The thread about dogs eating poop has me thinking maybe I should get a dog just to help me deal with this problem I'm having with my cat... eww, but no, cause what if the dog LICKED me afterwards. Ewww.

Anyway.

The problem I'm having with my cat: she doesn't know how to cover up her poop. It stinks soooooooooooo bad. She THINKS she's covering it up... she scratches the sides of that litter box for 10-15 minutes after each poop trying desperately to cover the poop... but she just can't seem to figure out that she's supposed to scratch the litter on top of the poop, not the sides of teh litter box.

Which is even more strange because sometimes if I leave a plate on the floor (I let my other cat lick my dishes sometimes and leave them on the floor), Musetta will come trotting over and scratch around the plate like it's a piece of poop and eventually will find a sock lying on the floor and drag it over, scoop it on top of the plate and cover it up. (oops, I'm revealing what a mess my home is, and what a slob I am, aren't I? oh well. doesn't mean I deserve stinkycat!)

The point is -- she KNOWS she's supposed to be covering up the poop. But she's too stupid to figure out what she's doing wrong. I've tried to show her, scooping the litter in front of her with the scooper to show her how it's done, but she's a little dense.

This is the second cat I've had with this problem. The other, like this one, I got as an older cat, not a kitten, so wasn't the one to littertrain them. The other one scratched a hole through the wall next to the litterbox, always scratching the wall, never the poop, and man, did it stink.

So who else has had this problem, and has anyone ever figured out how to retrain a cat to cover it up???

Ohhh, it smells bad.

According to a PBS program I saw about a hundred years ago, cats do not know how to kill a mouse. They're quick enough to catch them and play with them till the mouse is exhausted---but they need the mother cat to show them how to apply the precise killing bite, at a certain point on the neck. The program pointed this out as a caveat: you can't simply dump kittens in the countryside and expect them to go by instinct and fend for themselves.

Maybe covering poop is a similar thing? Funny, innit? Most animals want to announce their territory, but cats cover it up. OK, anybody who has smelled cat !$#@$#^ knows, the Nazis probably derived their nerve gas from that stuff :roll:

Cat, your kitten was separated from her mother too soon. She never learned to cover her poop properly. Use a scoop to cover it properly and she might get the idea.

But this cat has another cat who shows her several times a day how to cover it, on top of my futile attempts.... she's just so dense! She scratches and scratches at the walls of the litterbox and turns around and stares at the poop, like she's thinking "why isn't it covered yet?" and keeps going at it forever, never once actually touching the litter to cover up the poop. Every day I come home to THAT SMELL. I worry about her taking a dump in the middle of me having a hot date (I have an efficiency apartment, no escaping the stench).

Maybe I should just make myself some kitty lasagna for dinner tonight and be done with her.

What do you feed your cat?

Since I have been feeding my cat solid gold 'Katz-n-flocken' I have noticed a lot less smell with the pooh.

My cat has an excuse for not covering up his pooh, I guess, based on what Rhythm was sayin'. His kitty mommie dies the day he was born and he was raised by humans. Quite the interesting kitty BTW.

BTW, this is the stinker kitty. Apparantly there were quite a few things her momma never taught her... like how to keep her legs together like a proper lady :rolleyes:

What do you feed your cat?

Since I have been feeding my cat solid gold 'Katz-n-flocken' I have noticed a lot less smell with the pooh.

My cat has an excuse for not covering up his pooh, I guess, based on what Rhythm was sayin'. His kitty mommie dies the day he was born and he was raised by humans. Quite the interesting kitty BTW.

Iam's Anti-Hairball Catfood.... the only thing that stopped the puking problem, which was even worse than the stinky poop problem for a while there :(

Would love to hear more bout your kitty-raised-by-humans! Seems to me that would be a good candidate for learnign to use the toilet as some cats have, I hear :) Sad, though, that mommy cat died the day he was born.

She is cute.:)

She is cute.:)

Thanks :) and yeah, she is :) She's all cuddly and purry too, nonstop. I loves her muchly. Just wish she weren't so stanky.

What about trying a different type of litter? My cats don't like some types of litter-very picky.

How about a litter for multiple cats?

I guess I could try switching litters.... I don't think she's adverse to using this brand, though, cause she sure sticks around for a long time TRYIGN to cover it up... and I don't know if multiple cat litter will help with the smell if it's not covered up at all.. but anything's worth a shot i guess..

that 3rd pic is adorable! what a cutie

too bad she's a stinky one :(

I have a funny reverse-effect of the mommy cat teaching the kitten to cover with the litter- when I got my one cat she knew how to do it correctly, but then when we adopted the stray that had been living in my then-girlfriend's garage, she apparently taught the other one how to do it wrong and just scratch on the side of the box/wall/rug in front of box/etc... ugh :roll:

poor fuzzy little idiots

Changing food is a good thing to try. Our cat's poo is like ambrosia for many of his cainine friends :oops: We also have a German Shepherd come over visiting from Indiana who likes "tootsies."

To be a good host, we now close the bathroom door or empty the cat box.

When living out in the country, our momma cat taught her kittens show to mouse. She would maim the mouse and allow the kittens to "play" with the mouse.

Regards,

How about a litter for multiple cats?

How does changing one's kitty litter make people wonder what one is doing. :lol:

Regards,

OMG this is the funniest thread!!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

My cat does that on occasion. I just chalk it up to laziness.

Well if she wasn't trying to cover it up, I'd chalk it up to dominance. Most cats cover their poo but the one who is the dominant cat in the area will actually leave it uncovered and out in the open to smell as much as possible to mark their territory. But clearly this isn't the case.

We used to use the Iam's hairball food also but had to switch away from it since it was giving our male cat really bad urinary problems. Now we use a mix of Science Diet adult hairball control and Royal Canin Maine Coon mix - our big male cat tends to eat the food in whole pieces and the maine coon mix is extra big chunks he's forced to chew up to clean his teeth.

I also agree about the litter. We used to have a lot of trouble with the litter smelling to high heaven. A while back we changed to using the Tidy Cat Crystals blend and it's solved most of the problem. The crystals dehydrate the poo very quickly so the smell is very minimal - you walk down our basement and you can't even tell we have cats, let alone multiple. At least by the smell. The stuff strewn on the floor in obvious kitty play patterns is a dead giveaway though ;-) But I'd definitely recommend a litter with the crystals and a covered box if you don't already have one.

And looks like your girl went to the same school of etiquette as my grey one.... :D

Yeah, she's definitely not the dominant kitty... the other one is. He is so VERY Dom, and she is so VERY submissive it's not even funny (except that it really is. He wrestles her to the ground and starts biting and kicking her and she purrs and kisses him. That's their routine. When she cuddles with me and he decides HE wants my lap, he just glares at her from across the room and she jumps down and scampers away. But never with a complaint... she never stops purring).

Crystal litter it is!

purring is not always a sign of contentment, cats often purr to show other cats that they are not trying to be a threat

True, but I know my cats and this one is a content one for sure.

True, but I know my cats and this one is a content one for sure.

well thats good then :D

i can never quite tell when mine are seriously sparring or just playing

I should have given more context.

After the typical wrastling match, during which Nicoless bites Musetta all over her body like she's a corncob and Musetta just keeps purring and kissing him all over, he usually gives up with a sigh and starts grooming her back and then they usually end up wrapped in each others arms, truly in love. She's QUITE content being his submissive.

The lovebird kitties:

Oooh, and I found some of them in action... during one of the fake wrastling matches.... you can see Musetta kissing Nicoless while he's kicking and biting at her. Heh. And how they settle down into worn out bliss by the end:

And finally, one of my favorite series.... the two of them being best of friends sharing a sunbeam :)

We're a household of content cats, yes we are.

Awwwww... :D Our little girls do the same thing. It's called "Lick Lick Crunch" and usually involves licklick, then attempted crunch, back off, glare, swat with a paw, more lick, fightfightfight, killkill, lick lick, cuddle.

Sounds a lot like human relationships don't it?

Okay, I have the easiest solution for you... You need the automatic litter box. We have had at the peak 5 cats at once and they are all inside cats and have had this litterbox for years and would not do it any other way.

We have a cat now who doesnt cover her poop but it scoops it within a few minutes and puts it in the tray so there really is no smell.

You can find these at Target, Pet Smart, Pet Mart, etc... The basic one costs about $100 and the bigger one is about $150.

Cat, those pics are like kitty porn!!! :???::???:

Cat, those pics are like kitty porn!!! :???::???:

Actually, I have some of that too. If you dare me, I'll post it. There's a certain thing Nicoless loves to do to Musetta (which she lovvvvvvvvvves too) which is highly inappropriate and amusing which I also captured on film.

It's so wrong, so gross, and so funny.


PS to all: Musetta covered her poop yesterday! I left the lid of the litter off cause I was gonna try to catch her every time she was pooping and keep showing her how to do it with a scooper, but she did it on her own. Maybe there's something about the lid being on that keeps her from seeing the poop or being able to scoop or something?? :confused: :confused:

Gonna keep the lid off a while and see if that keeps making a difference...

... otherwise... if you switch to the auto cleaner, do cats ever have problems adjusting and act out by going elsewhere? I remember reading about one person whose cat freaked out when she got an auto one, but I think she returned it almost immediately...