This isn't really my familiar but this is the closest forum we have here for pets so I am using it to pick everyone's brains for help.

Ok, awhile back I posted that we got a new kitten. At the time I thought it was a girl but after a trip to the vet I found out differently.
Lately he has developed some habits that I can't get him to stop doing. So those that own cats and are cat people, could you tell me if these things are common?

He likes to kick his litter out of his box. If I fill it to the point that your supposed to..my gods the mess. He will literally kick it around like he is digging a hole to China and back just to see and feel the bottom of the box. So I have started putting less in there. But, he still kicks it out. So I am constantly sweeping up litter.
I have put his box on a cardbox box that I cut, hoping that it would limit the mess but it didn't really. Some of it is now kept off the carpet so that makes it easier to clean up.

Also, he has started having a bowel movement outside the box on one side. Always the same side and only one time a day. Almost like he doesn't realize that he isn't that big or that there is a limit to how big the litter box is. Having the cardboard under there has really helped with that issue..better on the cardboard than the floor.
But it is driving me crazy. He is litter box trained and he does everything else in the box. He is even in the box when he makes this mess. So I don't think it is an infection or anything like that.
Is this common for male cats?

I have seen the enclosed cat boxes and mats that go under them. Is this a good alternative?
I worry about the smell when you clean them though. I clean his box out every day and wash it once a week. But, lets face it, it isn't a very fresh scent when scooping it even after a day. I can't imagine how it must be when enclosed.
So for those that use these is it as bad as I am thinking it would be?

Thanks for any information. I take him back to the vet next month to get his adult shots and to schedule him for neutering.
I am not a cat person and never owned cats before (with the exception of the outside mousers that I had last year)..so I am really out of my element here.
ladyalpha

Hi Lady Alpha,

Do you like your kitten? What is his name? He doesn't sound very old, and kittens can be terrors, but in the end, they are wonderful and loving companions. Like any child, he is going thru some times of learning and exploring life.

He does sound very enthusiastic about his litter box, and that is a good thing....digging into the box, is quite common for kittens, and I would say to relax, and as he grows, he will stop being so "enthusiastic." Also, having him nuetered will slow him down considerably, and mellow him out.

As for pooping out side the box, we had a cat that did that and we placed the box in the bathtub. He then didn't like the feel of the cold porcelian and began pooping in thebox, and we liked the cleanup so much more we left it there....it was easy to pick up, sweep up the extra litter that was tracked out, and then place the box back in the tub. They do have litter that is less trackable, and you can also ask your vet about alternatives to litter that does not track....it is best to always ask your vet about such situations, due to health concerns of your kitty.

My concern is that you are so involved in the smell and cleanup that you are not enjoying your furbaby. Cats are very individual, and very special beings....I realize you are new to having a kitty in the house, but you will find him to be a very loving and wonderful companion. Please give him some time to get use to his new environment, and after you get him neutered, if he continues to bother you this much with his litter box, perhaps you should find him another loving home. As with all babies, he will make messes and please be patient.....I realize it is a pain, but it will get better.....the urine smell will be much less noticeable after he is neutered as well by the way.

Blessings Bright and Dark,

MM Lady Alpha,

I'm a Vet Assistant (working on Tech License) and ppl come into the hospital with alot of the same problems your having. I really like Lady Elaine�s bathtub idea, that�s one I've never thought of and I will defiantly pass that along to a few clients Also she mentioned neutering and that should help all the way around. I also want to mention the enclosed litter boxes: I was also against them but I have a dog that likes, shall we say "Kitty Box Crunchies" (VERY GROSS) so I tried a covered box instead. I bought a really cheapo one and the smell was indeed awful. But then a friend of mine found a Booda Cat Box. It really is the coolest cat box I've ever seen. It domed so the cat has lots of space and they really don't seem to trap the smells as bad. I think you can get them at petsmart. Also there are lots of different litters on the market that work REALLY well for odor control. The ones with the crystals are very good but can be expensive. We use litters at the clinic that are made of wheat and corn, they've been working well. The other really big thing to keep an eye out for is straining. If you see you cat straining or he starts urinating on things like linoleum or sinks and tubs you should get him to a vet as this can be a sign of urinary issues. Well I've rambled on enough, hope this helps!
Blessed Be,
Serendipity

Lady Alpha, I have cats since I was born and i would know what to do without those wonderful fur balls in my life. I do prefer the males to females. Since they seem to be for forgiving to younger children. As for the litter box like LE said once you get the kitten neutered that will help but boys will be boys when it comes to messes. My males are 4 & 1 and the litter still gets stuck in there paws and they shake it off when they get out of the box. As for pooping outside the box well my 1 year old when through that as a kitten has he was learning.

Also try to get a good kitty food that makes a world of difference in the smell of the urine and try not to change it around to much it can upset any cats stomach. Since your have a vet visit soon I'm sure you'll get this big packet of things for your kitten as we did when we first took our baby.

I wish you the best and patience with your new friend. (cat)

Thank you all for your replies and information.
Lady Elaine, yes I like the kitten and he is very rambuctious (sp?). I was just trying to stay on topic and not go into everything else he does in the mean time.

I knew that the litter could get stuck in their paws and that mess I knew was just something that has to be dealt with. I have seen the special mats that they walk on that seperates their paws and gets that out of there, but they all say that they go with the enclosed litter boxes. Not sure if they work with regular boxes or not. But, since he was literally digging it out (not so bad if I don't fill it real deep) I was just wondering if that was a normal thing for cats to do.

As for the smell. Well it isn't really urine that I am smelling but rather the smell of the poop. I figure that comes with the territory of cleaning a litter box. But, thank you Serendipity for your information about those enclosed boxes. I figured it could be bad. Little to no air flow and especially in the summer heat.
No matter how much I like the cat or any animal..I really didn't want to be hit with a horrible stentch. I don't think loving every smell goes with how much you love the animal that makes the smell. lol
I will check out Petsmarts website Serendipity and see about the box you mentioned. We unfortunally don't have one down here. Or any other pet shop that I know of.


I am glad to see though that the mess outside the box is common also. I wasn't sure why he was doing it. If it was a marking thing. Or just not realizing where his bottom was in relation to the box. Or something else.

As for the litter that we have it is Tidy Cats for multiple cats. I like it and Joey seems to like it too. Which I was glad about because we bought a big container of it and I had read that cats can sometimes be touchy about what type of litter they will use.
We have a huge bag of dog food that our dog Anubis will not have anything to do with. So we know how quickly our animals can have our money be wasted. lol

Lodemai, I wish they had given me more information and such at the first vet visit. I told them I didn't know anything about cats and they did correct me on the information that he was not a she. lol So for that I was grateful. lol We had to change his name from Princess Penelope to Joey. Could have been giving him a complex the whole time. lol

Well, anyway, I just wanted to say thank you to all of you. It is an adjustment to me having a cat around. I like him but some things I am not familiar with and will occassionally need to know from all of you that own cats or work with cats if things are normal or something I should be working on either on my own or with a vet.

ladyalpha

Edited to add that the smell isn't real bad with this litter. It is just noticable when you scoop the poop out. I assume that all litters have this issue. And it isn't as strong of a smell as say if there was no litter at all. Although I won't be testing the theory of what it would be like without litter. lol
I only mentioned the smell in the first post just to get information about the enclosed ones and their smell.

Ok, I think I am now talking just to make sure that I get every thought someone might have covered..so I am going to shut up. lol

Serendipity, I just wanted to thank you one more time for mentioning Pet Smart. I went and checked out the domed litter box. But while I was there I found something that I think would work better for him. As he does not have a problem with wanting privacy. It is a high sided box. I think that would really help with the litter getting everywhere and would prevent him from being able to poop over the side.
From the customer reviews it seems that I am really not the only one having these problems. Although, thankfully he hasn't started spraying or urniating outside of the box, like some people had a problem with.
You can also buy a mat to go under it to help with any that they may kick out from the entrance or that gets stuck on their paws. I am fine with the little bit that is on the paws, so unless he started kicking it out the front then I am not concerned about the mat at this time.

Lady Elaine, I was thinking about the tub suggestion. I am not sure how it would work for him. He loves to hang out in the bathtub. Not sure if it would be different for him to use the bathroom in there or not from just laying in there.

Ladyalpha, I don't know if this is a practical solution for you or not, but I have three indoor cats, and I find that if I put just a very small amount of litter in the box and then change it several times a day instead of scooping, and wash it out with a little Clorox once a day, it never smells at all. Also, a covered box will stop Joey from pooping outside the box. Some cats just hang over, I have had that happen also, but the covered box stops it. You just have to make sure that you wash the covered part if it gets soiled.

I guess it seems like I must spend my whole life cleaning cat poo, but once they grow up they don't go as often. And the house smells good.

I don't think I can really add anything to this. Everyone has made great suggestion. I do want to say that I have had an enclosed cat box for a long time, just the other day I picked up a new one, it had higher sides an I don't have as much of the mess as before, as for the old one, well even with regular cleaning they do start to hold smells, a good bleaching and a couple weeks of airing out, and I'll be able to switch them out now and then. An with 3 cats, I scoop twice a day. Adding baking soda is a big help. An heres an added bonus, the dogs don't eat "Kitty Box Crunchies" LOL, anymore.

Having him fixed, will help greatly, it will calm him, he won't want to get out to mate and get into fights (straiys can carry an world of trouble for other cats), an he won't start to spray!! An that smells worse then regular pee.

You said that he goes on the outside of the box, have you tried placing his messes in the box an then placing him in the box with it, so he can smell it and see it, this way he can see that that,s were his business goes? I've had to do this with a cat many many years ago, it took awhile but it did pay off.

Any how, I do hope things, work out better. He's young, and in time, he figure things out.

Blessings,
Penny

Ladyalpha, I see you have had some good ideas for your cat problems. When I got the first of my girls she use to love kicking the little all over the place, and did miss on several occasions as well. So as I live in an area that has very few choices for different products and some are very expensive, we came up with our own idea. We got ice - cream containers, cut the sides off and used lecky ties ( the things electricians use to hold cables, they are plastic) through holes we popped in the side of the tray and the ice cream sides. We added them so the were in a bit of an angle inward and was about two inches high. This put a bit of a lip type thing on the tray and fixed the litter problem, as for the missing, she got better with that.

Putting it in the tub is a good idea, but she also likes to lay in the tub, bith the girls ( as I now have two) like to play in the shower, when just turned off, the tub and they drink from the tap in the bathroom. When outside, they roll in the dirst and play in the mud that the sprinkler makes. I must say I have never seen cats play inthe mud to the point that we have to clean them before they come inside.

Cats are great, I hope it all settles down for you. Getting them de - sexed is a good thing too. The girls got horribly spoilt when recovering from their ops. As you may tell they run the house here.

Kath

Wow, can you tell our forum is filled with cat people or what?

Lady Alpha,

I have had a similar problem with an over weight cat who was just too big for a conventional litter box. I got two of those short but wide containers you use for under bed storage to use as litter boxes. For cat litter, I use Natures Miracle, combined with the Tidy Cat Crystals and the Nature's Miracle powder enzyme additive. Around the litter box and after I clean out the litter box, I spray the Nature's Miracle Spray on the carpet to take care of any odor. I put containeers on teh container lids with some of the lid hanging out in the front so that when the cat jumps out of the box, most of the cat litter is caught on the lid as opposed to the carpet. On top of all that, I have a Nilodor automatic spray dispenser to take care of any possibel lingering odor. And yes, I am an odor Nazi, but in my defense, I live in a small one bedroom apartment with 2 cats. So far, that has worked. I still have to vacuum every day, but both of my cats are black and I have white carpet, so that's a given any way.

Hope this helps.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and knowledge. It is comforting to know that my kitten is just doing common things. With no other point of reference than other cat owners I don't always know what is normal and what isn't.

I have put the mess in the litter box and showed him where it belongs each time. He didn't miss yesterday, so perhaps he learned. Or perhaps we just had a good day. We will see how it goes.

ladyalpha

I'm not sure if I can add anymore to this...lol. Just that I have had great luck with the enclosed, or "domed", boxes. I actually have one that has a filter on it to keep the odor down. I have to clean it several times a week only because if I don't, my Chihuahua will do it for me so he can poop in it!! Guess the cat poo doesn't sit well with him!! Good luck with your new kitty!!

Av

I'm not sure if I can add anymore to this...lol. Just that I have had great luck with the enclosed, or "domed", boxes. I actually have one that has a filter on it to keep the odor down. I have to clean it several times a week only because if I don't, my Chihuahua will do it for me so he can poop in it!! Guess the cat poo doesn't sit well with him!! Good luck with your new kitty!!

Av

I'm not sure if I can add anymore to this...lol. Just that I have had great luck with the enclosed, or "domed", boxes. I actually have one that has a filter on it to keep the odor down. I have to clean it several times a week only because if I don't, my Chihuahua will do it for me so he can poop in it!! Guess the cat poo doesn't sit well with him!! Good luck with your new kitty!!

Av

It is great to see a community of such caring cat people! I have picked up a lot of tips from this thread too.

I have a boy cat (age 13), and a little girl (older, but age unknown) who both use the litter. "She" uses it fine and bury's everything, just as you would expect. Now, the "little" boy doesnt like to stand in the tray when he uses it. He tries to balance on the longer edge of the tray, with all four paws in a line if you can imagine ........ and it has occasionally tipped with all his weight on it! He does prefer to go outside, as it is how he has always been.

In my experience in owning multiple cats, they will bury their droppings if they are "inferior" in the family. However, if they are "superior", they will leave their dirt on show to give maximum impact to their scent .... I wondered if this was what was happening when your kitty "goes" outside the box? If it is, I would think once he is neutered he won't be as competitive and will probably bury everything. The high sided box is a great idea ...

My little girl is long haired, so litter sticks to her feet all the time. Of course, she has to be a long way from the box before she shakes her paws to remove it! Hey-ho, I don''t mind. It all goes up the vacuum cleaner. And if there's litter, I know she's been in...

Enjoy your new fury friend ... he will turn out to be a superb companion, faithful and loving. I wish you all the best with him