storage container with a whole in the top cut out. Two cats, very little litter outside. I haven't seen either squat over the edge. Pop the top off to scoop and clean.
posted by Hactar at 2:09 PM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: We have two Omega Paw rolling litter boxes that have just been wonders for our three cats. We turn the opening so it faces about a foot from the wall so that even if the litter gets flung out of the hole, it can't go far.

Then when it's time to clean the litter box, just roll the whole thing and pull out the drawer. Love these things so much.
posted by amicamentis at 6:21 AM on October 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks everyone for your answers, they were very helpful; we went with the CleverCat top-entry litterbox, which just about fits in our rather compact apt. bathroom. Perfect!

The kitties have been using it a couple of days now and seemed to adjust to it pretty quickly. My partner has dubbed it 'the shit pit'.

Thanks again.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 8:20 PM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]


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