# Making progress with cat who does not bury poop?



## RowdyAndMalley (Aug 9, 2010)

Our cat, Malley, has never been able to figure out how to bury her poop, and coupled with the diarrhea we have been trying to fight recently, it makes our litter chores almost unbearable. We've tried almost every "natural" litter out there and have been unhappy with the results. 

We recently switched to Everclean Multicat litter in one of our litter boxes. The day we bought it, for the first time ever, she actually dug around and buried her poop in the litter box. We thought, FINALLY! However, it seems like it was just a fluke, as she is no longer doing it. 

In our other litter box, we tried Everclean Extra Strength (unscented) and every morning, I look inside, and there is no poop on the top of the litter. Either she is burying it, or our other cat (who does bury it) is burying it for her. 

I guess my question is, is it possible that she is not burying because of the scented litter? Is the unscented litter good for cats who don't bury? I would imagine there are no "other" smells present to confuse them. Somebody on Petco.com sent in a review and said that the ES extra strength is the only litter they have ever used that caused her cat to bury the poop. 

I really wish there was something I could do about her refusal to bury...


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

Have you experimented with the depth of the litter? I find sometimes if it's too deep (over 3in.) one of my cats doesn't bury it as well if the depth of the litter is shallower, say between 1 & 2 inches. A lot of cats don't like scented litter.


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## lgnutah (Aug 7, 2010)

I have a cat who always buries his pee (or maybe it just seems to be buried because the clump is lower?) but very often leaves the poop right on top. I scoop his box several times a day so it isn't that the box is full and he doesn't want to scratch around in it.
So, I can't help you at all except to commiserate there. I did wonder what you've tried to handle the diarrhea? I also had that trouble off and on and switching him to Evo (dry) seemed to work.


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## RowdyAndMalley (Aug 9, 2010)

We have expermented with the depth and no such luck. Our vet told us that it may be a dominance thing. Like she does not want to cover her scent. 

As for the diarrhea, she has been tested for everything! We brought her home on July 28th and she has had diarrhea off and on. She has been dewormed and on several different meds. The first set of meds she was on was in pill form, we finished the prescription, it helped some, but the diarrhea came back during treatment. We also have supplemented her diet with fruitables pumpkin supplement, this helped for a little while. So we took her back to the vet and he prescribed two more medications, both liquid. He said that some cats have chronic diarrhea. She is still gaining weight and is not sick in any other way she just doesn't have firm poo.


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## dweamgoil (Feb 3, 2010)

*I was going to suggest the Dominance thing as well...*

my cat Egypt does this to annoy my other cat. They used to fight over the litter boxes and would poop in each of the boxes just to get on each on the other's nerves, but now they have their preferred and exclusive boxes. They seem to have an agreement as to who gets to go in which box, and they are sticking to that. However, Egypt still will not bury her poop.


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## kittywitty (Jun 19, 2010)

My cats usually bury except if they are in a hurry and trying to get away from the other cat who is waiting nearby to antagonize the poor thing.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

For some reason or other, I missed the part that she has diarrhea often. Cats that get diarhhea poo on their paws from trying to cover up are often put off burying it afterward. Unless you noticed she had it on her paws and washed her paws_. _Cats by nature like to be clean and you won't find one rolling on a dead fish like a dog would do. They don't like to be stinky. So most cats detest having to lick poo off their paws(yuck! can't blame her). So then they don't cover, because they don't want to get their paws soiled. Until you can get her diarrhea cleared up, she'll be reluctant to cover her poo. 

Most cats do better on diet of canned food than dry kibble (eg.Wellness canned is a good one) , tho EVO is a good kibble brand as there are _no_ grains like corn or soybean, carbohydrates bother digestion. Cats are carnivores, not omnivores like dogs, and do better on a high protein meat based diet. Any diet change should be done very gradually over several days to avoid further digestive upset. Hope this is helpful.


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