Teaching kittens to cover their poo....

[sam kent (thomas_kitten)]

I too have one who digs for Australia thus covering everything in cat litter  it takes quite along time to acheive this mess but he seems pleased with his work and even shakes his legs of litter as he leave. I have another who doesnt cover, but more air covers  this is he scrapes the wall, the floor etc so just mimics the act but never a grain of litter actually covers anything  he also perches right on the edge of it like an owl to poop - unfortunately he has on occasion been facing the wrong way.... 
Thankfully my tray is used very infrequently now they prefer the gardens lol

I thought it was trained behaviour from their mother, but maybe its just she didnt bother either?? Once they're older they will take particular exception to having poop on their feet, so if anything they will at least be more careful - she says, hopefully 

Very brave to bathe by the way  i value my soft tissue and life far too much 

LOL my Thomas is like this ... I should get him a passport! He looks so serious when he's done and shakes his legs off as he walks away from the tray. There's more litter outside the tray than in it when he's finished.

Harry is a nightmare like the OP's cat. He'll pee in the tray, but always poos next to it. I have two trays BTW. Fortunately I don't have any carpets - all wooden and tiled floors, so I've just accepted it TBH. Even though he doesn't go in the tray he still tries to cover it by scraping on the floor tile it's on. Even when there are 2 spotlessly clean trays he still won't use them for a number two.

[Bee]

I don't really have much to offer there but a big plus 1 for the huggies, they are very helpful. We haven't had any bad tummies for a while luckily but we often get a bit of mess just because they have such long hair, not so much Drum but Bass is a nightmare. Also with our girls only one covers their toilet and the other doesnt and this is despite them using the same tray so you'd think Drum would learn how to do it properly! I'm hoping once our Purrfect fence is up they might go outside when they are out there... we shall see! 

[Alcatraz]

Thanks for all your comments.  Fortunately they are both doing a bit better.  Watson still scratches the walls and air but their 'deposits' are more solid so there's less chance of messing up their feet.

The baths are indeed quite a painful experience (Sherlock seems to enjoy them but Watson really doesn't) and we're concious of not ruining the oil in their fur so have resorted to a foot bath....much better!

The washing up bowl filled an inch with cat shampoo and warm water works a treat.  They don't get too wet, we can 'dunk' their feet and clean them without having to hold a wet moggie and they don't get too stressed.  They'll then lick themselves dry...puuurrrrfect!

[funkiechicken]

i'm glad Nuggie isnt alone in his perching Mymbles!! 
Yours certainly do have a balancing act going on there 
My trays are with the "mess free" edging. This declaration was immediately exposed as false as soon as  Peanut went digging in it    however, it provides a suitable perching ledge for Nuggie lol although he has been extremely close to it tipping over  not sure how he'd feel having his back covered in litter 

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Jaffa very rarely covers (esp poo) and Mosi nearly always does, so I'm not sure you can teach them.  They either do or they don't!

[Mymblesdaughter]

Funkiechicken my two perch on the edge of their trays like birds as well I'd never seen a cat do it before it's really strange. I have a high sided tray they really like I think it was originally part of a covered litter tray so it's quite a balancing act they've got going on.     

[funkiechicken]

I too have one who digs for Australia thus covering everything in cat litter  it takes quite along time to acheive this mess but he seems pleased with his work and even shakes his legs of litter as he leave. I have another who doesnt cover, but more air covers  this is he scrapes the wall, the floor etc so just mimics the act but never a grain of litter actually covers anything  he also perches right on the edge of it like an owl to poop - unfortunately he has on occasion been facing the wrong way.... 
Thankfully my tray is used very infrequently now they prefer the gardens lol

I thought it was trained behaviour from their mother, but maybe its just she didnt bother either?? Once they're older they will take particular exception to having poop on their feet, so if anything they will at least be more careful - she says, hopefully 

Very brave to bathe by the way  i value my soft tissue and life far too much 

[Alcatraz]

I don't know how they ended up at CH, but its just usually something their mums would teach them. Are you using the same litter as whoever was looking after them before?

Hopefully it won't be so bad when their poo ahem firms up...

Yep, same litter and diet and they were with mum until 8 and 9 weeks...oh well.  Let's just hope the medicine kicks in soon!

[Alcatraz]

I don't think bathing them would do them any harm as such it's just that it strips out their natural oils in the coat so best to do on a 'need only' basis - mind you once they get a bit bigger I think you'll have a job restraining them so the choice will be taken away from you

I'm hoping by giving them monthly baths they get used to it.  One of them seemed to realy enjoy it....the other one...not so much!

[Alcatraz]

My female cat tries to dig down to Australia but my male cat quite often doesn't bother to cover his droppings. So don't know if it's a boy thing. I also keep baby wipes handy for them, they are both a year old so don't use them much now but came in very handy when they were younger.

Thanks, we've just invested in some wipes and they have proved invaluable so far!

[emmmy_lou]

I don't know how they ended up at CH, but its just usually something their mums would teach them. Are you using the same litter as whoever was looking after them before?

Hopefully it won't be so bad when their poo ahem firms up...

[Tiggy's Mum]

Delightful

As well as my digger I also have his brother who, whenever he has a runny bum (which thankfully isn't that often!), takes great delight in treading in it and doing his best to spread it around Rather than a full on bath, which would be impossible as he is nearly 7kg of pure muscle, I use unscented baby wipes - I guess any brand will do but I like Huggies pure ones, great for both babies and cats!

I don't think bathing them would do them any harm as such it's just that it strips out their natural oils in the coat so best to do on a 'need only' basis - mind you once they get a bit bigger I think you'll have a job restraining them so the choice will be taken away from you

[Mymblesdaughter]

My female cat tries to dig down to Australia but my male cat quite often doesn't bother to cover his droppings. So don't know if it's a boy thing. I also keep baby wipes handy for them, they are both a year old so don't use them much now but came in very handy when they were younger.

[Alcatraz]

As I typed that last message, Watson decided to wipe his back foot in a fresh one....
Another quick foot bath for him!

[Alcatraz]

Ha ha, that's not the news I wanted to hear! 

Both litter boxes are pretty central though so we'll keep an eye out and keep covering poos and wiping paws 

Any idea if it's a bad idea to bath the kittens too regularly?  We have cat shampoo but I've heard washing them too often can lead to dry skin/fur?  They're really lovely when they don't smell of their own do-do!   

[Tiggy's Mum]

Hmmn, I'm not convinced that's something that can be taught! Some cats are just lazy, others are over the top - one of mine digs for Australia and it's very annoying as the scraping can go on for 5 minutes per visit! 

If the litter trays are in a room where it's likely you will catch them 'in the act' you could try using a scoop to cover it as soon as they've done it and while they are still there in the hope they twig on.

[Alcatraz]

So we've had two kittens (Sherlock and Watson) a week now and the first five days were remarkably uneventful.  Unfortunately both arrived with a bit of a bug and since going for their jabs on Friday have had runny poos...neither are covering the poo in the litter box and as such we've had a few incidents of kittens walking poo around the house.

Both have now been bathed and the litter boxes and floors cleaned, but we want to prevent and more mess...

Any advice on how to train the kittens to cover their own poo?  They tend to dig first and go in a different area of the litter box.

Thanks