[ospunkyo]

My new cat seems to REALLY enjoy hanging out in one of the litter boxes - and not just hang out there, but he scratches, then pounces, then crouches and "hides" - jumps out, then back in - then DIGS with both front paws synchronized and throwing *huge* amounts of litter behind him.

The box he's chosen to do this in has rather high sides (was a covered box, but I took that off a long time ago) and isn't used very much by the new cat, or by the resident cat. But it is used occasionally, so it does...well, sometimes have stuff in it WHILE he's playing.

When I first got him, he did spend several minutes rolling around in his new litter box, so this is the second fun litter box thing he's doing. There's litter everywhere!

What, if anything, can I do to discourage his litter box play?

 

[RarePuss]

if you still have that cover somewhere, i'd put it back on... see what happens then

 

[ospunkyo]

That's an excellent idea - but, I threw it away back when Pfeffa had her own litter box issues (peeing outside the box) and I thought to make the boxes as accessible and pleasant as possible.

I'm hesitant to put the cover back on for that reason - I'd hate to have THAT start up again! But...she's not using that one very often at all, so, maybe she wouldn't mind :|

 

[Superkitties]

Synchonized litter tossing. The new Olympic sport.

I recently posted a reply on a similar thread! Sorry for laughing, but it really brings back those memories of Ginza doing exactly what you described. He went nuts whenever I put in new litter, attacking the heck out of it. I thought it was more hilarious than anything else, so I never tried to do anything to prevent it. So I don't have any suggestions for ya, sorry. But, I do have encouraging words, Ginza eventually stopped doing it.

 

[CyberPet]

Our kittens are so weird. They have to go to the bathroom together! One sits outside "guarding" or join the other kitten inside, but just sit and watch the other one doing its thing.

Then they haven't figured out how to cover their "leftovers" and they scratch the walls of the litter box (well it's more of a house since it is covered). I don't know what their mother taught them, but they sure don't cover their poo.

But they do try to cover their food... hahaha... my lovely cats!

 

[ospunkyo]

Don't feel bad for laughing - I have to admit, as messy as the aftermath is, it's really pretty darn funny to watch him in there! I couldn't believe it when I saw him digging with both paws like that!

He is still a young boy, 10 months, so I'm hopeful (glad to hear some cats do!) that he will grow out of his litter box enjoyment, and realize that it's just meant to poop in.

CyberPet - I'm also familiar with the scratching the wall instead of burying anything. The walls next to all our litter boxes are scarred (will need much joint compound to fix them) from Norville, who seemed to miss the point of burying his poop.

 

[kitkat]

Our kittens are so weird. They have to go to the bathroom together! One sits outside "guarding" or join the other kitten inside, but just sit and watch the other one doing its thing.

Then they haven't figured out how to cover their "leftovers" and they scratch the walls of the litter box (well it's more of a house since it is covered). I don't know what their mother taught them, but they sure don't cover their poo.

But they do try to cover their food... hahaha... my lovely cats!

My cats used to do that too. When they were babies, they would use the restroom at the same time or go in right after another. Actually, Sugar always bothered Twinkie .... but Sugar doesn't cover up her mess well....sometimes never! :lol: