my cat isnt covering up her poop.. please help?

Question

she is really stinking up my apt. ive tried showing her how to cover the poop up with the litter. but she just wont. what can i do to get her to cover it up. i cant stand having a stinky apt.. i would hate having to take her back to the shelter

Answer 1

I'm sorry, but a lot of cats will not cover it up and you will never get her to if she doesn't want to. It is all down to being territorial. In the wild the most dominant cats will leave their "business" on the surface to warn less dominant cats that they are around. The less dominant cats are the ones who tend to cover it up more. It is the same as scratching - cats leave their scent on the surface of the wood to let others know of their existence.



All I can suggest is that you get a very good clumping litter and remove the clumps every time she has used the litter tray (you should be doing this anyway). I have 6 cats, 4 of whom use litter trays (they have 8 trays down overnight) and as soon as the waste matter has been thrown away, the smell goes away. Please dont use scented litter in an attempt to cover up the smell as some cats refuse to use it as they have to lick off something which is scented and that is really not pleasant for a cat. You could try a hooded tray but, again, some cats refuse to use them as the smell builds up inside. If you keep it absolutely clean then it might work.



Edit - If you have a litter tray with a hood already, if the smell builds up inside she will be trying to get out as soon as possible. Another problem with hooded trays is that cats are sometimes unable to get comfortable inside them - they have to stand up more to poo than they do to pee and the hood makes it difficult and confining. Try taking the lid off, use a really good brand of clumping cat litter and make sure it is deep enough for her to have a good scratch around in. You should also do some research into the cat food you are giving her as this could be causing the problem. Try a better brand and, if you are giving her a completely dry diet, you should gradually start to switch it to a wet one.

Answer 2

Some cats never do, but here's a couple of things that may help.



Clumping litter is usually good. If you use the scented stuff, as weird as it sounds, switch to unscented. In the enclosed litter box, the scent may bother her and whe may just be trying to get out as soon as possible. (Cats have very sensitive smell, Just because humans like a scent doesn't mean the cat does. Ever been in an overscented bathroom you wanted to get out of quickly? Same thing.)



Personally, I love those enclosed litter boxes. Unfortunately, most of my cats don't. So I've got deep litter pans and the covers ended up out on my enclosed porch. Perhaps she feels that since the box is enclosed, she doesn't have to cover, it's 'buried' already. You could try removing the lid and seeing if that helps, particularly with unscented litter.



If she's still a kitten, you can try following her to the litter box and gently moving her paws in a burying motion after she's done--often they get the idea and pick it up on their own. If that happens, praise her every time she uses the litter box to reinforce the idea.



As for stinky poops...Cat poop does stink, but an upgrade in diet may help. Higher quality food means less filler and more digestion, so less cr** in, less cr** out, if you get my drift. And a different food may smell better on the way out.



If none of that works, you could get an automatic litter box, like Littermaid. Since it rakes out the box every time into an enclosed container, this should help the smell. There's also one out there that rinses the box--it's connected (easily) to your house/apt water supply.



Hope that helps. Don't send your new friend back to the shelter. If they're not no-kill, it literally could be a death sentence for her. With a little effort and patience, you can definitely work this out.

Answer 3

My cat doesn't either, and it's because she was orphaned as a kitten and had no one to teach her how to do it properly, she usually scratches the side of the dryer after she goes to the bathroom. Your cat just simply doesn't have this instinct, scoop the box out regularly and invest in some arm and hammer litter box powder, sprinkle it ontop of the litter and hopfully it will cover the smell long enough for you to clean it out. You may also find a covered litter box will help with the smell and may help her to burry it properly.



Also some cat refuse to burry thier poop because the box has too much pee on the bottom, so don't over fill the box, leave it shallow enough that she'll want to pee in a different spot than where she poops.

Answer 4

O.K. try a different litter box. Try an open litter box. Also, use lots of litter. She may like lots of litter to cover up her feces. Her feces stinks bad because of the food she eats. My Abysinnian cat is 20 lbs and her poop smells and I notice that if there wasn't enough litter, she would not cover it up completely and the bathroom would smell so bad...Also, place her littler box in your bathroom...When you clean out litter box, place in a plastic bag, tie it closed and throw away...Don't throw it on bushes...then in the summer, your area outside will smell to high heaven...

Answer 5

is the munchkin only a kitten?

if not, hmmmmm, well for starters keep a huge cup of litter next the box, then when smellies fill the air, plop litter over dookie.

awwww, don't give her back!!! POOR CAT!!! :--(

Just keep TRYING to train the critter, seriously--eventually the cat will learn. Giver her a chance.

also, get litter that has deodorant in it.

Answer 6

my cat does the same thing i would put the litter tray in anoyther room like the bath room or if you have a balcony put it on there and teach her to go outside

Answer 7

Your cat is sociopathic and lazy and probably thinks its poop doesn't stink. I've known people like this.

Answer 8

it is retarded, it will never learn, it is a stoopid bad cat