# Does anyones cat scratch the litter box??



## Melissaandcats (Aug 18, 2004)

Ever since i got jack, when he was about 4 or 5 months old everytime he uses the litter box he doesn't cover anything he does in there ?? And it stinks! he just scratches the litter box edges like crazy. I mean he does it for at least 5 minutes before he will get out. Sometimes longer. Then he scratches the rug i have underneath the box too. Its always been annoying, especially at 3 in the morning. Lately I have been waking up and going over to him, and he will run and hide and as soon as i go back to bed he will get back in and start again. I have to buy new boxes alot because of this too. I mean he ruins the boxes. I tried the ones with the covers over the box and that is even worse, because he starts scratching the top and every part he can find. Its extremely annoying! Any Ideas, or anyone have the same problem?


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## ladybug7 (Jan 9, 2004)

*Same situation*

Well I have the same thing with my 7 month old Oliver. He is the first cat I had that does this. I use to be able to use the plastic liners and just throw the litter away with my other cats but he destroys them! He digs and digs on the side of the litter box and as you said nothing gets covered. I adopted him from a shelter at 10 weeks old and saw him do it there, I thought he was just to little. Now he is a 10 pounder and I think it is still funny but wish he would get the hang of it pretty soon. 

Melanie


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## zofia (Sep 23, 2004)

Dominique does exactly the same. We have a hooded litter box, so she goes to great pains to scratch the walls, instead of the litter 
Luckily i have another 5 who use the same box (by choice) and cover up for her. I have not come up with a reasonable explanation for why she, and obviously others also, do this. Probably just one of them quirky cat things..


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## gellyutopia (Apr 30, 2004)

Polo does the exact same thing and it can get really annoying at 3 in the morning! I've read somewhere it can be litterbox aversion but I think he's just a fussy cat. He pees out of the box whenever he thinks it's dirty. Perhaps you could get a hooded box with a stronger plastic??


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## Superkitties (Jan 30, 2004)

Kayla will scratch and scratch the sides of the boxes, the floor, the mats, the walls, the air. She eventually manages to cover her business. Oh, I'm having a good chuckle now just typing this.







No ideas for ya, I'm afraid. I never discouraged her behavior.


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## MJColeNC (Sep 29, 2004)

We have a hooded box too. One of our three cats won't cover the litter, so the other two do it for him. I notice, that out of our three cats, it's the two Siamese who do the most scratching on the litter box. It can get so loud and annoying at times. They have also scratched away most of the carpet under the box.


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## coco & little guy (Jan 5, 2004)

Coco is a digger. I mean he is going to find China one of these days. I think it is kind of funny though. All that work. We have an old box that is completely scratched up. Ours don't do all the side scratching you mention Jack does. When they get done, they step out of the box and occasionally will flik their paws to get rid of some stuck litter or something. 

We are now using the clear plastic Rubbermaid containers as their litterboxes. I would think, even for Coco, that it would take a long time to ruin that box! They clean up so easily too, maybe you could try one of them? It is bigger than an ordinary box, with high sides. L.G. (aka Wittle) needs them. He doesn't always get the backside down when doing a #1. :? 

Try the Rubbermaid. 

About the non-covering, no real ideas there, other than to maybe try and show Jack, 8O 8O I know.....gross, but can it hurt to try? Wear rubber gloves and hold your breath and show him. 

Good luck.


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## Melissaandcats (Aug 18, 2004)

LOL COCO!!! I THINK THATS THE FUNNIEST THING I HEARD ALL DAY!!! :lol:


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## freddy (Nov 14, 2004)

*Digging and Digging*

Wow, I thought my strange cat was the only one who takes half an hour to go to the toilet. Stolli's litter tray is in the laundry next to the dryer. She will scratch the wall, the floor, the sides of the tray and the dryer, everywhere but the litter. So she never ends up covering her business. Our other cat, Cleo, goes in digs a little, does what she has to do, and covers it and leaves. Stolli makes it her mission to make as much noise as possible, she even chucks a long drawn out meow in occasionally. She does it before she goes and after she goes. It drives us absolutely nuts. :x When she has finally completed her mammoth task, she goes out and scratches the tiles and then proceeds to scratch around her food bowl. Strange, but wonderful creatures, these cats.


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## budandgray (Nov 1, 2004)

Bud and Gray love to romp in the litterpan, especially when its brand new litter. It doesn't stay that way for long though! Pewww! 8O 

Mine are 11 weeks old Monday and just love to get into anything. I have to try and keep Bud out of the litterpan in particular. He's sort of fond of digging for a "surprise" in there if you know what I mean.

Silly kittens.....


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## spike481 (Nov 13, 2004)

This is a hilarious thread :lol: 

A few of the Herd don't properly cover even with their best and lengthy efforts. I have seen them scratch and scratch and scratch and....well you get the idea, and then they'll turn around to assess their progress, which is usually only one or two grains, then they'll make another attempt from a different direction with the same poor results. :roll: Another member of the Herd will usually come along and finish the job out of pity. I've seen the same thing happen outside. :lol: 

Sorry, but no possible reason for the excessive scratching known by me, and no one in the Herd is talking. :lol: 

Another type of pooper I've got is the "Power Scratcher". These guys think that if they really sling the litter, somehow it'll get the job done better. Before I built the megabox, we would have litter 3 or 4 feet away from the box. 8O 

In case you're wondering, the megabox is a fully enclosed, 
28"W x 41"L x 36"H, 2-story litterbox. We got the idea for it while watching a Cat Show on Animal Planet. It has the litter pan in the bottom, with a grate above it. The cat enters the second story through a hole in one end, walks across the grate to a hole in the grate to go down to the pan. When the business is complete, cat returns the way he came to exit the box. Walking across the grate after being in the pan removes all litter from the feet and cat exits the box invigorated and clean :lol: No more litter kibble on the floor!! A couple of companies make these commercially, but didn't make ones big enough for the Herd.

I got the plastic pan at Lowe's. I think it was meant to be used to mix concrete 8O The grate is meant to be used on flourecent light fixtures. The entry/exit end of the box comes off and both the grate and the pan slide out to facilitate cleaning. The plan was to stain the sides and put a nice top on it to make it pleasing to the eye. Of course, no stain on it yet, and the top is currently made from construction scrap, but I'll get to it, I swear :roll:


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## Melissaandcats (Aug 18, 2004)

you should post a picture of your litter box!! that i would love too see!


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## spike481 (Nov 13, 2004)

I'll starta separate thread for it.


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## UmmYeahOk (Jun 17, 2004)

I have a 10 year old who half the time will cover up his surprises. The other half hed sniff, and run! If you see him running past you, you better follow him with an equal speed as you DO NOT want to be anywhere near it! We call it the ol' Wiskerz Sniff-N-Run. This is where a brave soul much tread back and turn on the fan. Its it ok to have a cats fickle odor smell worse than a humans?

Sometimes when he doesnt cover it I will see him strach the outside of the litter box. I just assumed it was a way for him to wipe his paws.


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## Ducky (Nov 3, 2004)

yup. he does it all the time. he doesn't cover his poop very well either!
Sometimes he will go in the bathroom stick his head into the litterbox (it is a covered one) and scratch/paw at the shower curtain outside of the box.
Strange little animals


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## Parker (Apr 28, 2004)

Usually the dominant cat in your home will not cover his poop. This lets all the other cats know that he is top dog. My siamese, Dune, will poop, then scratch on the sides of the litter box like crazy. Token, my other cat will then cover it up for him. It stinks to high heaven if they don't cover though!! 

I wasn't sure that the dominant issue was actually true because when we first got Dune at 6 weeks, Token was 4m old. I thought that he would be the dominant one since he was always so aggressive toward us. Now Dune outweighs him by quite a bit, and if Token is laying somewhere, all Dune has to do is walk up to Token and bite him on the back of the neck, and Token gets the heck out of there. Then Dune promptly lays down in Token's spot. I think it is funny to see Dune push Token around because Dune is such a sweetheart to us.


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