It happened again!

[conuly]

I was in the bathroom, Mama Cat came in and peed in the box. I thought that that was an auspicious omen and maybe this time the box would stay clean for more than three minutes.

I emptied out all the litter, put new litter in, put it in the bathroom, and started gathering up laundry. Two minutes later, as I stepped into the bathroom to get the clothes from there, Mama Cat came back in and pooped. And then spent ten minutes scratching the tiles and effectively keeping me from scooping it back out again. I don't like to chase her away if she's actually remembered to use the box and not the tub or, say, the floor right in front of the back door where we are guaranteed to step in it.

(For some reason, probably because she doesn't actually like going on kitty litter, she rarely manages to cover her mess. Instead, she scratches at the tiles for several minutes until she's satisfied. I understand the scratching is semi-instinctual, whether or not it does any good, but all the same I have to wonder what exactly is going through her furry little head as she moves her paws around on bare tile for several minutes. She keeps checking back in the box, too, like somehow she might have magically buried her waste without noticing it.)

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

What kind of kitty litter are you using? I find the generic unscented clumpable kind works well - I scoop whenever I see the box has been used, and smooth the litter evenly. My kitty-boy is a vigorous sand-kicker, so his litter-boxes sit inside cardboard boxes to contain (some of) the fallout.

Yeah, the scratching-thing is instinctual, so I doubt anything at all is going through her furry little head besides a feeling in her paws that leads her to move them a certain way. Doubtless it feels like an itch, or like having to stretch, or needing to lick one's lips - just a routine physiological impulse. Possibly the tile-scratching goes on and on because the feeling that engenders it isn't really satisfied when there's nothing to dig - like trying to scratch an itch while wearing mittens; one can't help doing it, but it doesn't do any good.

[conuly]

I'm using a pine litter, but I suspect, based on various aspects of her pottying behavior since we got her and what I know of the people who used to have her that she simply didn't have much access to a clean litterbox when she should have been learning to use one. She consistently prefers a bare surface to a box with litter, and will usually scrape around the litterbox first so she has a bare surface to pee or poo on. To accommodate this, I just don't fill the box very *much*.

I know of cats who don't scratch and bury after relieving themselves, mostly cats who were taken from their mothers young and/or spent their formative months living on city streets where they never were very secure and couldn't bury anything if they tried. Though my mother did have one cat, once, who carefully positioned himself over the bathtub drain to pee, and apparently didn't scratch for pee. Or so she says, I never met this cat.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Poor little city kitties. I never thought of that, that they've got no safe place to potty. Alas, the world is so hard for homeless cats and dogs. If it was up to me, I'd have the State pay for free spay/neuter, and require anyone keeping a breedable animal to pay a $100/year license fee, which includes a veterinary check-up to certify that the animal is healthy and fit to breed. This would mostly solve the feral cat and dog problem within about ten years.

I haven't met any of them, but apparently quite a few cats teach themselves to use the toilet, and there are methods to train them to do so. That would certainly be more convenient than scooping the litterbox.

[conuly]

Also, now that you've posted this I am very itchy, my muscles feel stiff, and my lips have gotten dry. Thanks.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Yer welcome! Hey, you needed to scratch, stretch, drink some water and put on some Chapstick anyway.