# Tries, but doesn't cover urine



## Kylee80 (Feb 1, 2010)

I'm new to the forum, and came here with a problem. I have a male cat who is a guest here, we don't actually own him, and he seems to have another home. Because we're not the owners we haven't neutered him, he is an indoor outdoor cat (we live deep in the country). 

Now when he uses the litter box he goes through all the motions of covering, but he doesn't ever use litter -- he reaches for everything else. He tries to claw our washing machine, our dryer, pull the throw rugs in, tears at the plastic bag that sits in the trashcan, etc. Recently we purchased a covered catbox thinking that if he didn't have access to anything else he'd use the litter. Still no success. He claws at the plastic opening area and when that doesn't work after about 3-5 minutes he exits the box and his urine begins to permeate the house.

Is there any way to teach him to use the litter? It doesn't seem to matter what litter we use, from the new Yesterday's news, to the old tried and true clumping stuff and deodorizers sprinkled in it. I'm guessing by the fact that when he first arrived here he was still growing that he's probably about 3 years old. He's the first intact male I've had (I spay and neuter all my own cats as soon as they're of age), and I'm not sure if that's why he acts so dumb? He's a very clean and very polite cat. He's a true gentleman in his demeanor, but his bathroom habits need to be solved as I can't stand the stench even when we get there immediately. He always uses the litter box, it's just that he never uses the litter to cover.

For what it's worth, we do have another indoor cat. She's a spayed female about 3 years old. And she's everything he is, except she covers her own, not his.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance, 

Kylee 
in Ohio USA


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

Kylee, I don't know why he's not covering his urine or feces, but my Nina scratches everything up and down the hall after she covers hers. Heaven knows why....

Does this guest kitty have a litter box of his own? I'm grasping at straws, of course, but giving him a separate box might help.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Welcome to CatForum. 
What your boy-kitty is doing is expressing a *very* strong instinct to bury his waste ... he just happens to be missing the mark on what he should be using to cover his waste. Unfortunately, he is probably already set in his habit. The only thing that will mitigate his urine smell is to have him neutered to reduce the testosterone that produces the strong-smelling hormonal influence of tomcat-pee.
atback 

_We have a girl-kitty (Shadow) who won't cover her waste. She'll scratch at the walls of the LitterChest, but she won't scratch at the clay litter to bury her waste. Sometimes another cat will bury it for her, but usually it is left exposed and simply has to dry-out before it will stop stinking. BUT, our LitterChest is home-made and huge. It is 2'x2'x4' ~ it looks like a Hope Chest with a cat flap in the front, center. It is lined with plexiglass and caulked at all seams so it is water-tight. I keep it about 4" deep in clumping litter and I scoop it once/daily. The best feature though, is we have vented it outside with clothes dryer ducting and that helps remove most of the odor and dust, so even if she deposits a stinky and doesn't bury it, I never smell it. The LC sits about a yard behind me, so it is pretty close, and if was gonna stink I *would* smell it._


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## Kylee80 (Feb 1, 2010)

You know, I wonder if you hit the nail on the head, it does smell a lot like tomcat -- it is a very distinct odor. I'm not sure where he really came from, but originally he had a flea collar on when we first found him. He stays here about 3-4 days and then goes away for 3-4 days. I'm not sure if he's out romancing or returning "home" to his original owners. If he's romancing I'd neuter him in a minute, but if he's someone else's cat I really hate to do it to him and get them upset. Perhaps that's why (despite all our questions) he never reports what he's been doing when he comes home. :lol: 

Seriously though, my husband really likes the cat (Reddie) and since Reddie's only misbehavior is not covering, perhaps it's time to just take him to the vet and take care of his tomhood, and get him vaccinated. It'll probably also keep him closer to our home, too, and no doubt keep him healthier. Reddie had just gotten out of the litter box when my husband cleaned it out and it still stunk in the 1-2 minutes it took to walk to the box, get the scoop, and dump it. It just never occured to me that it's testosterone that stinks so horribly, but that makes sense. Thanks!

BTW, we had 3 boxes, went down to one, and now I'm going to go back to at least two. 

Well, now I found this forum I'll have to search around and see what topics might be of interest. Thanks!

Kylee


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Kylee80 said:


> Perhaps that's why (despite all our questions) he never reports what he's been doing when he comes home. :lol:


 :lol: I have yet to meet the teenager who will give his parents an honest answer about his romantic life away from home! :mrgreen: 




Kylee80 said:


> Reddie had just gotten out of the litter box when my husband cleaned it out and it still stunk in the 1-2 minutes it took to walk to the box, get the scoop, and dump it.


ZOMG! You reminded me of when we first took Floofy into our home! He was the 'oldest' un-neutered male cat we had ever brought in our home. Most were ferals and tamed outside, getting spayed, neutered and vaccinations before they were tame enough to come indoors. Anyhow, The Floof came in and I got him a neuter appointment for like, 5 days out. He did not use the litterbox for the first two days, I think he was just too dehydrated and starving to have any waste because his body was using it to reverse the depletion of his previous state of health. 
But when he finally *did* pee. OMG! :yikes 
It happened at 4am and he woke me out of a dead sleep with that horrible odor! He was closed into the Master Bathroom but the *pong* of his tomcat-pee was so strong, it almost burned my nostrils from 5 yards away from his litterbox. I literally RAN to the garage to get the scoop and bucket, RAN back to the MBR and into the Mbath to scoop that obnoxious pee-clump and then RAN back to the garage to deposit it in the cat-waste container.
But the damage had been done. That tomcat-pong smell had been picked up by the central heat/air and been distributed ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE. :dis I tried, but poor Febreeze just couldn't fight it. The next day, I called the spay/neuter clinic and got him an earlier appointment. They understood my plight, but they still didn't have to laugh over the phone while I told them my story! :lol:


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Cinderella never covers her pee. Doesn't even try.

That's what the underlings are there for.


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## weebeasties (Jul 19, 2008)

Othello does the scratching-everything-_but_-the-litter routine too, though he's neutered so at least it doesn't smell quite so bad. I've heard it suggested that he might have been separated from his mother too young and maybe just missed that "lesson." (We got him at two years old, so it's anyone's guess what his earlier history was.) The one plus side I've found to his litter box habits is that, since we only have two cats, it's easy to tell who's doing what and thus keep track of their health - if it's buried, it's Desdemona's, if not, it's Othello's. Though Desi will occasionally "clean up" after Othello! :lol:


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## Kylee80 (Feb 1, 2010)

Well, we decided to try to keep him indoors, but watch him. If he starts to head toward the litter box we'll grab him and put him outside. Maybe with any luck we can teach him to scratch at the door when he has to potty and we'll just let him out to do his business and let him back in. My husband doesn't want to make waves with any other potential owner, so that's the best we could come up with.

Just out of curiousity, what do people do who raise purebreds for breeding show cats? How do they deal with tom urine? And for the record, I'm only talking about urine, Reddie hasn't started spraying, and hopefully won't.

Thanks again, 

K.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I suspect that most people who breed cats and keep a tomcat, keep them kenneled outdoors in a "cattery" with a small climate controlled building with the necessities (_food, water, bedding and possibly a litterbox_) and an adjoining outdoor 'yard' for mental stimulation and activity. Very GOOD breeders will often bring these male 'stud-cats' into their homes to keep them socialized, friendly and happy with daily one-on-one human contact, but supervise them and put them into their cattery at the first indication of needing to pee or spray.

Outdoor Cattery:








Indoor Cattery:


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## Kylee80 (Feb 1, 2010)

I thought I'd send in an update. We decided to adopt our boy and took him in today to be neutered. He's doing well, but sleeping a lot, which I'm glad to report. Glad to report since when we first got him home the anesthesia hadn't worn off yet and he was falling all over the place, but despite stumbling and weaving he still jumped up on the couch. Will he learn to cover? Probably not at this age, but already there's been an improvement in smell, and that's my main goal. 

Thanks for the advice.

K.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Good news! Yay!

How is he getting along with your little girl kitty?


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## Kylee80 (Feb 1, 2010)

marie73 said:


> Good news! Yay!
> 
> How is he getting along with your little girl kitty?


ROTFLOL, they get along just fine. He's a wimp and she's a boss. But today when he came home from the vet he smelled of the vet's office (antiseptic?) and she backed off. Usually she acts tough and he just ignores her and she goes off and does something else. 

When we first got her the vet gave us a box of kitten "Revolution" and we always tease that she's the leader of the Revolution, and all her manuevers are part of her training.

K


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

He may or may not cover his urine, but IMO if you are using a nice clumping clay litter and he has been neutered then w/in 2-3 days you won't be able to tell (by odor) his urine clumps from hers. _I don't think uncovered pee clumps smell ... unless they're left too long and begin to turn ammoniac._


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