Cat Won't Finish the Job-! YECHHH-!

The Cat: Wanda the 4-5 yr old female tabby, 4-5 lbs, N Texas area,
healthy and smart; prefers outdoors. Regularly checked at vet & current
on shots. At last check, no intestinal problems.

The Problem: will NOT cover her stool in her litter box.

After she defecates, she will simply glance at the [stuff] and bolt. I
have tried every brand of litter; we keep the box clean and adequately
filled. It's in a secluded place (but the odor finds us).

I have observed Wanda doing her bidness in the flower bed; she exhibits
the same behavior. The offal is left alone.

We want to lure her back to the indoors for the winter but don't relish
the task of servicing her fetid litter box every time she poops. (Our
previous cats were quite fastidious.) Can she be trained to stay and
bury her turds-? Is she trying, in her subtle feline way, to tell us
something-?

Stepping outside for a breath of air, I thank you in advance.

Buzzy

My cat also does not cover up her poops. She scratches in the litter
but doesn't seem to know what the purpose of that is. It is incentive
for me to keep the box very clean.

bz wrote:
The Cat: Wanda the 4-5 yr old female tabby, 4-5 lbs, N Texas area,
healthy and smart; prefers outdoors. Regularly checked at vet & current
on shots. At last check, no intestinal problems.

The Problem: will NOT cover her stool in her litter box.

After she defecates, she will simply glance at the [stuff] and bolt. I
have tried every brand of litter; we keep the box clean and adequately
filled. It's in a secluded place (but the odor finds us).

I have observed Wanda doing her bidness in the flower bed; she exhibits
the same behavior. The offal is left alone.

We want to lure her back to the indoors for the winter but don't relish
the task of servicing her fetid litter box every time she poops. (Our
previous cats were quite fastidious.) Can she be trained to stay and
bury her turds-? Is she trying, in her subtle feline way, to tell us
something-?

Stepping outside for a breath of air, I thank you in advance.

Buzzy

On 2006-10-28, bz wrote:

The Problem: will NOT cover her stool in her litter box.

I don't think you can train a cat to cover her feces. Some do
it and others don't. A former coworker once had two cats. One
was a coverer and one wasn't. The cat that was a coverer would
also do that chore for the other cat.

The answer is to be ready with the scoop. You need to scoop
whether or not they bury scat.

Bud

"bz" wrote

Stepping outside for a breath of air, I thank you in advance.


I had a cat that did this. Every time I discovered a stinky offering, I
found her,
picked her up lovingly, talking softly to her and petting her, put her in
her box,
took her little paws and covered the mess witht them while praising her.

I think I did this three times before she started doing it herself.

Every now and then she might lapse--maybe four times over her
20-year life--and I would do it again, and she would begin
covering it.

I do not think it was the positive reinforcement--I think she
actually hated being picked up and taken to her box. She hated
being picked up anyway.

I was loving and gentle and praising to be sure I did not give
her an aversion to the litter box altogether.

FWIW, she was NOT a bright cat. I am not being unkind; I
knew her. So your girl should respond.

"William Hamblen" wrote in message
. ..
On 2006-10-28, bz wrote:

The Problem: will NOT cover her stool in her litter box.

I don't think you can train a cat to cover her feces.

Bet you haven't tried.

In article ,
"cybercat" wrote:

"bz" wrote

Stepping outside for a breath of air, I thank you in advance.


I had a cat that did this. Every time I discovered a stinky offering, I
found her,
picked her up lovingly, talking softly to her and petting her, put her in
her box,
took her little paws and covered the mess witht them while praising her.

I think I did this three times before she started doing it herself.

Every now and then she might lapse--maybe four times over her
20-year life--and I would do it again, and she would begin
covering it.

I do not think it was the positive reinforcement--I think she
actually hated being picked up and taken to her box. She hated
being picked up anyway.

I was loving and gentle and praising to be sure I did not give
her an aversion to the litter box altogether.

FWIW, she was NOT a bright cat. I am not being unkind; I
knew her. So your girl should respond.

HAR-!

I tried the Teaching by Example Method. She knew something was up when I
gently plucked her from her spot under the crepe myrtle, and she began
contorting in my arms as I approached the Litter Box Site indoors.
Suddenly, I was holding a bundle of prickly pear cactus. I let her go.
Disappointed, I scooped the poop for a minute.

I guess I'll wait until she's hungry and associate a food treat with
some litter excavation & cover practice. I know I am getting very good
at it.

What is it about cats-?? She's completely useless (never caught a
rodent) and has hairballed the good couch countless times. But--when I'm
stretched out watching the tube, she'll hop up there and nest on my
stomach, purring, giving me the happy eye. If I pet her just right,
Wanda will crawl towards my face and give me a "muzzle kiss."

At that moment, the smelly crap is forgotten. Nearly.

"bz" wrote
HAR-!

I tried the Teaching by Example Method. She knew something was up when I
gently plucked her from her spot under the crepe myrtle, and she began
contorting in my arms as I approached the Litter Box Site indoors.
Suddenly, I was holding a bundle of prickly pear cactus. I let her go.
Disappointed, I scooped the poop for a minute.

Aww, I'm sorry. I guess Wanda is a bit wilder than my kitty was.


I guess I'll wait until she's hungry and associate a food treat with
some litter excavation & cover practice. I know I am getting very good
at it.

What is it about cats-?? She's completely useless (never caught a
rodent) and has hairballed the good couch countless times. But--when I'm
stretched out watching the tube, she'll hop up there and nest on my
stomach, purring, giving me the happy eye. If I pet her just right,
Wanda will crawl towards my face and give me a "muzzle kiss."

At that moment, the smelly crap is forgotten. Nearly.

You're a goner. I am afraid Wanda, smelly poops and all, has you
in her kitty spell. There are worse things!

"cybercat" wrote in message
...

"bz" wrote
HAR-!

I tried the Teaching by Example Method. She knew something was up when I
gently plucked her from her spot under the crepe myrtle, and she began
contorting in my arms as I approached the Litter Box Site indoors.
Suddenly, I was holding a bundle of prickly pear cactus. I let her go.
Disappointed, I scooped the poop for a minute.

Aww, I'm sorry. I guess Wanda is a bit wilder than my kitty was.


I guess I'll wait until she's hungry and associate a food treat with
some litter excavation & cover practice. I know I am getting very good
at it.

What is it about cats-?? She's completely useless (never caught a
rodent) and has hairballed the good couch countless times. But--when I'm
stretched out watching the tube, she'll hop up there and nest on my
stomach, purring, giving me the happy eye. If I pet her just right,
Wanda will crawl towards my face and give me a "muzzle kiss."

At that moment, the smelly crap is forgotten. Nearly.

You're a goner. I am afraid Wanda, smelly poops and all, has you
in her kitty spell. There are worse things!

Cybercat is doing about what a mama cat does to train her kits to cover! I
suspect that at least some cats who don't cover haven't had adequate
mothering.

I had some luck with teaching one of my cats to cover as cybercat describes.
She was the type who would paw the floor next to the box, like she knew she
was supposed to do *something* but didn't fully understand how to operate a
litterbox. So I showed her.

Another cat, however (who definitely had not spent enough time with her
mother before being dumped), responded differently from my efforts to teach
her to cover. She responded to the praise in the litter box as if the
litter box itself was the source of good, as opposed to the covering
behavior being good. So, f'rinstance, if she got in trouble for something,
she'd run to the litterbox and lie down in it. I gave up. This poor girl
doesn't even point the right way most of the time when she uses the box --
she stands on the edge and it's a toss-up whether she'll point in or out. I
spread paper around the box and I love her anyway :-)

ep

On Sat, 28 Oct 2006 09:28:28 -0500, bz wrote:

The Cat: Wanda the 4-5 yr old female tabby, 4-5 lbs, N Texas area,
healthy and smart; prefers outdoors. Regularly checked at vet & current
on shots. At last check, no intestinal problems.

The Problem: will NOT cover her stool in her litter box.

After she defecates, she will simply glance at the [stuff] and bolt. I
have tried every brand of litter; we keep the box clean and adequately
filled. It's in a secluded place (but the odor finds us).

I have observed Wanda doing her bidness in the flower bed; she exhibits
the same behavior. The offal is left alone.

We want to lure her back to the indoors for the winter but don't relish
the task of servicing her fetid litter box every time she poops. (Our
previous cats were quite fastidious.) Can she be trained to stay and
bury her turds-? Is she trying, in her subtle feline way, to tell us
something-?

Stepping outside for a breath of air, I thank you in advance.

Buzzy


Just a couple of thoughts: Feed her a higher quality food that won't
stink as much coming out. Also be sure the litter pan is in a low traffic
area so she won't feel the need to exit so fast. When I first had TuTu
she would run like the wind leaving the box. Now she knows she is safe
and she takes her time coving up the deposit. Good luck. MLB

Do you have a covered litter box? That might cut down on the smell.

If you don't scoop it right away, you can have a cup of litter close by
and just dump it on top.

I think some cats do this as a dominance thing. We had a cat who would
scoop under the pile until he had his stinky stuff resting on a higher
mound of litter. I think he was proud, and making a little shrine.

Rhonda

bz wrote:
The Cat: Wanda the 4-5 yr old female tabby, 4-5 lbs, N Texas area,
healthy and smart; prefers outdoors. Regularly checked at vet & current
on shots. At last check, no intestinal problems.

The Problem: will NOT cover her stool in her litter box.

After she defecates, she will simply glance at the [stuff] and bolt. I
have tried every brand of litter; we keep the box clean and adequately
filled. It's in a secluded place (but the odor finds us).

I have observed Wanda doing her bidness in the flower bed; she exhibits
the same behavior. The offal is left alone.

We want to lure her back to the indoors for the winter but don't relish
the task of servicing her fetid litter box every time she poops. (Our
previous cats were quite fastidious.) Can she be trained to stay and
bury her turds-? Is she trying, in her subtle feline way, to tell us
something-?

Stepping outside for a breath of air, I thank you in advance.

Buzzy